The neck is primarily the most mobile part of the spine, responsible for head movements and turns. However, if we compare the structure of the neck and, for example, lumbar or thoracic vertebrae, it can be noted that the former have a thinner body. But all the burdens of keeping the head and its movements fall on this department. Due to such natural "injustice", it is the cervical region that often suffers from diseases and injuries, which causes neck pain when a person turns his head.
Neck pain has now become one of the most common problems. They occur in people regardless of age, profession and physical fitness. More and more patients turn to doctors with complaints of "I can't turn my head", "My neck hurts a lot", "My neck is tight". There are many reasons for such symptoms, it is important to make a correct diagnosis. Otherwise, it will not be possible to get rid of the pain quickly.
Characteristics of pain
This situation, when it hurts to turn your head, is familiar to many. This happens due to pathologies of the muscles, ligaments or spine in the neck-collar zone. Moreover, the pain appears not only in the neck, but also in the shoulders, even in the hands, it gives to the back of the head. Other symptoms may appear: numbness, tingling, weakness, darkening of the eyes. At this time, the head cannot be turned to the side, the person must turn with the whole body.
In most cases, neck stiffness and pain last from a few days to a week. They can differ in character: shooting, breaking, burning, encirclement, stabbing. Sometimes the pain is different and intense: from weak, pain - sharp, very strong. If it is not related to any pathology, but appeared due to overwork or stress, it will pass even without serious treatment, only by reducing the load and anesthetic ointments.
If the neck pain does not stop within a week and other symptoms appear, you should visit a doctor. This may include numbness, tingling or crawling sensations, headaches, nausea, weakness or fever. If the neck suddenly hurts for no reason and the stiffness increases rapidly, it is important to consult a doctor.
Reasons
Neck pain can be caused by various factors. Often they are associated with muscle tension or their increased tone. This happens after physical exertion, for example, when playing sports. When a person often bends or turns his head, lifts weights or makes high-amplitude movements with his hands, lactic acid is produced in the muscles and microtrauma of the fibers occurs. Damage can be localized in the neck or collar area. This causes pain that gets worse every time you turn your head.
It is not only athletes who suffer from this problem. Often loaders, builders, workers, seamstresses, drivers - i. e. professional activities associated with constant overloading of the hands and collar zone reduce the neck.
Static loads are no less dangerous for the neck. Often, when waking up, a person notices that his neck is resting. This happens due to an uncomfortable position during sleep or the wrong choice of bedding. For example, sleeping on a very soft feather bed, a large or hard pillow, or a rocking sofa can cause pain in the collarbone area. A similar situation develops when a person stays in an uncomfortable position for a long time, for example, when he sits with his head bent in front of the computer or when he presses his shoulder to his ear while talking on the phone.
In addition to muscle strain, injuries often cause pain. In most people, the neck muscles are quite weak, and the cervical spine has a more fragile structure than others. For this reason, any sudden movement, a blow to the neck area, or even a fall of a person can cause damage to this area.
Mainly muscles and ligaments are damaged. Often, the muscle that runs along the back of the neck and is responsible for the movement of the scapula is sprained. A common occurrence is a fusion of vertebrae or fractures. All injuries result in severe pain that makes any head movement impossible.
Muscle pathologies that cause neck stiffness and pain when turning or bending include myositis. This is inflammation of the muscles caused by hypothermia, infectious disease, injury or overexertion. Inflammation is accompanied by edema, as a result of which the mobility of the head is severely limited. The cause of this condition can be even severe stress that causes muscle spasm and restricts any movement of the head.
What diseases appear
There are more serious reasons for this problem. If the pain does not go away after a few days, if any movement causes pain, numbness or tingling in the fingers, headaches, it is very important to consult a doctor. After all, most likely, such pains are a symptom of a pathology that requires special treatment.
With severe pain that limits the mobility of the neck, it is better to seek the advice of a specialist.
Often they occur in diseases of the cervical spine. Each person has different symptoms, but pain almost always occurs when turning the head. Here are some of the most common pathologies.
Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is now more common. This is due to a sedentary lifestyle, poor nutrition, increased stress on the neck muscles while sitting at the computer. Usually, with osteochondrosis, the neck hurts on the right or left side, because the reason for this is a violation of the nerve roots.
A herniated disc or herniated disc in the cervical region is common. After all, the muscles that keep the vertebrae in the right position are weak here, and the load on the neck is always great. Therefore, discs that are very fragile due to improper nutrition suffer. As a result, the vertebrae fuse and damage the nerve roots. It causes pain when dizzy, like muscle spasms.
Arthrosis of the intervertebral joints is less common. Elderly people are sensitive to it mainly because it is a degenerative-dystrophic process. Often, arthrosis is accompanied by the narrowing of the spinal canal and the appearance of bone growths near the vertebrae. For this reason, some patients cannot move their head at all.
