The cervical or neck, a continuation of the spine, is made up of seven bony vertebrae and ligaments that go from the base of the skull to the upper torso. The Atlas is the uppermost or top vertebrate and holds the head, while a vertical peg around the Axis, the next vertebrate, allows the head to turn. The entire neck has far more movement and flexibility than the back but does not have the thick muscles to protect it or bear the weight your back can. Your neck also contains nerves, muscles, tendons, and joints. Neck pain can come from your shoulders, head, jaw, or other areas near your neck

Most neck pain is due to muscle strains often caused by overuse, such as lengthy or recurrent activities. This can result in neck joint inflammation, painful neck muscle spasms, sprain from sudden ligament wrenching, or neck strain from an overused or overstretched muscle. Some of the many things that can cause neck pain include, poor posture such as slouching, stress and worry, sleeping in an uncomfortable or awkward position, continuously playing video games hunched over, prolonged computer keyboard use, painting the ceiling, or remaining in one position for an extended length of time. Less often, neck pain occurs from an injury or trauma such as whiplash, falling, or other accidents. Whiplash causes your head to jerk back and forward which stretches and pulls the soft neck tissues beyond their limit. Neck disc disorders and arthritis can also cause neck pain.

You should seek medical advice if your neck pain lasts longer than a week or two, or you have severe pain after neck or head trauma such as a blow to your head or whiplash. If you are suffering from weakness or loss of strength in your leg or arm or are experiencing tingling or numbness in your fingers, a shooting pain down your arm or through your shoulder blades, or there is a significant change in your bowel or bladder habits, seek medical attention immediately.

Managing and treating chronic pain including chronic neck pain can be difficult and challenging. It often takes several combinations of therapy or treatment to find one that helps a person get some relief. Treatment goals are to increase a person’s ability to function while reducing pain. At home, you may be able to help manage or control your pain by eating a proper, healthy, balanced diet. A registered dietitian or your doctor can supply you with a diet that contains all the vitamins and minerals you require. Getting adequate sleep, appropriate daily exercise, and taking pain and anti-inflammatory drugs often helps chronic neck pain sufferers. Some people find relief by using therapies such as meditation or acupuncture. Many people dealing with chronic pain including chronic neck pain experience emotional problems such as anxiety, anger, depression, fear, and/or frustration, making it difficult to deal with or conquer the pain. Your emotional well-being is extremely important so seek the help of a psychiatrist, psychologist, or licensed mental health counselor if necessary, for cognitive behavior therapy or other treatments.

If the above treatments do not reduce or relieve your chronic neck pain, your doctor or specialist may prescribe physical therapy to improve function and movement. They may change, add or prescribe new or stronger medications or recommend relaxation techniques to help you reduce stress. It is extremely important to find a doctor or specialist that you feel comfortable talking to, have confidence in, and maintain regular contact. Ask your physician to refer you to a pain management clinic if the treatments for your chronic neck pain are not effective. The health professionals at a pain management clinic will help you identify possible treatments and help you determine realistic goals.

When some people think of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, they believe that neck pain and lymphoma are always related but that is not true. The signs and physical symptoms patients with NHL experience are various. The most common sign experienced by people with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is swollen lymph nodes. Some patients experience neck pain and lymphoma symptoms while others experience no pain at all. Swollen or enlarged lymph nodes often occur under a persons arm or arms, in their neck or various other parts of their body. In the abdomen, enlarged lymph nodes may cause back pain, swelling, a bloated feeling, or discomfort while in the groin, enlarged lymph nodes may cause the persons ankles or legs to swell.

When a patient tells his or her doctor about specific symptoms they are experiencing such as unexplained weight loss, itching, chills, neck pain, lack of energy, night sweats, and fever, the physician may feel they indicate the presence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Most people that experience no particular complaints such as neck pain and lymphoma specific symptoms often find that doctors may rule out NHL. The reason for this is that most serious illnesses persist and do not disappear and return, so non-specific complaints are not normally a non-Hodgkin lymphoma sign. Your physician should definitely check you for NHL if you have persistent symptoms.

