Sore throat

The symptoms of neck pain are known to everyone: it pulls the muscles, it is impossible to tilt and turn your head, and to look to the side, you have to turn your whole body. The culprit of the problems, as a rule, is the spine: violations, hernias, scoliosis lead to the fact that a person experiences pain in the back and neck. The discomfort makes him heal himself. But if the pain in the neck does not go away after treatment at home, the next step is to see a doctor.

Neck pain in adults

Neck pain in women

Neck pain during pregnancy

Back and neck pain often worries expectant mothers. The explanation is simple - with a change in body weight and proportions, posture changes, the load on the spine increases.

How to deal with this annoyance? A special pregnancy bandage will help keep your back in the right position. To strengthen the muscles of the back and neck, it is useful to do swimming and yoga (of course, with the permission of the obstetrician-gynecologist). You should sleep in a comfortable position, on a hard mattress and a low pillow. But the most important thing is to consult a doctor, as any self-medication can negatively affect the condition of the mother and the unborn baby.

Neck pain in new mothers

Back and neck pain is common among young mothers. The issue is complicated by the fact that a woman during breastfeeding can not use many drugs, because harmful substances will penetrate into the milk. How to help yourself and prevent neck pain from interfering with your baby's joy?

• Watch your attitude. While carrying a child, the center of gravity shifted with an increase in the abdomen - you had to lean back to maintain balance and your shoulders were tense all the time.
• Do not overload yourself physically, try to distribute the load correctly on the back. Various transport devices can help with this. They distribute the weight of the child on both shoulders and prevent fatigue in the back and neck.
• Baby care items should be adjusted according to their height so that they do not stand in an awkward position for a long time.
• It is very important to be in a comfortable position when breastfeeding, especially at night.

Neck pain in men

Neck pain, as a rule, does not differ depending on gender - it can occur in both men and women. And yet there are some differences in anatomy: the male neck is decorated with a bold Adam's apple - a thickening of the thyroid cartilage, the plates of which are at an angle to each other.

Adam's apple pain in men can indicate a fairly serious illness:

• Thyroiditis is an inflammation of the thyroid gland. With thyroiditis, patients worry about sore throat when they turn, pain in Adam's apple, above and below it, swelling of the throat.
• Thyroid cancer - the danger lies in the fact that the onset of the disease may be similar to a common cold: sore throat when swallowing, it is difficult to turn the throat and even breathe.
• Inflammation of the thyroid cartilage is an extensive suppression of the cartilage and soft tissues of the throat, which is life threatening. Patients complain of chills and high fever, pain when swallowing, loss of voice, difficulty breathing.
• Cartilage tuberculosis usually occurs with existing pulmonary tuberculosis and is its complication.
• Kadik may be ill with osteochondrosis. Violation leads to pain when swallowing, sneezing, coughing.
• Fractures, bruises and compression of the cartilage can lead to dislocation, swelling of the neck and suffocation.

Neck pain in the elderly

Radiation pain in the neck, in the elderly, may indicate the development of diseases:

• Cancer of the top of the lung (cancer with Pancost and Horner syndrome). The patient's pain in this case is related to the development of a tumor in the nerve endings of the shoulder girdle and neck.
• Tumors of the throat, salivary glands.
• Coronary heart disease. The pain can spread from the chest to the neck and arms, causing symptoms similar to osteochondrosis.
• Rheumatic polymyalgia is an inflammatory disorder characterized by stiffness and pain in the muscles of the shoulder girdle and hips.
• Spinal metastases in various oncological diseases (it is no secret that the chance of developing cancer increases with age).
• Dislocation of the cervical vertebra as a complication of rheumatoid arthritis.
• The most common causes of neck and neck pain in the elderly are osteoarthritis and osteochondrosis of the spine, rheumatoid arthritis and chronic inflammation of the connective tissue.

Neck pain in children

Severe neck pain in children occurs for the same reasons as in adults:

• Wound
• Osteochondrosis
• Stress and anxiety
• Tumors
• Diseases of other organs that cause distant pain

Perhaps the most specific "childhood" cause of neck pain is torticollis, when the child's head turns sharply to the side. Torticollis is dangerous because it leads to curvature of the cervical spine and disrupts the formation of the facial skeleton.

