Neck pain is a problem that most adult Americans seem to suffer from these days. The reasons for these pains are quite diverse and can be caused by an injury to the cervical spine or simply by certain activities that strain the neck. Activities like sitting on a computer for long periods of time, slouching, sleeping with your neck twisted or painting a ceiling can cause strain in your neck that in turn results in the swelling of neck joints or spasm of the neck muscles.
Apart from these activities neck pain can be caused by a cervical spine injury like falling from a height or whiplash from a car accident. Apart from these common causes, sometimes neck pain can be caused due to some specific medical conditions like cervical spinal stenosis or narrowing of the spinal canal, neck infection and rheumatoid arthritis.
Neck Pain Symptoms
Most of the time the symptoms of neck pains start from a person feeling an unusual stiffness or knot in the neck area which slowly develops into severe pain. This stiffness does allow the sufferer to move his head or neck easily and when the pain increase it can spread to upper back, arms and shoulders. In some cases the patient may also develop headaches.
You may also suffer from shooting pain down your arms in case of pressure on a spinal nerve root. These neck pains can also cause tingling or numbness in your arm. Chronic neck pain (long lasting) is grueling physically and can be a possible hindrance in your normal day to day life. These long lasting pains can also result in depression and anxiety if not properly treated.
If you are suffering from neck pains or other type of cervical spine pain like shoulder or arm pain then examination from a doctor is extremely advisable. A proper examination from a doctor will help in determining the proper diagnosis and treatment of your condition.
