A person's neck, like any animal, is an amazing part of the body, quite fragile, but powerful.
The cervical spine, along with all the muscles and ligaments, supports and moves the skull, absorbs shocks during walking, protects the brain from shock, protects the blood vessels that feed it, and also provides protection for the spinal cord.
When your neck hurts, the reasons can be various.Some of them can resolve on their own within a few days, while some can cause chronic illness and pain.
Why does pain occur?
The most common reason for neck pain is poor posture.With a bent back, the head ceases to assume a position exactly above the body and moves forward.In this position, the muscles and ligaments of the neck experience increased tension.The development of bending and neck pain is facilitated by prolonged work without changing position, sleeping on a soft bed or high pillow and prolonged static load.
Other causes of neck pain include injury from falling head first, in a traffic accident or during play.During sudden acceleration and then braking, the cervical spine makes a whip-like motion.As a result, ligaments and muscles can be overstretched, displacement or compression fractures can occur in the cervical vertebrae, and intervertebral hernias can form.
Neck pain can appear as a secondary manifestation of other diseases.For example, during a heart attack, when a heart attack causes severe pain, radiating along the nerve plexuses in the upper limbs, chest and neck.Neck pain during a heart attack is only part of a large complex of symptoms - shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, vomiting.If your neck or jaw hurts or other signs of a heart attack occur, you should call an ambulance immediately.
Neck pain is also used as a diagnostic sign of meningitis.With this disease, the neck muscles become hypertonic, that is, they become stiff.When I try to tilt my head towards my chest, the back of my neck hurts a lot.
Back pain in the neck area with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, spondylosis and osteoarthritis, hernia or protrusion, with compression of nerve roots or spinal cord from infectious edema, abscesses, tumors or benign neoplasia.
Special cases
Degenerative diseases
Osteochondrosis, or, in other words, degenerative disorders in the intervertebral discs, leads to a person constantly having pain in the neck.This is usually a mild aching pain, which is often accompanied by a feeling of numbness and pain in the shoulder girdle and head.
The neck area affected by osteochondrosis can cause the development of cerebral artery syndrome.With a decrease in the intervertebral distances in this area, compression damage occurs in the vertebral arteries passing through the openings of the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae.Pressure in the vessel causes decreased blood flow to the brain, causing dizziness, decreased vision and hearing.On the other hand, mechanical irritation of the artery with pressure from the vertebrae causes a reflex spasm, which manifests itself as a burning, throbbing pain in the head.
Treatment
If your neck constantly hurts because of osteochondrosis, then therapy begins with the elimination of the pain syndrome.The second mandatory direction of treatment is to stop the degenerative processes in the cervical vertebrae.
Pain relief can be achieved using the following groups of drugs:
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs - directly block the cascade of mediators that signal pain;
- muscle relaxants - eliminate muscle spasms that arise reflexively from severe pain;
- sedatives - calm and inhibit the nervous system and the transmission of pain impulses, including (valerian, antidepressants, sleeping pills);
- vasodilators - help eliminate vertebral artery syndrome and the pain associated with it.
To eliminate the cause of neck pain due to osteochondrosis, chondroprotective drugs are prescribed that prevent the destruction of cartilage and vertebrae, as well as multivitamin mineral complexes.
Pain treatment also consists of exercise therapy, physiotherapy, massage, traction, reflexology and taping therapy.During an exacerbation, to relieve pain, the patient is recommended to wear a special collar that protects the neck from excessive mobility.
Muscle pain
Neck pain can occur due to inflammation of the neck muscles, called myositis.Such pain must be distinguished from neuritis (inflammation of nerve trunks with sensitivity disorder) and pain caused by osteochondrosis.Myositis appears suddenly, after exposure to predisposing factors - hypothermia, tremors, prolonged overtension, especially with prolonged repeated movements of the same type.
Cervical myositis is characterized by acute pain that occurs when the inflamed muscles contract.The sharp severity of the pain leads to difficulty in performing certain types of movements.Usually the long muscles of the neck on the anterolateral surface or the sternocleidomastoid muscles, which when contracted bilaterally pull the head back and when contracted unilaterally turn it back, are usually painful.The deep muscles that surround the spine and move the entire neck and back are also often inflamed.
During muscle palpation, its increased tone and dense nodular areas are observed.Disruption of microcirculation and local trophism leads to the gradual replacement of myocytes with connective tissue.As a result, the neck muscles weaken, their symmetry on the sides of the spine is disturbed, "torticollis" may appear, and the patient has difficulty holding his head straight.