Contrary to popular belief, the disease occurs not only during childbirth. Depending on how torticollis appeared, the following types can be distinguished:

1. Congenital - can occur in the womb if the fetus is not positioned correctly, but most often occurs during childbirth, when the baby turns its head to the side and injures the neck muscles.
2. Dermatogenic - when the neck is twisted by scars left by wounds or burns.
3. Reflex - occurs with injuries, otitis media, diseases of the salivary gland.
4. Neurogenic - due to muscle spasms after polio or encephalitis.
5. Spastic - due to excessive tension of the cervical muscles.
6. Traumatic - associated with a fracture of the spine.

Torticollis (excluding dermatogenic and neurogenic) usually occurs in newborns, or occurs in the first months. The greatest risk of its occurrence occurs when:

• The fetus during natural childbirth is presented in arms.
• The position of the fetus in the mother's womb is such that the wall of the uterus presses against the neck.
• Childbirth is difficult and the baby's mastoid muscle is damaged (with scarring).
• It is necessary to use tweezers and a broom for difficult work.
• The mastoid muscle becomes inflamed during intrauterine growth, causing the muscle tissue to be replaced by fibrous tissue in the area of inflammation.
• The mastoid muscle pathologically overfeeds and shortens.
• By caesarean section.

How can you cure torticollis?

• The conservative method is with the help of a massage and physiotherapy course, a special orthopedic style on the baby's head, wearing an orthopedic collar and gymnastic exercises.
• Operation - performed if conservative methods have not worked. During the operation, the surgeon lengthens the sternocleidomastoid muscle and straightens the position of the child's head.

Different types of neck pain

Severe neck pain

Why is there severe pain in the neck? There are two reasons:

• Trauma (fracture, blow, injection).
• Violation of the nerve endings - this happens with osteochondrosis, intervertebral disc herniation, compression of the spinal canal.

The treatment of pain depends on the cause and includes:

• Prescribing pain medication.
• Muscle relaxants and anticonvulsants to relieve muscle spasm.
• Immobilization (immobilization) of the cervical spine.
• Exercise therapy and physiotherapy.

Severe neck pain

Severe neck pain is always unpleasant. I would like to quickly understand why it hurts and recover. What are the causes of severe pain?

• Worsening of osteochondrosis, when an unsuccessful movement, rotation or concussion of the body causes displacement of the vertebrae, violation of an existing hernia, compression of the nerves of the spine.
• Cervicitis of the cervix (inflammation and stinging of the roots of the spine).
• Cervicago - "lumbago" (sudden severe muscle spasm).
• Severe back and neck pain may occur after injury.

Neck pain with osteochondrosis

The neck pain with osteochondrosis is very intense and gives the patient many unpleasant minutes. As a result of muscle spasm or displacement of the vertebrae between them, the arteries that supply the brain can be pinned or twisted. In the most severe cases, this can lead to a situation similar to a pre-stroke, when a person is dizzy, everything floats in front of his eyes, sometimes speech and vision are lost.

Neck pain in the left

Pain in the left neck is a possible symptom of problems not only in the cervical spine, but also outside it. What can a person have if he has neck pain in the left?

• Heart disease (heart attack, coronary heart disease, angina).
• Cancer of the upper left lung.
• Injuries.
• Tumor metastases from other organs to the nodes on the left side of the neck.
• Infectious inflammation of the lymph nodes (due to tonsillitis, ARVI, tonsillitis).

Neck pain in the right

Pain in the neck on the right side is a worrying symptom, but most of the time it is formally explained: a person has osteochondrosis with all the consequent consequences. Such consequences include nerve entrapment, muscle spasms, intervertebral disc herniation and hernia, vascular disorders.

But there are other causes of neck pain in the right:

• Biliary colic that radiates to the neck and shoulder.
• Right-sided top lung cancer with tumor infiltration in the nerves above.
• Bruises, injuries, fractures of the key and vertebrae.
• Tumors of the cervical spine (metastases from other organs).
• If the pain is concentrated in the front right side of the neck, it may also indicate heart problems (heart attack, coronary heart disease).
• Inflammation of the lymph nodes due to ARVI and sore throat.

