Most of us experience neck pain occasionally, and it can sometimes go away after a few days. But some individuals experience neck pain on a regular basis, and the pain can become chronic and often debilitating which can lead to strong forms of medications used to help ease the pain, including medical marijuana from companies like Mankind Dispensary as well as other forms of relief. The neck is a very sensitive area, and if you are dealing with neck pain, there may be a specific cause for your pain. There are some diseases and conditions which can cause neck pain as well. Here are the common causes of neck pain and what you can do to deal with it.
The common causes of neck pain
As mentioned, most of us have neck pain when we strain our muscles while sleeping or when we are stressed, and these are common reasons for such pain. But there are other causes of neck pain which can be more serious, such as degenerative disc disease or neck injuries like a herniated disc, a pinched nerve, or whiplash. If you have an infection, you can also experience neck pain. For example, if you have a throat virus, this can lead to neck pain and the swelling of the lymph nodes. But there are some less common infections which can also cause neck pain, such as an infection of the bones of the spine (septic discitis and osteomyelitis) or neck tuberculosis. The stiffness of the neck can also accompany a condition like meningitis. Other conditions, such as fibromyalgia, can cause neck pain, as can polymyalgia rheumatica.
If you have suffered a recent injury due to sports, a vehicular accident, or other intense activities such as horseback riding, you may be experiencing pain in the neck as well.
The symptoms of neck pain
When you have pain in your neck, you can often feel it as a dull ache. Sometimes, the pain becomes worse when you move your neck or turn your head. But there are other symptoms associated with neck pain such as numbness, a tingling sensation, a feeling of ‘fullness’ in the neck, a sharp pain, pulsations, difficulty when it comes to swallowing, lightheadedness or dizziness, ‘swishing’ sounds from the head and the swelling of the lymph nodes.
Some people can also feel symptoms such as headaches as well as shoulder and facial pain or numbness in the arms. These related symptoms can often be the result of the nerves being pinched. There are also other individuals who can feel symptoms such as lower back or upper back pain.
The neck’s structure
What you should know is that the neck and spine area consist of 7 vertebrae. These vertebrae surround the canal and the spinal cord, and there are discs in between each vertebra. The neck’s nerves are near these discs. The neck’s structure includes the muscles, the skin, the veins and arteries, the parathyroid and thyroid glands, the lymph nodes, the trachea, the larynx, and esophagus. If you have a condition or disease in any of these tissues, you may have neck pain as well. However we should all take great care of our bodies, and work on strengthening these muscles so it might be worth investing some time and money into using neck strengthening Equipment to help prevent neck pain from getting worse.
What you can do
If the pain in your neck has become unbearable or debilitating, it may be time to seek help from Neurosurgeons or the like specialists. Of course, you can always go to your GP, but the chances are that your GP will refer you to a specialist as well. Some specialists include orthopaedists, neurosurgeons, rheumatologists, ENT specialists, and chiropractors such as the expert chiropractors from Canary Wharf Chiropractic. Other specialists include physical therapists and massage therapists as well as acupuncturists. Any one of these specialists can help you as soon as they have determined the cause of your pain and the condition which may be the cause of it.
Image attributed toPixabay.com