Why Your Neck Hurts | Neck Pain causes and Treatment

Neck Pain causes and Treatment

• Overview
• Causes and Symptoms of Neck Pain
• Treatment

Overview

The neck is made up of the cervical vertebrae, which are the seven top little bones of the spine. Between each of these small neck bones there are cartilage discs that act as shock absorbers. 

However, these discs may get forced to get out of their normal position due to big shocks on the neck.

These small bones and the muscle tissue around them have a really amazing but tough job, holding your head and moving it in all directions. Although it has a difficult job, this is not the problem. Other alien factors that the neck is not designed for are our concern here.

Sometimes pain is not really serious and can be treated easily at home just by doing simple exercises or massages. But, if a prolonged severe pain is experienced, seeing a medical specialist is definitely the best idea.

Symptoms and Causes of Neck Pain

 There are a number of reasons that cause neck pain. Here are the most common ones:

1. Sleeping Position: A lot of people wake up with a feeling of stiffness not only in the neck, but also in the shoulders and back. Whether your pillow is too high or too low, the alignment of your neck with your whole spine is messed around with. Your neck needs a support that is just enough to sit in a comfortable natural position.

2. Bad Posture: This is a serious problem that affects a great deal of the population. Sitting behind a desk for long hours without being aware how your spine starts to curve at the mid back region and your neck starts to fall downward to compensate for that. Stiffness might be experienced in this case and the muscles at the back of the neck get weak due to excessive stretching.

3. Injury: Motor accidents or accidents from sports and falls can happen and affects the neck muscles, ligaments or discs. This can be as serious as ruptures of discs and bones may occur.

4. Degenerative Disc Disease: The cushions (Discs) between the vertebrae may wear and deteriorate leading the bones to be more at risk of ruptures.

5. Stress: People who experience a lot of stress and anxiety may feel muscle tightness in the neck and the back.

6. Pinched Nerve: The nerves in the spinal cord may get irritated because of bad posture or sudden jerks of the spine. This may result in pain that may radiate to other parts like the shoulders and arms.

Other neck pain causes include:

• Arthritis
• Tumor
• Infections
• Serious injury

Treatment

When the pain is moderate, it is usually pretty simple to treat it at home with only a few exercises and home remedies. The pain can go away within days or a few weeks. Consider the following remedies and exercises:

1. Pain killers and massage: You can use over-the-counter pain killers along with having your neck massaged or treated with a warm moist towel.

2. Stretch: Apply gentle stretching on your neck from side to side and also to the front and back. You need to be careful with these stretches, however, as overstretching can worsen the problem.

3. Manage stress: Try not to let stress get over you; always avoid as much of it as possible.

4. Correct your sleeping position: Always support your neck and try to have it aligned with the spine. Sleeping on your right side is the best for your neck and other parts of the body.

5. Watch your posture: Don’t allow your spine to collapse as you sit for long hours; stay focused and remind yourself to sit nice and back.

6. Strengthen your neck: Your neck muscles tend to weaken by poor posture. Incorporating some good neck exercises to strengthen its muscles would be great for avoiding pain.

However, if the pain is severe and chronic, seeing your doctor is highly recommended. A doctor may treat a severe neck pain with muscle relaxants, direct injections to the neck or surgery.