It is essential to know about our body parts and their functioning before treating any pain, especially a sensitive part like neck that not only holds overall body weight, but also head, bones, ligaments, muscles and front end of the spine. So, a good care and protection is necessary for appropriate body functioning.
If you want to find out what is causing your neck pain from a neck pain specialist, then you must visit Revitalize Rehab Club in California, US. They provide services of a certified orthopedic specialist and modern therapies to reduce severe neck pain at affordable cost. Also, they offer visceral manipulation and vestibular rehabilitation for their patients.
Overview
Sometimes, you may get neck pain because of stressed spine due to health problems like diseases, injury, low immunity and more. In case, you have acute pain, it may extend to other organs particularly head, hands and shoulder, casually, recovers within weeks or more days.
If your pain is chronic, you may experience tissue scaring, arthritis and nerve damage. It takes nearly 3 months or above to recover from pain.
What is neck pain?
Basically, neck pain is not severe, but if pain becomes intense, it becomes difficult for you to even turn your head. You may also experience other problems like tingling, numbness, tenderness, sharp shooting pain and more along with your neck pain.
Neck pain or cervical pain is quite common, and this particular condition occurs due to various diseases, disorders or damage to tissues in the neck.
The following is some information regarding symptoms, causes, and factors of neck pain that helps you get a clear idea regarding neck pain.
Neck pain symptoms
- Stiff neck
- Tenderness
- Head ache
- Tingling and weak arms
- Fever
- Muscle, facial, and shoulder pain
- Lower back/upper back pain
Causes for neck pain
There are a lot of causes for neck pain, but the common reasons include problem in nerves, joints, and muscles and the risk factors include accidents, contact sports involvement, horse riding, and others. To prevent neck pain, you have to perform exercises that strengthen neck, as a well as neck bracing.
- Trauma or injury – Certain type of injuries such as sports injury, whiplash injury, and muscle tear, etc.
- Stenosis – The nerves and cord present in your spine will get compress and swell due to bony canal narrowing.
- Pinched nerve – If the spinal nerve compresses, it causes ache or pain that travel to arms, hands, and even to fingers.
Orthopedic reasons
In addition to the above, there are various other orthopedic reasons too. They include –
Weak cervical disc herniation (disc bulging/rupture)
The displaced disc will compress the nerve in the spine or spinal cord or both. This may cause neck or arm pain.
There are different types of cervical disc herniation in neck. Earlier it was believed that a person with disc herniation has to undergo surgery immediately, but most of them can be managed with modern physical therapies these days. Human body is a recovering machine itself and if you take right treatment you can avoid surgery and get rid of the problem.
Ligaments
Generally, our neck contains a lot of ligaments that connects one bone to the other. This helps to reduce more movement of bones. If the ligament wrench, then you will suffer with overstretched ligaments referred to as sprain.
Moreover, ligament get stressed due to whiplash injury, sitting for a long time and using a smartphone. With this, ligaments cause pain and restrict your movement.
Muscles
Muscles in the body are made with muscle fiber. If you had a muscle injury in neck, then the fibers will be torn due to the impact of high force that may cause a knot, your muscles will not receive proper blood circulation from underuse, overuse, or improper use. This is called as trigger point in medical terminology.
These trigger point’s help to detect which muscle is causing pain. Few neck muscles may cause pain in the wrist, elbow joints, or in fingers.
Cranial nerves
These nerves come from skull and connect with legs and arms. It is essential to have healthy cranial nerves because they help create stability. Each nerve has a particular function for movement or sense such as a vestibulocochlear nerve – balance and hearing, a facial nerve – taste and face movement, a vagus nerve – sensation, abdominal organs, movements and so on.
The cervical spine compresses and tightens to defend these important nerves. This may result in dizziness, numbness, headache, and other symptoms. If you try to work on your skill, you may restore the physical blockages or tension of your cranial nerves.
Overthinking of future and past
According to the research studies, stress can cause a serious effect on the body functioning. Cortisol stress hormone drives the body and impacts muscular response, digestion, and immune system.
With this, hormones in the body will be in the tension state that cannot be fixed by mobilization and manipulation. Peaceful mind and exercises are one of the best ways to get relief from pain and stress.
Diagnosis of neck pain
If you are experiencing severe neck pain, then consult a doctor before it becomes worse. Your doctor will help you in determining the cause of neck pain and type, and provides a right treatment to reduce pain. X-ray, CT, MRI scan, blood test, or electromyography (EMG) to find out the cause and muscle strength.
Treatment for neck pain
There are various options to treat neck pain depending on its severity and type. One of the best options is physical therapy. It helps to restore the activities of neck and prevents from re-injury.
Proper walking and lifting techniques, muscle strengthening exercises, stretching arms, abdominal muscles, and neck will ease your pain in less time and more effective compared to other alternatives. Surgery is not necessary for all type of neck pain you can get relief from regular exercises and by taking few preventive measures.
Choose the best orthopedic who offers best physical therapy treatment for neck pain and visit today to get relief from pain and to maintain overall well-being.