Initial examinations

Generally, neck pain is diagnosed by a medical history and physical examination. In other words, when you visit your doctor, firstly he will ask you some questions about your medical history such as symptoms, injuries or illnesses, any previous treatment, and habits and activities that may cause your neck pain, and next he will do a physical exam. Through the physical exam, your doctor can check your neck motion range and can know whether your pain is cause by improper movements. He will also look for tenderness areas and any nerve-connected changes, such as numbness, tingling, or weakness in the arm or hand.
In most cases, blood tests are only be done for an illness or infection.

However, if after above examinations, there are no signs of your medical history or recent injury, or adversely, after a period of treatment, your neck pain has not got any improvements, your doctors may suggest you to have some imaging tests, such as X-rays.
Imaging tests are available when

— Signs of nerve damage occur on you
— Another serious problem is suspected by your doctor
— The reasons for your symptoms are difficult to identify

However, in some cases, the imaging test results do not correspond to symptoms or the findings of a physical exam. For example, the imaging test results show that your neck is in normal condition while in fact, you are suffering serious pain. Although this condition is existed actually, imaging tests provide useful information and are widely used too. Generally, imaging tests that used to diagnose neck pain ma include:

— X-rays, which are used to diagnose the bones and joints of the neck.

— Magnetic resonance imaging(short for MRI ), which are used to diagnose the spinal cord and nerve roots, especially it is effective in identifying a herniated disc and nerve root impingement.

— Computed tomography (short for CT) scan, which are widely used to diagnose bone and spinal canal.

— Myelogram, which is used to diagnose further details of the spinal canal and nerve roots.

In addition to check the neck pain, imagine tests such as electromyogram and nerve conduction studies can also be used to check the spinal cord and nerves in the neck. These tests not only can contribute to fix the location of the pain but also identify the nature of a nerve problem that is causing pain, numbness, or weakness in the arm or hand.

Filed under: Neck Pain Diagnosis

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