Introduction

Pain the neck can occur because of an injury, a mechanical or muscular problem, a trapped nerve caused by a bulge in one of the discs between the vertebrae or from arthritis of the neck.

Neck Pain is also commonly referred to as cervical pain and can range form very mild discomfort to severe and burning pain.

At times, the pain also might radiate into the arm, hand, up into the head, shoulder or shoulder blades. It is categorized as chronic pain if lasts for more than three months at a stretch.

 

Causative Factors

Neck pain can generally occur due to a number of disorders and diseases of any structure in the neck, which include the seven vertebrae, neck muscles, arteries, veins, lymph glands, thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, esophagus, larynx and trachea.

Common symptoms of neck pain:

1) Muscle strains: Overuse of muscles often triggers off strains. Neck muscles, especially in the back often get fatigued and eventually strained.

2) Arthritis: Age is widely accepted as a causative factor as the neck joints also tend to deteriorate like other joints.

3) Intervertebral disc disorders: With age, the cushioning disks between the vertebrae become dry, narrowing the spaces in your spinal column where the nerves come out. This can eventually result in occurrence of neck pain.

4) Injury: Rear-end collisions, most commonly resulting in whiplash injuries; stretch the neck muscles beyond their limits, causing pain.

Other causative factors include trauma or injury, worry, stress, falling asleep in an awkward position and prolonged use of a computer keyboard.