If you have neck pain and lymphoma symptoms that suggest there may be a chance you have non-Hodgkin lymphoma, your doctor will perform a complete physical examination looking for signs such as swollen lymph nodes in the tonsil and neck area, on the elbows, in the groin and armpits, above the shoulders, and under the chin. Your doctor will also check other parts of your body looking for signs such as, fluid or swelling in your abdomen or chest that could be the result of swollen lymph nodes or enlarged internal organs in your abdomen. They will also look for any paralysis or weakness because this could indicate the presence of an enlarged lymph node pressing on the spinal cord or nerves. Your doctor will order other tests including a biopsy, x-rays, and blood tests if he or she suspects that your neck pain and lymphoma symptoms suggest you could have non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

With brain tumor symptoms neck pain can appear at times but headaches are usually the most frequent sign of a brain tumor. Most people have headaches at one time or another but that does not mean they have a brain tumor. Headaches resulting from brain tumors produce various symptoms depending upon the brain tumors location. Although usually associated with other symptoms such as confusion or vomiting, some brain tumor headaches occur while sleeping. With brain tumor symptoms, neck pain, numbness, weakness, or double vision some times occur. Other types of headache symptoms sometimes caused by brain tumors include a headache that worsens with exercise or coughing and a headache that is more severe upon awakening but usually disappears after two or three hours.

There are several other brain tumor symptoms. Neck pain and headaches are common but so are gastrointestinal symptoms. Individuals with brain stem cell tumors and other types of tumors often experience vomiting and nausea. Some patients with brain tumors suffer from reasoning and speech problems, impaired concentration, memory loss, or increased sleeping time. Depending upon the brain tumors location, between fifteen and ninety-five percent of all patients suffer from seizures. A brain tumor that affects a certain brain area often causes a partial seizure. They may experience tingling, confusion, odd emotional or mental events or jerking movements but remain conscious during the partial seizure. Generalized seizures, which sometimes cause a person to lose consciousness, are not very common. Other significant brain tumor symptoms, neck pain being one, also include unsteadiness, difficulty with speech, gradual sensation or movement loss affecting a leg or arm, hearing loss sometimes accompanied by dizziness, or peripheral vision loss or double vision in both or one eye.

There are specific brain tumors that have specific symptom syndromes that often help doctors identify a specific tumor. An example of this is Brain Stem Gliomas. Symptoms that appear suddenly include problems swallowing, a clumsy walk, impaired vision or hearing, vomiting upon waking, slurred or nasal speech, and muscle weakness that affects only one side of the patients face.

To get the maximum results from neck pain exercises, do them on a regular basis a set number of times daily and keep the movements steady and slow. Moving too quickly or jerking when doing your neck pain exercises can cause neck strain and pain instead of reducing them.

Stretching neck pain exercises work well for preserving or restoring motion range. A neck bending exercise starts by holding your head and neck in a neutral position, lowering your chin to try to touch your chest, and holding this position for a few seconds. With each exercise, breathe in slowly and exhale gradually to relax your back and neck muscles. Neck tilting is another of the many good neck pain exercises. Start by tilting your head to the left trying to touch your shoulder with your ear while using your fingertips on your left hand to apply pressure to your temple. After a few seconds of holding this position, return to center and repeat but this time tilting your head left. With neck rotation exercises, slowly turn your head right. Use your fingertips to put tension or pressure on your chin. After a few seconds, return to center and repeat the exercise going to the left this time.

Do not do these neck pain exercises if suffer from a pinched neck nerve unless doctor recommended. Although these exercises can help improve your pinched nerve symptoms, they can also increase the pain and do damage if started too soon after an accident or injury. Along with neck pain exercise, maintain good posture by keeping your shoulders back and holding your head up. Also, avoid putting pressure on your shoulders or upper back such as using an over the shoulder purse or backpack.