Pain in the neck and shoulder

Pain in the neck and shoulders is a classic sign of cervical osteochondrosis and its accompanying complications (violation of hernia, nerves, spinal cord). In addition, the simultaneous pain in the neck and shoulders is a symptom of such diseases:

• Gallstone disease during exacerbation, with biliary colic.
• Heart deseases.
• Shoulder arthritis.
• Cervical plexitis is an inflammation of the large nerve nodes of the spinal nerves.
• Periarthritis of the shoulder and scapula - inflammation of the shoulder tendons and capsules of the shoulder joints.
• Myositis.
• Arthritis.

Neck and back pain

Pain in the neck and lower back is usually a sign of extensive osteochondrosis, which has invaded the entire spine. After all, it does not happen that the posture of the body in one part of the spine is good and in the other it is bad. With osteochondrosis, neck pain is mild when the disease is in remission and is strong, painful if they have worsened. The flare-up begins with a sharp pain in the neck and back with an unsuccessful turn, movement, impact. It can be removed with the help of medicines prescribed by the doctor, rest, light heat on the affected area, exercise therapy and physiotherapy.

Neck and neck pain

Pain in the neck and back of the head is most often a symptom of a typical cervical osteochondrosis - a dangerous but not fatal disease. But sometimes it indicates meningitis and this disease is a threat to human life. The causative agents of meningitis - bacteria and viruses - invade the brain and spinal cord and cause inflammation of their membranes.

Numbness, pain in the neck and back of the head, stiffness of the occipital muscles, inability to simultaneously pull the head to the chest, flexion of the leg at the knee - all these are meningeal symptoms that will immediately alert the doctor. The treatment of a dangerous disease takes place in a hospital,

In addition to meningitis and osteochondrosis, the cause of pain in the neck and back of the head can be injuries, occipital nerve neuralgia, hypertension and muscle strain.

Causes and symptoms of neck pain

Wound

The cause of neck pain is sometimes an injury, due to which the cervical vertebrae are displaced or broken, the spinal nerves are damaged. Injury can occur from accidents, falls, injuries, poor diving or sudden movement. Symptoms of a neck injury include:

• Improper bending of the neck, inability to rotate the tension of the muscles of the head, chest and neck indicate a fracture of the lower vertebrae.
• Pain in the crown and back of the head is an indication that the 1st cervical vertebra is damaged.
• Swelling and "bruising" can be the result of a neck injury.
• Pain in the neck when turning the head, in the shoulders, in the upper chest, the headaches are a symptom of a whip injury, which occurs due to alternating sharp bending and extension of the neck (this can happen when the vehicle brakes suddenly).

Neoplasms

An extremely dangerous cause of neck pain is a malignant neoplasm. How can it be?

• Neck pain as a symptom of a tumor in the upper part of the lung. It grows on nerve bundles and blood vessels, which causes severe pain. A person may be bothered by pain in the left or right neck, depending on the location of the tumor.
• A symptom of neck pain sometimes indicates the development of lymphoma - lymph node cancer. As many lymph nodes accumulate in the throat, they develop as the disease progresses and it is difficult not to notice. Other obvious signs of lymphoma include excessive sweating, a seemingly absurd fever, and weight loss.
• Salivary gland cancer is a tumor that affects the salivary glands behind the ears, on the side of the neck and on the palate. At an early stage, it is painless, only occasionally you can notice seals in the affected glands.
• A tumor of the larynx grows on its walls, visually representing a tuberous neoplasm. It is difficult to notice them during a regular examination, therefore, cancer, unfortunately, is diagnosed at a slow stage, when other manifestations become apparent: a foreign body sensation in the throat, hoarseness and nasalization of the voice, difficulty breathing or nose. A tumor of the larynx is also dangerous because it is prone to the early onset of metastases, which significantly worsens the prognosis of the patient's recovery.
• Thyroid cancer presents with nodular lumps, pain in the front of the neck and changes in the voice.
• In thyroid cartilage cancer, patients complain of difficulty swallowing and moving food to the larynx, a foreign body sensation, or a lump in the throat.

