Neck Pain: A Daily Life Threatening

If we talk about common symptoms that people, especially working adults and elderly, usually have these days, neck pain is definitely one of them. Neck pain or known as cervicalgia is a common symptom caused by wrong posture. Although this may sound like normal symptoms with slight effects, neck pain can become more severe and there is a lot of detail that everyone should know about it.

What is Neck Pain

Neck pain (Cervicalgia) is a common symptom in which pain happens around the spine connected to the head. It can be caused by many factors, such as poor posture, injuries, stress, aging and so on. The symptoms of neck pain can indicate in various ways not only the pain around the neck area, it can include headache, numbness of your shoulders, or stiffness of the neck. These symptoms can be irritating to your daily life if you don’t get the treatment.

What Causes Neck Pain

As mentioned before, the neck is the part of the body that is considered as a fragile part and is at risk of injury and because of that, neck pain is actually caused by many factors. In the following lists, these are the causes of neck pain. 

• Wrong posture
• Sitting at the table or on chair that does not compatible with your body for a long time.
• Spending time, working or playing, in the same posture for a long time without changing your posture will cause stiffness to the neck.
• Sleeping on your stomach is not a good posture for sleeping because your neck is twisted on one side for a long time and it causes soreness to your neck.
  
  
• Neck accident / injury
• Any accident or movement, such as moving your neck immediately, can injure the ligament, muscles or spinal cord’s muscle. This will strain the neck muscle, and if there is a serious accident, e.g. being in a car accident, the neck can be dislocated or fractured.
  
  

Psychological stress

• Stress from any problems in your life can lead to stiffness of your neck and sometimes there is a headache as one of the neck pain symptoms.

• Osteoarthritis / Arthritis Osteoarthritis
• Part of your cervical spine may be degraded as you’re getting older because your bone will lost minerals and this will cause neck pain.
• Other causes
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Cancer
• Congenital cervical spondylosis
• Meningitis
• Vision’s abnormality

Neck Pain Symptoms

Neck pain doesn’t have only the pain that occurs around your neck, but also other symptoms along with it. These are possible symptoms happening during neck pain.

• Capability in head moving will be decreased. The neck will encounter stiffness and muscle strain which prevents you with pain from turning, twisting or tilting your neck.
  
  
• Headache can also happen when having neck pain. This symptom is called “cervicogenic headache” and it is transferred to the head from a particular cause in the neck. This ache is typically a continuous aching, but it might intensify at times.
  
  
• Posterior neck pain is primary stage of axial neck pain. Sometimes the discomfort might radiate to the shoulder, shoulder blade, or base of the skull. 
  
  
• Numbness is also showing in neck pain. You may feel tingling, numbness or stabbing pain around arms down to hands area if the neck pain you're experiencing is caused by a compressed nerve.
  
  

Neck Pain Diagnose

In diagnosing neck pain, it can be diagnosed by many medical methods, However, a medical professional can typically identify the cause of neck pain based on a patient's medical history and physical examination. If there are possibility of severe symptoms or indication that it might lead to serious disease, they will suggest further examination. These are medical process that will be use diagnosing neck pain.

• Medical history will be checked in detail if there is the history of any neck injury or any activities that might affect the neck muscle, including the symptoms you’re experiencing.
  
  
• Physical examination will be suggested to check your condition. You’ll be asked to move your neck in various directions in order to check the stiffness and strain of your neck.
  
  
• CT scan will be used to check cervical spondylosis (the bone degeneration)
  
  
• MRI scan will allow the doctor to check spinal cord, nerve, bone marrow, including the displacement of disk.
  
  
• X-ray will identify arthritis as well as the image of cervical alignment, fractures and disks.
  
  
• EMG (Electromyography) is the method which check muscle and nerve condition.

How to Relieve Neck Pain

If you experience mild neck pain, it can be relieved or cured by ourselves. However, sometimes neck pain can get worse and help from a specialist is necessary. This part will introduce simple ways of relieving neck pain by yourselves.

• How to relieve pain by yourselves
• Hot therapy and cold therapy are recomended by showering in hot water or using hot towel and placing it on your neck for 15 minutes every few hours in order to relax your muscles and reduce pain. Moreover, cold water is able to reduce inflammation by placing a cold pack on your neck for 15 minutes the same way with hot therapy.
• Exercising your neck is recommended if you have a minor neck pain symptom. This will help improve and ease pain and capability of moving.
  
  

Neck Pain Prevention

Because neck pain is a common symptom majorly caused by your behavior, it can be very irritating for your daily life and can occur over and over again. To stay healthy and keep your daily life in peace, following these lists will prevent neck pain.

• Practice good posture by keeping your shoulders straight and avoid bending your neck.
• Move your body and don’t stay in the same posture for a long time.
• Take a break from what you’re doing for too long, such as working,lifting things, exercising. It is better if you’re doing it slowly and steady because it might worsen neck pain symptoms.
•  Try to sit on chair and table that have compatible level with your body.
  
  

Neck Pain Conclusion

In conclusion, neck pain is known as a common symptom that people are currently experiencing because of studying, working and so on. Neck pain seems to be a minor thing that can be ignored, but it is not and needs to be treated as soon as possible. It can interfere with your daily routine with muscle strain and decrease your ability of neck motion. So, it is necessary to consult with a specialist to find the cause and get treatment, including changing your lifestyle to prevent yourself from neck pain.