Ask anyone who has gone through a bout of neck pain and they will swear that it is something that they will not wish on their worst enemy.  Being called “a pain in the neck” is something you really do not want to hear. When you are going through an episode of neck pain, there is that feeling of helplessness and the inability to do anything to alleviate the pain. The causes of neck pain can be due to an injury, a physical or a muscular problem like a trapped nerve in one of the disks in the vertebrae or from chronic arthritic conditions.  The resulting pain can be sudden and intense or of a short duration.  When this happens, it is called a “crick” in the neck. If the pain persists for more than three months, it is called a chronic neck pain. Women are more susceptible to incidents of neck pain because their neck muscles are weaker than those of the men are.

Exactly what are the causes of neck pain? You can fall asleep in the wrong position or sleep on a too soft or too hard mattress, your pillow can be too soft or too hard, too high or too low and you then wake up with a pain in your neck. You can also have an incidence of neck pain after working at your computer over a prolonged period of time. The angle in which you hold your head, hunched over the keyboard, can cause neck pain. One of the more common causes of neck pain is whiplash, the sudden jerking of the head backwards and forward or forward and backwards, usually because of a vehicular accident.  These violent movements can injure the muscles, tissues or ligaments in the general neck area. The impact from the collision need not be strong so long as the muscles are stretched beyond their limit, it will be a cause of neck pain. Worry and/or stress can also cause neck pain as these can cause the neck muscles to constrict, limiting the amount of blood flowing in the area and causing neck pain.

To better understand the causes of neck pain in this general area, it is important to know that the cervical vertebrae that connect the head to the spine and hold it erect are all wrapped up in muscle tissues and ligaments. This combination of muscles, bones, tissues and ligaments allows the head to move sideways, up or down, and rotate it clockwise or counter clockwise. It is precisely this level of mobility that makes the neck area injury prone, causing neck pain.  Poor posture, being overweight or having weak abdominal muscles can often disrupt the spine’s balance.  In order to compensate for this condition, your neck can bend forward and cause you to develop neck pain.

There are also age-related degenerative disc diseases that can cause the intervertebral discs to become less hydrated, making them lose their flexibility, elasticity or shock-absorbing abilities. With the passing of the years, you may develop a herniated disc where the disc material presses on the nerve roots and causes severe neck pains.

Filed under: Causes

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