Treatment
Treatment begins with reducing the load on the neck.This is followed by a course of physiotherapeutic procedures - UHF heating, electrophoresis with drugs, paraffin heating, ozokerite wrapping, diathermy, massage, acupuncture.Such procedures restore blood circulation in the neck muscles.Medications include injections of B vitamins, anti-inflammatories and pain relievers, ointments and rubs.
Traditional treatment recommends the use of cabbage or burdock leaves as pain-relieving compresses, the preparation of an ointment from crushed willow buds in butter, and rubs from a mixture of turpentine with apple cider vinegar and egg yolk.The neck is also rubbed with lava oil and then wrapped.The main key to the success of any treatment is to provide rest to the injured neck until its muscles are fully restored.Then you need to start bringing them back "on duty" through gymnastics and special massage.
Radicular syndrome
Severe pain in the neck, which spreads to the muscles of the head, shoulder girdle, upper limbs, can occur when the roots of the spinal nerves are pressed due to prolapse, protrusion or herniation of the intervertebral discs.
With this disease, the protrusion of the inner core of the disc occurs towards the spinal canal or its lateral horns.A hernia and its symptoms usually appear on one side.When pressure is created on the roots of the spinal nerves, a burning, sharp pain appears in the innervated muscles (cervical lumbago).The patient feels numbness in the lower jaw, the area around the ears, the back of the head, the shoulder blades and the arms.Dizziness and sharp pain in the neck appear when changing the position from horizontal to vertical.The gradual elongation of the disc core leads to trauma to the surrounding tissues, their inflammation and swelling.This creates the prerequisites for inflammation of the nerve endings with the development of radiculitis, and the mobility of the neck and upper limbs is gradually limited.Long-term compression of the spinal nerves leads to paresis or paralysis of the limbs.
therapy
What should you do if your neck hurts because of a hernia?At home, pain relievers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, hormonal drugs and muscle relaxants are taken to relieve spasms.
In the hospital, severe neck pain is eliminated with the help of "blocks" - the injection of sedatives into the sides of the spine.
Swelling and inflammation are eliminated with steroid drugs, which can be injected directly into the hernia area.Muscle pain is eliminated by taking muscle relaxants.
Also, to prevent the further development of the hernia, I use drugs that strengthen cartilage tissue - chondroprotectors.
In many cases, therapeutic exercises and traction of the cervical spine help in lengthening or slight lengthening.Increasing the intervertebral space helps to "pull" the intervertebral disc and relieve pressure on the nerves.
In the case of a true hernia with rupture of the annulus fibrosus and prolapse of the nucleus into the spinal canal, surgery is necessary.There are several ways to get rid of neck pain through surgery:
- Anterior cervical discectomy - removal of an excess part of the disc that is pressing on the spinal nerves;
- replacing a damaged disc with an artificial joint, which protects the cervical spine from further destruction;
- microendoscopic discectomy using a posterior approach and removing small areas of the hernia through an endoscope;
- Posterior cervical discectomy through an incision in the back of the neck.The operating channel is specially enlarged so that the catch does not develop in the future.
Neoplasms
If there is constant pressing pain in the neck, you can suspect the appearance of a foreign formation in this department.
Benign tumors (lipoma, fibroma, neuroma, osteoma, hemangioma) most often have a regular shape and are clearly defined;they rarely cause pain.The discomfort is mainly associated with compression of the surrounding tissues by the tumor.Malignant tumors (osteogenic sarcoma, myeloma, cancer of the lymph nodes or thyroid gland) have no boundaries and give many metastases to neighboring tissues.Their destructive effect on the organs causes a painful sensation and a general deterioration of the condition.The front of the neck can become painful due to cancer of the larynx, throat, oral cavity or thyroid gland.The patient experiences difficulty swallowing, swelling of the neck and face, and a change in voice.If the cervical spine hurts due to a bone tumor, then this condition also often accompanies damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots on the side of the spine with the development of paralysis.
Treatment
Treatment of pain due to tumors is mainly aimed at eliminating the cause - reducing or removing the tumor.For this purpose, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, sclerosis of the vessels feeding the tumor and surgical removal of the pathological formation are used.
Pain relief depends on the severity of the pain:
- weak drugs;
- moderate pain relievers;
- with increasing pain, they switch to weak opiates;
- in case of severe pain, analgesia is possible only with the help of opiate drugs.To increase analgesia for neck pain due to neoplasms, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants and corticosteroids are used.
Pay attention!Neck pain can occur for various reasons.In order not to miss serious diseases, you should first visit a doctor for a consultation about the occurrence of pain and accurately determine its source.