Reflex pain in diseases of other organs

Radiation pain in the neck does not always indicate that the problem is in the neck itself. Sometimes it hurts due to poor health of other organs and then the pain is called reflex. What diseases can cause it?

• Cardiac (ischemic heart disease, heart attack, angina) - accompanied by attacks, when the pain radiates to the shoulders, neck, sometimes to the arm.
• Pain in the neck on the right, below the right shoulder and in the right shoulder occurs during an attack of biliary colic with stones in the gallbladder.
• Esophageal diseases (reflux, erosion, ulcer).
• Oncological diseases (lymphoma, tumor metastases) are the cause of human pain when the tumor affects the nerve endings. Thus, cancer of the apex of the lung, when the tumor grows upwards, leads to pain in the neck and shoulders. Intracranial tumors, oncological diseases of the head also cause pain in the cervical spine.
• Abscesses and phlegm of the head.
• Bleeding in the subarachnoid space between the brain and its thin tissues.

Psychological causes of neck pain

Symptoms of neck pain often occur in combination with muscle spasm. Convulsions are not just caused by stress, injury or trauma - they can be caused by stress, nervous shock and fatigue. Why is this happening?

The fact is that the body perceives stress as a threat to its well-being and this makes it mobilize. There is a release of stress hormones into the bloodstream, the heart rate increases and digestion, on the contrary, slows down. Muscle tone increases in response to hormonal changes. Once we experience the worrying state, the body enters a normal state. But if the emotional stress takes a chronic form, the muscle spasm becomes stable and in the background diseases of the spine develop (osteochondrosis, hernia, disc protrusion).

Sedentary lifestyle, frequent computer work

Pain in the neck muscles often occurs due to the fact that a person has a reduced posture and the cause of the reduced posture may be a weakness of the muscular corset. As a rule, this happens in people who are far from physical education, lead a sedentary life and work a lot on the computer. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the workplace is often not well organized and the person sits bent or uncomfortably bent. As a result, the pain radiating to the neck becomes a constant companion, the usual muscle spasm is formed, degenerative changes begin in the intervertebral discs, osteochondrosis develops. And even with osteochondrosis, neck pain becomes a constant companion: periods of pain relief are replaced by exacerbations and only appropriate treatment, lifestyle changes from sedentary to mobile, posture control, muscle strengtheningneck and back can break this circle.

Diagnosis of neck pain

How to determine the causes of neck pain and determine the diagnosis?

• First of all, you need to collect a souvenir:
• Life memory. It is necessary to know if there have been injuries to the neck and shoulder girdle in the past, with which diseases the person was ill and which of them became chronic, if there was a recent cold and hypothermia. For example, the fact of cholecystitis may explain the painful sensations in the throat - with biliary colic, the pain sometimes only radiates to this area. At the same time, the cause of left neck pain can be: a tumor in the upper part of the left lung, muscle inflammation and compression of the roots of the left spine.
• Disease reminder - how and how it started, which doctor the patient consulted, what examination and treatment was prescribed for him, how it affected the course of the disease (whether it got better or worse).
• A visual examination will help make a diagnosis - the doctor palpates the lymph nodes and muscles, monitors the mobility of the head and neck, assesses the condition and color of the skin, looks for visible lesions and injuries.
• If there is a suspicion that the pain in the neck and shoulders is the result of diseases of other organs, the patient should be referred to a specialized specialist - oncologist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, cardiologist, etc.
• In other cases, the radiation diagnosis will help clarify the diagnosis: MSCT, CT, x-ray.
• Sometimes electroneuromyography (ENMG), an electrophysiological study, is a useful diagnostic procedure that determines the condition of muscles and the peripheral nervous system.

Treatment of neck pain

Medication

The medical treatment of neck pain, whether due to cancer or problems in other organs, aims to treat the localized underlying disease. If the issue is in diseases of the spine and muscle tension, then the following drugs can be prescribed:

1. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used to relieve pain and reduce inflammation. NSAIDs are available in the form of tablets, injections and in the form of gels and ointments. In the acute stage, both can be prescribed (at intervals of several hours). So, if you can turn your head from sore throat only through tears, injections and ointments will help you.
2. Muscle relaxants are drugs that reduce skeletal muscle tone.
3. Anticonvulsants - drugs to relieve smooth muscle spasms.
4. B vitamins are essential for improving metabolic processes and the synthesis of neurotransmitters.
5. If blood circulation is disturbed due to compression of blood vessels and muscles, vasodilators are prescribed.

