The neck is made up of the spinal cord that lengthens from the head to the upper body. The discs in the spinal cord are called cervical disc the main function of these discs are to absorb any sort of trauma or bump. The bones, tissues and muscles of your neck allows movement. The neck pain is caused by the damage of these ligaments and bones or in same causes the shocks received by these parts
People experience neck pain or stiffness in many cases due to bad stance or excessive use. However, in many other cases the pain can be caused by a severe injury or trauma
Usually, neck pain is not due to crucial illness and can last in a couple of days. If you experience your neck pain more than a week and it is accompanied with other symptoms, visit your doctor immediately
Causes of neck pain
There can be several reasons for a stiff neck or chronic neck pain
Muscle spasm or sprains
The muscle spasm can be caused by the activities or attitude of an individual .
These activities might include;
- Bad stance
- Working in the same position while sitting at the desk
- Sleeping in an inappropriate gesture
- Bouncing the neck during exercise
Injury
The neck area is exposed during the injury or sudden falls, or accidents where the ligaments of the neck area are forced to expand than their normal capacity. In any case, if the cervical disc is injured it will also damage the spinal cord
Heart attack
Neck pain can also be an indication of heart attack, in case of heart attack other symptoms are also experienced such as;
- Breathing difficulty
- Abnormal Sweating
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Jaw pain
- Arm pain
If any such symptoms arise you need to immediately call an ambulance or visit the emergency
Meningitis
Meningitis caused by swelling of thin tissues around the brain and the spinal cord. People with Meningitis usually experience stiff neck and fever, headaches. It can be a fatal disease, if you experience any such symptoms seek emergency treatments
Other causes
Other than the above, there might be the causes that increase neck pain
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Osteoporosis
- Fibromyalgia
- Herniated cervical disk,
- Spinal Stenosis
- Congenital abnormalities
- Infections
- Abscesses
- Tumors
- Cancer of the spine