Neck pain can be anything ranging from dull pain to sharp depending on the cause and severity of the conditions. Often it is accompanied by facial pain, headache, numbness or blockage in ears, dizziness, shoulder pain or numbness in the arms. Neck pain sufferers either opt for painkillers to mitigate the pain or wear a collar to support the neck and cease unnecessary movements. But what are the reasons behind neck pain? How a normal person suddenly develops this condition that can even lead to neck disability?
Causes of Neck Pain
- Neck strain or sprain due to overwork or wrong posture
- Disc associated pain: Often people who suffer from a herniated disc, pinched a nerve or spinal disorders suffer from tingling sensations in the neck or numbness or acute pain.
- Infections: Often common cold, inflammation or swelling in the lymph node may lead to neck pain.
- Accident or injury: Accidents can lead to shock or dislocation of disc or vertebrae that may lead to pain in the neck. It is the worst kind of pain as it is accompanied by swelling and even minor movement leads to excruciating pain and doctors advise physiotherapy treatment for neck pain in such cases for fast healing.
- Sedentary Lifestyle: Poor posture while working or watching television, sleeping using an extra hard or soft pillow, stressful events and emotional breakdown that increases pressure on nerves can lead to neck pain.
- Other causes: These causes include degenerative conditions that happen with the advancement of age, associated symptoms of other diseases like tuberculosis, meningitis, etc.
These are some of the causes that may lead to severe neck pain that can be mitigated with painkillers but consuming pills or wearing a collar is not a permanent solution.
Physiotherapy helps to nip the pain from roots to help the patient live a normal life. If the pain is due to some infection or diseases then the pain will subside in a week but if it prolongs then it is advisable to visit a physiotherapist and get the diagnosis done. First, find the best private physiotherapy and out of the lot choose the experienced physiotherapist who has dealt with such cases and can come of private home sessions as well in case the patient is not able to visit the clinic and wait for long hours. Second, when the diagnosis is done and the cause of the neck pain ascertained then the therapist will suggest physiotherapeutic treatments that he will conduct during the session but some will be for a home that a patient needs to do religiously for better results.
Some of the exercises for reducing neck pain are:
- Controlled stretching: Keeping the neck stiff for prolong period will only worsen the case. It should be kept stiff only in case of accident or if the therapist prescribes else controlled movements are necessary to release the tension.
- Neck Massage: It will relax the sore muscles and pressure on nerves leading to an increase in blood flow and proper alignment of the neck muscles thereby helping in recovering from a pinched.
- Ice and heat pads: Alternative application of Ice and Heat pads will numb the area and mitigate pain. It helps when the therapist wants to twist the neck and align it or at the beginning of neck pain to avoid worsening the situation.
These are some of the exercises suggested by necking pain sufferers that will help him in the long run and with continuous physiotherapy will free them from neck pain for life.
