The neck of a person, like any animal, is an amazing part of the body, quite fragile, but strong.
The cervical spine, together with all the muscles and ligaments, holds and moves the skull, absorbs shock when walking, protects the brain from shock, protects the blood vessels that feed it, and also protects the spinal cord.
When the neck hurts, the reasons can be quite different.Some may resolve on their own within a few days, while others may cause chronic illness and pain.
Why does pain occur?
The most common cause of neck pain is poor posture.With a bent back, the head stops taking a position just above the body and moves forward.In this case, neck muscles and ligaments experience increased tension.The development of bending and neck pain is facilitated by working for a long time without changing the position, sleeping on a soft bed or a high pillow, and a long static load.
Other causes of neck pain include a head-first fall, a traffic accident, or a sports injury.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 of the cervical vertebrae, and intervertebral tears can occur.
Neck pain can occur as a secondary manifestation of other diseases.For example, during a heart attack, when the heart attack causes severe pain, it spreads along the nerve plexuses to 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 you have neck or jaw pain or other symptoms of a heart attack, 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 bend my head towards my chest, the back of my neck hurts a lot.
The spine in the neck region is painful due to rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, spondylosis and osteoarthritis, hernia or protrusion, compression of nerve roots or spinal cord by infectious edema, abscess, tumors or benign neoplasms.
Special cases
Degenerative diseases
Osteochondrosis, or in other words, degenerative disorders in the intervertebral discs, causes constant neck pain in a person.This is usually a mild aching pain, often accompanied by numbness and pain in the shoulder girdle and head.
The collar zone affected by osteochondrosis can lead to the development of cerebral artery syndrome.In this area, compression damage occurs in the vertebral arteries passing through the openings of the transverse processes of the cervical vertebra with the reduction of the intervertebral distances.Pressure on the vessel causes a decrease in blood flow to the brain, causing dizziness, loss of vision and hearing.On the other hand, mechanical irritation of the artery by spinal pressure causes a reflex spasm, which manifests itself as a burning, throbbing pain in the head.
Treatment
If your neck constantly hurts due to osteochondrosis, the 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.
You can relieve pain using the following drug groups:
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs - directly block the cascade of pain signaling mediators;
- muscle relaxants - relieve muscle spasms that occur as a reflex from severe pain;
- sedatives - calm and inhibit the nervous system and the transmission of pain impulses, including (valerian, antidepressants, sleeping pills);
- vasodilators - help relieve vertebral artery syndrome and associated pain.
To eliminate the cause of neck pain due to osteochondrosis, chondroprotective drugs are prescribed, which prevent the destruction of cartilage and vertebrae, as well as multivitamin and mineral complexes.
Pain treatment also includes exercise therapy, physiotherapy, massage, stretching, reflexology and taping therapy.To relieve pain during an exacerbation, 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 pains should be distinguished from neuritis (inflammation of nerve trunks with sensitivity disorders) and pain caused by osteochondrosis.Myositis occurs suddenly, after exposure to predisposing factors - hypothermia, vibration, long-term overload, especially with long-term repeated movements of the same type.
Cervical myositis is characterized by sharp pain that occurs when the inflamed muscle contracts.Acute pain makes it difficult to perform certain types of movements.Usually the long neck muscles on the anterolateral surface or the muscles of the sternum are painful, with bilateral narrowing it pulls the head back, and with unilateral narrowing it turns it.Also, the deep muscles that surround the spine and move the entire neck and back are often inflamed.
During muscle palpation, its increased tone and tight 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 is disturbed on the sides of the spine, "torticollis" may appear, it becomes difficult for the patient to keep his head straight.
Treatment
Treatment begins with reducing the load on the neck.After that, a course of physiotherapeutic procedures - UHF heating, electrophoresis with drugs, paraffin heating, ozokerite dressing, diathermy, massage, acupuncture.Such procedures restore blood circulation in the neck muscles.Medications include injections of B vitamins, anti-inflammatory and pain relievers, ointments, and rubs.
Traditional treatment recommends using cabbage or burdock leaves as a pain-relieving compress, making an ointment from crushed willow buds in butter, and making rubs from a mixture of apple cider vinegar and egg yolk and turpentine.The neck is also rubbed with lava oil and then twisted.The key to the success of any treatment is to rest the sore neck until the muscles have fully recovered.Then you should begin to return them to their "position" through special gymnastics and massage.
Radicular syndrome
Severe pain in the neck, spreading to the muscles of the head, shoulder girdle, upper limbs, can occur when the roots of the spinal nerves are compressed as a result of prolapse, protrusion or rupture of the intervertebral discs.
With this disease, the protrusion of the inner core of the disc occurs towards the spinal canal or its side horns.A hernia and its symptoms are usually visible on one side.When there is pressure 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, around the ears, back of the head, shoulder blades and arms.Dizziness and sharp pain in the neck appear when changing the position from horizontal to vertical.The gradual protrusion of the disc nucleus causes damage to the surrounding tissues, their inflammation and swelling.This creates initial conditions for inflammation of 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 causes paresis or paralysis of the limbs.
Therapy
What to do if the neck hurts due to hernias?At home, pain relievers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hormonal drugs, and muscle relaxants to relieve spasms are taken.
In the hospital, severe neck pain is relieved by "blockades" - injection of painkillers into the sides of the spine.
Swelling and inflammation are relieved with steroid drugs that can be injected directly into the hernia area.Muscle pain is relieved by taking muscle relaxants.
Also, I use drugs that strengthen cartilage tissue - chondroprotectors - to prevent further development of the hernia.
In many cases, therapeutic exercises and traction of the cervical spine help with protrusion or slight protrusion.Increasing the intervertebral space helps to "retract" the intervertebral disc and reduce pressure on the nerves.
Surgery is necessary in the case of a true hernia with rupture of the annulus fibrosus and fall of the nucleus into the spinal canal.There are several ways to get rid of neck pain through surgery:
- anterior cervical discectomy - removal of the excess disc piece pressing on the spinal nerves;
- replacing the damaged disc with an artificial joint that protects the cervical spine from further destruction;
- microendoscopic discectomy using a posterior approach and removal of small areas of the hernia through the endoscope;
- Posterior cervical discectomy through an incision in the back of the neck.The operating channel is specially enlarged so that pinching does not develop in the future.
Neoplasms
If there is constant pressing pain in the neck, you can doubt the appearance of an external formation in this department.
Benign tumors (lipoma, fibroma, neuroma, osteoma, hemangioma) have the most regular shape and are clearly defined;they rarely cause pain.Discomfort is mainly due to compression of the surrounding tissues by the tumor.Malignant tumors (osteogenic sarcoma, myeloma, cancer of the lymph nodes or thyroid gland) do not have boundaries and give many metastases to neighboring tissues.Their destructive effect on the organs causes a painful sensation and general deterioration of the condition.The front of the neck can be painful due to cancer of the larynx, throat, oral cavity, or thyroid gland.The patient has difficulty swallowing, swelling of the neck and face, changes in voice.If the cervical spine hurts due to a bone tumor, this condition is often accompanied by the development of paralysis and damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots on the side of the spine.
Treatment
Treatment of pain due to 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 painkillers;
- they switch to weaker opiates with increasing pain;
- in case of severe pain, analgesia is possible only with the help of opiate drugs.Antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, and corticosteroids are used to increase analgesia for neck pain due to neoplasms.
Pay attention!Neck pain can be caused by various reasons.In order not to miss serious diseases, you should first consult a doctor about the occurrence of pain and determine its source.