Massage

Massage for the treatment of neck and waist pain is used when the acute symptoms of the disease have subsided. The beneficial effect of massage is that:

• Improves blood flow to the affected area
• Relieves muscle spasm, relaxes, helps relieve tension and fatigue
• Removes swelling and inflammation
• Improves cerebral blood supply
• Restores the ability of the joints to move

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy for neck pain is started at the same time as the medication, when the acute symptoms subside or remission occurs. During the period of acute course of the disease, only those treatments that have an analgesic effect can be prescribed. Physiotherapy gives a good result, because the result is specifically addressed to the affected area. What procedures are possible?

1. Electrophoresis with various drugs. Under the influence of alternating current, the drugs penetrate deep into the tissues.
2. Phototherapy (laser treatment) - exposure to light beams at a constant wavelength in the affected area of the body.
3. Magnetotherapy is a method of treating pain under the neck and neck using an alternating or fixed magnetic field. The method has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.
4. Ultrasound treatment provides relief from pain and inflammation in the neck.
5. Detoxification treatment is a stretching of the spine due to the weight of a person in a special mattress with sloping sides. This type of physiotherapy normalizes muscle tone, relieves tension.
6. The method of shock wave therapy (SWT) is based on the action of low frequency acoustic waves that the human ear can not hear. Impact wave therapy allows you to reduce or eliminate pain, improve blood flow to the area of exposure to the device.
7. Vibration therapy - exposure to mechanical vibrations using vibrating massage.
8. Exercise therapy (physiotherapy exercises) - the complex can vary from traditional gymnastics to an individual set of exercises, developed taking into account the patient's diagnosis and condition.

Surgery

Surgical treatment for neck pain is prescribed when conservative treatment has not given the desired result:

• The pain does not go away with medication
• There are signs of compression of the spinal cord and roots
• Intense and increased weakness in the muscles of the hands

Most often, disc herniation surgeries are performed simultaneously with fusion and immobilization of adjacent vertebrae. To eliminate the compression of the spinal cord, a laminectomy is used - removal of part of the spinal arch, followed by the elimination of osteophytes and hernias.

After surgery and proper recovery, the symptoms of neck pain cease to bother the patient.

Prevention of neck pain

With neck pain, turning your head, tilting it or lying down comfortably becomes a big problem. And if it hurts a lot, then life ceases to please at all. You can avoid neck problems with prevention. What do we have to do?

• Choose a comfortable sleeping position, a mattress with sufficient stability and a low pillow from which your shoulders will not fall.
• Watch your own posture: do not crumple, do not sit bent over.
• Perform at least simple exercises to regularly strengthen your neck muscles. Stretching and yoga are helpful.
• If you have a sedentary lifestyle, take breaks every hour and a half to walk, stretch and stretch.
• Protect yourself from physical injuries: do not turn your neck abruptly, avoid impacts and traumatic sports loads.
• Get rid of the habit of talking on the phone by pressing it with your ear and shoulder.
• Avoid nervous shock, stress and worries. Negative emotions and stress can cause stiffness, fatigue and muscle cramps.
• It is undesirable to load one of the two shoulders, as the deformity of the spine causes pain in the right or left neck.
• Avoid colds and currents that can cause myositis (inflammation of the neck muscles).
• Drink plenty of decaffeinated fluids. Adequate water allows you to efficiently transport the substances and electrolytes your muscles need.
• Eat foods that contain calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Deficiency of these substances can cause muscle spasm and neck pain.

Severe neck pain can seriously ruin your life, especially if it happened at the wrong time - for example, on a long-awaited vacation. Therefore, in the first "calls", you should not ignore the alarming signals of the body, but get examined and get a doctor's recommendation. It is not untimely to remember about prevention: moderate exercise, sleep and work in a comfortable position, proper nutrition and weight distribution during transport will help maintain neck health.