The human neck, like that of any animal, is an amazing part of the body, quite delicate, but powerful.
The cervical spine, together with all the muscles and ligaments, holds and moves the skull, absorbs shocks when walking, protects the brain from trauma, protects the blood vessels feeding it, and also provides protection to the spinal cord.
When your neck hurts, the causes can vary greatly.Some of them may heal on their own within a few days, while some may cause chronic illness and pain.
Why does it hurt?
The most common cause of neck pain is poor posture.With a bent back, the head ceases to occupy a position directly above the body and moves forward.In this condition, there is increased tension in the muscles and ligaments of the neck.Bending and neck pain develop from prolonged work without changing position, sleeping on soft bedding or high pillows, and prolonged static load.
Other causes of neck pain include a head-first injury, a traffic accident, or an injury while playing sports.During sudden acceleration and then braking, the cervical spine makes a whip-like movement.As a result, ligaments and muscles can become overstretched, displacement or compression fractures of the cervical vertebrae can occur, and intervertebral hernia can form.
Neck pain may occur as a secondary manifestation of other diseases.For example, during a heart attack, severe pain occurs, which spreads along the nerve plexus to the upper limbs, chest, and neck.Neck pain during a heart attack is part of a larger group of symptoms - shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, vomiting.If you have pain in your neck or jaw or other symptoms of a heart attack, you should call an ambulance immediately.
Neck pain is also used as a diagnostic sign of meningitis.In this disease the neck muscles become hypertonic i.e. become stiff.The back of my neck hurts a lot when I try to bend my head toward my chest.
The spine in the neck region hurts with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, spondylosis and osteoarthritis, hernia or protrusion, with compression of the nerve roots or spinal cord by infectious edema, abscesses, tumors or benign neoplasms.
special cases
degenerative disease
Osteochondrosis, or, in other words, degenerative disorders in the intervertebral discs causes a person to have constant neck pain.This is usually a mild pain, often accompanied by a feeling of numbness and pain in the shoulder girdle and head.
The collar zone affected by osteochondrosis can lead to the development of cerebral artery syndrome.With a reduction in intervertebral distances in this area, compression damage to the vertebral arteries passing through the openings of the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae occurs.Pressure on the vessel reduces blood flow to the brain, causing dizziness, loss of vision and hearing.On the other hand, mechanical irritation of the artery with pressure from the vertebrae causes a reflex spasm, which manifests as a burning, throbbing pain in the head.
treatment
If your neck constantly hurts due to osteochondrosis, therapy begins with eliminating the pain syndrome.The second mandatory direction of treatment is to stop 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 pain signaling mediators;
- Muscle relaxants – eliminate muscle spasms arising from severe pain;
- Sedatives – calm and inhibit the nervous system and block the transmission of pain impulses, including (valerian, antidepressants, sleeping pills);
- Vasodilators – help eliminate vertebral artery syndrome and its associated pain.
To eliminate the cause of pain in the neck due to osteochondrosis, chondroprotective drugs are prescribed that prevent the destruction of cartilage and vertebrae, as well as multivitamin mineral complexes.
Pain treatment also includes exercise therapy, physiotherapy, massage, traction, reflexology and taping therapy.During exacerbations, to relieve pain, the patient is advised to wear a special collar that protects the neck from excessive mobility.
muscle pain
Neck pain can be caused by inflammation of the neck muscles, called myositis.Such pain should be differentiated from pain caused by neuritis (inflammation of the nerve trunk with sensitivity disorders) and osteochondrosis.Myositis occurs suddenly, after exposure to predisposing factors - hypothermia, vibration, prolonged overexertion, especially with prolonged repetitive movements of the same type.
Cervical myositis is characterized by intense pain that occurs when the inflamed muscle contracts.The intense severity of pain makes it difficult to perform certain types of movements.Usually the anterolateral surface is innervated by the long neck muscles or sternocleidomastoid muscles, which retract the head when contracted bilaterally and flex it when contracted unilaterally.In addition, the deep muscles that surround the spine and move the entire neck and back often also become inflamed.
