Symptoms of neck pain

Symptoms of neck pain are pretty obvious and easy to feel, as your neck is crucial for your daily function, although they may not be taken seriously enough from time to time. So it is important to know when to contact a doctor.

Most neck pain improves gradually with home treatment. If not, see your doctor. Seek immediate care if severe neck pain results from an injury, such as a motor vehicle accident, diving accident or fall. Contact a doctor if your neck pain:

• • Is severe
• • Persists for several days without relief
• • Spreads down arms or legs
• • Is accompanied by headache, numbness, weakness or tingling

However some other symptoms of neck pain include :

• • Pain that's often worsened by holding your head in one place for long periods, such as when driving or working at a computer
• • Muscle tightness and spasms
• • Decreased ability to move your head
• • Headache

It is important to differentiate neck pains that are local or radicular because the treatment plan for these are different.

Also you have to differentiate the pain with sensory symptoms from the pain without sensory symptoms like tingling or paresthesia or numbness.

Prevention of neck pain problems :

Most daily activities require you to use your neck# and it is mostly inevitable or rather hard to prevent neck pain completely. Thus you should consider looking at your daily habits too and may need to change some if you want to keep your neck in the best possible shape.

Most neck pain is associated with poor posture# combined with age-related wear and tear. To help prevent neck pain, it is best to keep your head centred over your spine, avoid looking down too much, like at your phone or laptop.

As a general idea here are some ways to prevent neck pain :

• • When standing and sitting, be sure your shoulders are in a straight line over your hips and your ears are directly over your shoulders.
• • Frequently get up, move around and stretch your neck and shoulders.
• • Adjust your electronic device so that the monitor is at eye level.
• • Sleep in a good position, your head and neck should be aligned with your body. Use a small pillow under your neck if needed.
• • It can also be helpful to sleep on your back with your thighs elevated on pillows, which will flatten your spinal muscles .

Causes of neck pain

Your neck is one of the most flexible parts of your body, as it supports the weight of your entire head. This makes your neck very vulnerable to injuries and conditions that cause pain and restrict motion.

The most common cause of neck pain is a muscle #strain, in which a muscle is stretched too far and tears. Neck muscle strain is typically caused by poor posture or support, such as sleeping with the neck in awkward positions or any other malpositioning .

Some other causes of neck pain : Worn joints : Just like the other joints in your body, your neck joints tend to wear down with age.

Nerve compression : Herniated disks or bone spurs in the vertebrae of your neck , Canal stenosis and degenerative joint diseases can press on the nerves branching out from the spinal cord. Injuries : Rear-end auto collisions often result in whiplash injury, as well as any other accidents, even minor ones.

Finally certain diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, meningitis or cancer, can cause neck pain.

How to treat trigger points

treatment modalities include acupuncture, osteopathic manual medicine techniques, massage, acupressure, ultrasonography, application of heat or ice, diathermy, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, ethyl chloride Spray and Stretch technique, and dry needling. However all these should be done by a professional.

If you are looking to treat trigger points at home or to ease the pain until you get professional help, you may consider the following :

• • If pain flares up right after activity, use an ice pack to reduce inflammation.
• • If achy soreness persists over a period of time, or if you wake up with sore muscles, try applying a heating pad to help ease muscle tightness.
• • Massaging the trigger point may loosen the knot and encourage the muscle to relax.
• • Anti-inflammatories can relieve muscle pain.
• • Pay attention to activities that aggravate the trigger point, and avoid problematic actions if you can.
• • Avoid mental and physical stress.
• • Adjust your routine to include aerobic exercises that engage neck and shoulder muscles.
• • A set of jumping jacks, stretches, or swimming can stretch and warm the trapezoid muscles, easing muscle tension.

How trigger points develop

An acute muscle injury or continual muscle stress may lead to the development of trigger points. For example, a spot within or near a strained muscle may become a trigger point. Repetitive motions and poor posture also may increase your risk as well.

Surprisingly, stress and anxiety play a role in the development of trigger point as well, because when we are stressed, our body tenses, we tend to breath shallowly and our shoulders rise. This posture causes certain muscles around the head and #neck to be tight and short, developing trigger points if done too often.

Next trigger points develop as a result of muscular injuries, strains, and trauma. When muscle fibres, fascia, ligaments, or tendons become weakened, overstretched, or inflamed, tiny tears in the associated soft tissue can occur. As the tissue heals it contracts, becoming twisted and knotted.

Symptoms of trigger points

In my last post, I talked about all the risk factors of trigger points. However I do want to mention one more thing, trigger points may also manifest as tension headache, tinnitus, temporomandibular joint pain, decreased range of motion in the legs, and low back pain, leaving the trigger point to feel like little marbles or knots just under your skin.

Common symptoms of Trigger points may include:

• • deep pain in localized areas of muscles
• • pain that gets worse when the affected muscle is stretched or strained
• • muscle pain that gets worse or fails to improve with time
• • presence of painful knots in muscles that when pressed produce intense localized or referred pain
• • muscles that are weak, stiff, inflexible, or have reduced range of motion
• • mood or sleep disturbances

You may also experience :

• • Abdominal Cramps
• • Abdominal Pain
• • Anal Pain and Painful Bowel Movements
• • Arm pain
• • Chest pain
• • Shoulder pain

And many more muscle pains, including weakening of your ankle palm, and jaw muscle, which can lead to a development of TMJ.

So it is crucial to let your doctor know if you have any concerns