Nerve roots that go from the cervical or neck spine to the spinal cord travel along the arm. These nerve roots supply a cycling neck pain feeling to skin areas from the shoulders to the arm and fingers and electrical signals to the fingers, hand or arm. When a bone spur or herniated disc pinches one of these nerve roots, a cycling neck pain problem often occurs. Although the pinched nerve is actually in your neck, it may show up as pain, numbness, or weakness along the path where the nerve travels. This cycling neck pain could be an achy, dull, deep pain or a shooting sharp pain along the nerve path.

When the neck moves, it is subject to pressure and tension causing each vertebra disc to act as a shock absorber. When the neck bends forward, the vertebrae discs tend to bulge backwards towards the nerve roots and spinal canal. The center part or nucleus of the disk squeezes out causing pressure on neck nerves and a herniated cervical disk or rupture can occur. A protruding disk can put pressure on the spinal nerves or spinal cord causing weakness and numbness along the nerve. The inflamed nerve root can cause cycling neck pain such as deep pain or shooting, sharp pain in not only the neck but also shoulder and upper arm.

Cervical radiculopathy causes cycling neck pain or symptoms away from the neck, although the neck is the problem. Patients often feel pain in their hand, arm, shoulder, or other places the nerves travels. When the doctor locates the cause, he or she can normally tell which neck nerve is inducing the problems. Symptoms normally include weakness, numbness, and pain, with the upper arm reflexes sometimes affected. Treatment for cervical radiculopathy may include medications to control muscle spasm, inflammation, pain, and sleep disturbances. The doctor may recommend a cervical collar made of either hard plastic or soft foam. This collar helps by limiting motion while providing support until the injured neck heals. They may also recommend a special cervical pillow and physical therapy.

A healthy well-balanced neck allows for stresses, movement and strains of the body and head. The cervical spine, which runs through the neck, consists of discs that separate the interlocking vertebrae, ligaments and muscles that hold the neck spine together. When trauma or injury occurs to parts of the neck or the neck becomes unbalanced, this can cause a sore neck or painful neck injury. Several causes of neck pain include minor injuries such as, falling a short distance, tripping, twisting, or excessive cervical spine motion resulting in moderate neck problems. Direct blows to the head, face, or neck; whiplash; an injury that penetrates the neck; strangulation or other outside-neck pressure; falls from substantial heights; or sport-related injuries are often causes of neck pain and injury.

Medical conditions, some of them age related, are often causes of neck pain. Disc disorders occur when the disk cushioning between the vertebrae in your neck becomes dry, often due to aging, which causes the space to narrow near the nerves. Herniated neck disks occur when a disks inner gelatinous material protrudes through the tough covering of a disk and can irritate nearby nerves or cause a pinched nerve. Other causes of neck pain occur when bony growths or other tissues press on the nerves in your neck. Rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory disease that commonly occurs in the upper neck region, can cause destruction of the neck joints. Meningitis is a very serious illness that causes the tissues of the spinal cord and the brain to become inflamed. Influenza is another of the many causes of neck pain. It usually makes the whole body including the neck ache but does not cause severe neck stiffness. There are many other causes of neck pain such as infections, tumors, or even side effects from prescribed medications.

Cervicogenic headaches normally originate inside the neck structures causing head and neck pain symptoms. Many people do not understand how their neck could cause or be the source of their painful, severe headaches. Many experts believe that in the human body, one of the most vulnerable or unprotected parts are the neck, especially by the shoulder area. Prolonged neck movements can also cause head and neck pain symptoms often causing throbbing pains that move to the head area.

Doctors must examine their patients head and neck pain symptoms carefully because, like most types of headaches, it is not easy to diagnose a cervicogenic headache. No x-rays or medical tests can positively detect the presence of a cervicogenic headache. To find the source of the pain, it is important for a doctor to examine his or her patient carefully. Head and neck pain symptoms such as throbbing or severe pain caused by any type of headache can have a devastating effect on a person and cause performance problems at work, home, school, or socially. Along with the head and neck pain symptoms caused by cervicogenic headaches, other symptoms include nausea, eye pain from the back or inside of the eyes, and pounding, stabbing, severe pain from the neck region to the head area. Although cervicogenic headaches usually occur occasionally, in some cases the patient may experience regular episodes. Past severe head trauma can cause the head and neck pain symptoms of cervicogenic headaches.