On palpation of the muscle, its increased tone and dense nodular areas are noted.Disruption of microcirculation and local trophism leads to 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 it becomes difficult for the patient to keep 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 wraps, diathermy, massage, acupuncture.Such procedures restore blood circulation in the neck muscles.Medications include vitamin B injections, anti-inflammatories and painkillers, ointments and rubs.
Traditional treatments recommend using cabbage or burdock leaves as pain-relieving compresses, preparing ointments from willow buds crushed in butter, and rubbing with 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 rest the sore subject until the muscles have completely healed.Then you should begin to return them "on duty" through special gymnastics and massage.
radicular syndrome
Severe pain in the neck, which radiates to the head, shoulder girdle, muscles of the upper limbs, can occur when the spinal nerve roots are compressed due to prolapse, protrusion or herniated intervertebral disc.
In this disease, there is protrusion of the inner core of the disc towards the spinal canal or its lateral horns.Hernia and its symptoms usually appear on one side.When pressure builds up on the roots of the spinal nerves, burning, sharp pain appears in the internal muscles (cervical lumbago).The patient feels numbness in the lower jaw, area around the ears, back of the head, shoulder blades and arms.Dizziness and severe pain in the neck appear when changing position from horizontal to vertical.The gradual expansion of the disc core leads to trauma to the surrounding tissues, their swelling and inflammation.This creates the prerequisites for inflammation of nerve endings with the development of radiculitis, and the mobility of the neck and upper limbs gradually becomes limited.Long-term compression of the spinal nerves leads to paresis or paralysis of the limbs.
Treatment
What to do if you have neck pain due to hernia?At home, for pain, pain relievers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hormonal drugs, and muscle relaxants are taken to relieve spasms.
In the hospital, severe neck pain is eliminated with the help of "blockades" - injections of pain-relieving drugs onto the sides of the spinal cord.
Inflammation and swelling are eliminated with steroid medications, which can be injected directly into the hernia area.Muscle pain is relieved by taking muscle relaxant medicines.
In addition, to prevent further development of hernia, I use drugs that strengthen cartilage tissue - chondroprotectors.
In many cases, therapeutic exercises and cervical spine traction help with bulges or minor bulges.Increasing the intervertebral space helps the intervertebral discs to "retract" and reduce pressure on the nerves.
In case of a true hernia with rupture of the fibrous ring 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 extra fragments of the disc that are pressing on the spinal nerves;
- Replacing the damaged disc with an artificial joint, which protects the cervical spine from further destruction;
- Microendoscopic discectomy using a posterior approach and removal of small areas of the hernia through an endoscope;
- Posterior cervical discectomy through an incision in the back of the neck.The operating channel has been specially enlarged so that pinching does not develop in the future.
neoplasm
If there is a constant pressing pain in the neck, you can suspect the presence of a foreign formation in this department.
Benign tumors (lipoma, fibroma, neuroma, osteoma, hemangioma) often have a regular shape and are clearly defined;They rarely cause pain.Discomfort is mainly associated with compression of surrounding tissues by the tumor.Malignant tumors (osteogenic sarcoma, myeloma, cancer of the lymph nodes or thyroid gland) have no boundaries and give numerous metastases to neighboring tissues.Their destructive effect on organs causes painful sensations and general deterioration of the condition.The front of the neck may 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 changes in voice.If pain in the cervical spine is caused by a bone tumor, this condition often leads to damage to the spinal cord and spinal nerve roots with the development of paralysis.
treatment
Treatment of pain caused by tumors is primarily 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 reliever;
- With increasing pain, they switch to weaker opiates;
- In case of severe pain, analgesia is possible only with the help of opiate drugs.To increase analgesia for neck pain caused by neoplasms, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, and corticosteroids are used.
pay attention!Neck pain can occur due to various reasons.In order not to miss serious diseases, you should first go to the doctor for consultation about the occurrence of pain and accurately determine its source.