Scoliosis and curvature are not considered serious pathologies by many, but they can also cause pain and stiffness. Due to the incorrect position of the spine, the increased load falls on one side of the neck. As a result, the pain appears only on the right or left side.
The cause of this condition can be other diseases: vascular diseases, neurological pathologies or infections. Of these, meningitis is the most dangerous. This is a very rare but dangerous disease. In addition to neck stiffness, a person with meningitis may experience headaches, nausea, weakness, and a fever. One such disease is meningococcal disease.
Pain and stiffness in the neck-collar zone can be a symptom of scalene muscle syndrome, neck sciatica, humeroscapular periarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, vertebral artery insufficiency, neuralgia of the occipital nerve. Although the manifestations of these diseases are similar, their treatment should be different, so it is very important to make a correct diagnosis.
Pain in children
This condition of not being able to move the head happens even in children. Some babies are born with a pathology such as torticollis. In this case, the child's head takes a forced position - tilted to one side. This is due to the spasm of the neck muscles.
Pain when turning the head can also occur in older children. This is mostly caused by infectious diseases. It can be lymphadenitis, parotitis, purulent tonsillitis, meningitis. It is very important to recognize the disease in time and start treatment.
Treatment
In many cases, when overwork, hypothermia or stress cause such an unhealthy condition, you can relieve the pain yourself. The main thing is not to be limited by taking painkillers at the same time. An integrated approach is necessary: it is necessary to limit the mobility of the head with the help of orthopedic devices, massage is useful, it is necessary to apply special gymnastics, rubbing ointments or compresses.
However, if such pains are a symptom of any disease, only a doctor can determine how to properly treat them. After all, it is very important to carry out not only symptomatic therapy, but also treatment of the main pathology.
Various therapeutic measures depend on the cause of the pain, but there are some that apply anyway:
- Medicines to relieve pain, inflammation, muscle spasms, improve blood circulation and metabolic processes.
- Rest for a few days, sometimes immobilization of the neck with a Shants collar or a more rigid orthosis is indicated, which will help speed up the healing of damaged tissues.
- Cold or hot compresses.
- Massage, rubbing ointments.
- Physiotherapy.
The treatment of this pathology must be complex, it must include massage or manual therapy.
Medical therapy
Many people start taking painkillers when they don't know what to do to get rid of the pain when turning their head. Sometimes this helps if such a situation is not related to a serious disease. However, it should be remembered that any analgesic or NSAID should not be taken for more than 3-5 days without consulting a doctor. Therefore, if the pain does not go away during this period, it is better to consult a specialist.
In addition, in many cases, pain relief will not help restore neck mobility, because it is still necessary to eliminate muscle spasms, normalize blood circulation, and eliminate inflammation.
Therefore, in such cases, a drug complex is usually prescribed:
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve pain and inflammation.
- Muscle relaxants to relieve muscle spasms.
- Chondroprotectors help restore cartilage tissue and improve spinal mobility.
- Various ointments relieve pain, inflammation, warm and relax.
- Multivitamins compensate for vitamin deficiencies.
Physiotherapy treatment
In addition to drugs, the treatment of neck pain necessarily includes other methods. Massage is often prescribed, which helps relax muscles and improves neck mobility. Manual therapy is effective, but must be applied very carefully in this department. In addition, sometimes spinal traction is indicated. This method helps well with disruption of nerve fibers, osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia.
Physiotherapy is effective for any pathology. It can be electrophoresis, UHF, laser, magnetotherapy, paraffin applications, acupuncture. Useful mud applications, therapeutic baths. These procedures normalize muscle tone, improve blood circulation and metabolic processes, and have a general strengthening effect.
And therapeutic exercises will help consolidate the result of the treatment and restore the range of motion. After removing the pain and inflammation, start doing special exercises. They strengthen muscles, increase mobility and prevent muscle spasms. All exercises are performed slowly, without sudden movements, avoiding the appearance of pain.
Folk treatment
Such a pathology is treated at home. Therefore, many patients, in addition to the methods prescribed by the doctor, use various folk recipes.
- A bag of heated salt warms the neck well with muscle spasms.
- Pour boiling water on a sheet of horseradish, after it cools down, attach it to the neck and wrap it with a scarf. If there is no severe burning sensation, you can leave the compress overnight.
- In a similar way, a compress is made from burdock or cabbage leaves.
- Mix 50 g each of honey and vodka, add 2 tablespoons of fine salt and a little fried horseradish. When the mass is homogeneous, use it to rub the neck.
- An effective warming compress is made from 300 ml of alcohol, 10 ml of camphor and a vial of iodine.
- Mix yolk, camphor alcohol, vodka and mustard powder. Rub your neck before going to bed.
- If you mix crushed ginger root, some garlic and butter, this ointment will help you get rid of cramps quickly.
- A drink of aloe juice and black radish mixed with honey relaxes and calms well.
It will not stop the neck pain on its own, and its mobility will not be restored. Therefore, it is better to see a doctor immediately and start proper treatment than to suffer constantly from not being able to turn your head.