The neck is a significant part of the body because it serves as the crucial link between the head and the body.
Whenever you use any organ in the head like eyes, nose, and ears, the neck is always involved. Due to its location and the different movements it performs, it faces a lot of challenges that can result in neck injury and pain.
Fortunately, Dr. Jay Shah in West Orange can help you to treat neck pain and injury effectively.
Common Causes of Neck Pain
The neck is vulnerable to injuries and other conditions that cause pain or discomfort. Here is a list of the leading factors resulting in neck pain.
- Muscle Straining – There are various activities you engage in daily that may cause the neck muscles to strain, including spending too much time hunched on your phone or computer, teeth-griding, and reading a book while in bed.
- Diseases – Various diseases, such as meningitis, arthritis, and cancer, often result in neck pain.
- Wearing out of joints – Joints in your body tend to wear with age, causing the cartilage between the bones to get damaged. This affects the joint motion, resulting in neck pain and discomfort.
You should seek neck pain treatment from a specialist if it’s accompanied by headache or fever, occurs after a blow to the head, you feel numbness in the arms, or if the pain persists after taking over-the-counter medication.
Symptoms of Neck pain
Neck pain is commonly associated with symptoms like facial pain, arm or hands numbness, shoulder pain, and headache. These symptoms occur when the nerves responsible for transferring brain commands to these organs become pinched in the neck.
Other symptoms include difficulty in swallowing food and drinks, feeling dizzy, sharp shooting pain, and difficulty when making a range of motions. Sometimes, neck pain is accompanied by either upper or lower back pains.
Depending on the condition, there may be some rare symptoms of neck pain like nausea or vomiting.
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Prevention of Neck pain
Most neck pains are often associated with positioning of the neck in a wrong posture, together with wear and tear that comes with old age.
To prevent neck pain, always ensure that your head position remains centered over the spine. And also learn how to get rid of tech neck.
Other practices you should consider include:
- Make adjustments to your chair desk and computer to help keep the monitor at an eye-level
- Avoid placing your phone in between the neck and the shoulder when talking
- Take frequent breaks after working for hours or traveling long distances
- Avoid smoking because it’s considered another critical cause of neck pain
- Always ensure you sleep in a good position so that your head remains aligned to your body
Neck Pain Treatment
When seeking neck pain treatment, ensure that you explain to your doctor the specifics of your symptoms. Also, inform them of the over-the-counter drugs and other medications you had taken earlier.
In most cases, with neck pains, special tests are rarely needed because the problem is diagnosed and treated based on the symptoms you experience, followed by a simple examination.
To rule out any other cause of neck pain, your doctor may ask you to take a blood test, x-ray, or MRI scan.
The doctor will then use the results to refer you to a specialist for treatment methods like ice and heat therapy.
Precautions
No matter how big or small an issue with your body is if it is something unusual or out of the ordinary, you should always consult a doctor without any further delay.
Do let the doctor know how or why you think something happened, for example, mention your sleeping position, sitting position, or even if you were doing an exercise.
These small details can be really important and can help the doctor make an accurate and precise prediction and make a prescription accordingly.
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On the other hand, there are things that you cannot control, however, most of the things can be controlled and those should be avoided at all costs.
For example, you can sit properly while studying or doing certain activities as not to strain your muscles, you can also make sure that you do plenty of correct exercises and with supervision and consultation to avoid muscle injuries.
About The Author:
Stacey Smith is a freelance health writer. She is passionate to write about women’s health, dental health, diabetes, endocrinology, and nutrition and provides in-depth features on the latest in health news for medical clinics and health magazines.