Treatment used for cervicogenic headaches and the head and neck pain symptoms caused by it are, physical therapy and also drug injections, performed by a highly competent and skilled professional using x-ray guides. The human anatomy around the neck region is very complex so an injection error could lead to medical complications and serious injuries.

A few of the symptoms that may indicate the existence of a cervical spine degenerative condition include cervical neck pain, arm complaints such as weakness, numbness or pain, and pain that spreads or radiates into the shoulder blade. Cervical pain resulting from a degenerative change such as osteoarthritis or abnormal adhesions and rigidity, is relatively common. The degenerative process, which causes cervical neck pain, may start in any of the cervical spine joints. Over time, this could induce secondary changes to other joints in the neck, increasing cervical pain.

To diagnose a degenerative disorder causing the cervical neck pain accurately, the doctor will assess and examine the patient, ask questions to get a detailed medical history of his or her condition, and run several types of tests. X-rays are important for identifying cervical neck pain problems such as spinal arthritis or spondylosis. Aging is the primary cause of spinal osteoarthritis, which is a degenerative disorder that can result in loss of normal spine function and structure causing cervical neck pain. X-rays also help identify bony spurs. Doctors may also use other diagnostic tools to help identify the problem causing the cervical neck pain such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT).

Once the doctor completes all the necessary tests and examinations to identify the cause of the cervical neck pain, he or she will develop a treatment plan for the patient. In over three quarters of cervical degenerative disease patients, non-operative treatment has shown excellent short and long-term results and often reduces cervical neck pain. Some of the non-operative treatments include medications, physical therapy and immobilization. Muscle relaxants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and painkillers can help reduce inflammation and reduce cervical neck pain. Some doctors also recommend anti-depressants when needed. Using a neck collar helps reduce movement during bouts of severe cervical neck pain by reducing neck motion. Chiropractic care brings relief from cervical neck pain in a large number of patients. With today’s advanced technology and expert medical specialists, diagnosing and treating patients with degenerative cervical spine disorders is far more accurate and effectively today.

Recurrent neck pain and left side neck pain can affect people of any age and in any occupations, such as homemakers, executives, bus drivers, factory workers, and computer operators. Recurrent neck trouble or left side neck pain can have an affect on your work abilities, sleeping habits, personality, and personal relationships. People suffering from chronic neck pain or left side neck pain can suffer from depression, loss of income, or feel socially isolated.

There are several ways to help manage or relieve recurring neck and left side neck pain. Ergonomic desk chairs are designed for body comfort and to correct poor posture when sitting at your desk or computer for hours on end. For people experiencing symptoms such as, neck pain, left side neck pain, tension headaches, shoulder pain, knee pain, or sore backs, ergonomic desk chairs give overall body support, especially to the shoulder and neck areas. They also provide arm support and lumbar support, with a seat designed to support your thighs and legs, allowing your feet to sit on the floor correctly.

To prevent or reduce left side neck pain, throw out your old pillow and invest in a good supportive pillow. Look for one that gives you excellent support and keeps your back and head aligned whether you sleep on your side or back. Many people use the same pillow for years never realizing that pillows, just like other items, eventually wear out and lose their effectiveness.

Talking on the telephone for any length of time, holding the receiver up to your ear or with it tucked between your shoulder and neck can strain your neck and cause right or left side neck pain. You should avoid putting any type of excess strain on your neck structures. Anyone that spends a great deal of time on the telephone should consider either a headset or a speakerphone to free up his or her hands and keep their neck in alignment.

Use ice, heat, or both to relieve left side neck pain because they help increase the circulation. Some people find applying ice helps more while others prefer a heating pad to relieve the pain or you can also alternate between the two. Never leave an ice pack on for any length of time because you could end up with frostbite or other problems. If the site of your left side neck pain is swollen or inflamed, avoid heat because it will make this worse.