It would be no exaggeration to say that your neck is one of the hardest working areas of your body. Not only does it support your head all day long, it provides the movement your head needs to hear, smell, talk, listen, and see. So, when your neck is in pain, it can place considerable limits on your ability to function normally, making relief a top priority.
As a pain management specialist, Dr. Sachida Manocha shares this priority and offers a wide range of treatment options for neck pain here at Interventional Pain Center.
In this month’s blog post, we’re going to take a look at some of the more common causes of neck pain and what we can do to help you move more freely again.
One of the leading causes of neck pain is whiplash, which occurs when your head is rocked violently back and forth, such as in a car accident in which you’re rear-ended. With whiplash, your cervical spine gets compressed, which can damage the discs and nerve roots in your neck. As well, you can also strain the soft connective tissues in your neck, compounding the damage and leading to more pain.
Depending upon the severity of the whiplash, you may experience a few days of discomfort or many months of pain and stiffness.
It’s important to have us check you out as soon as possible after an incident that involves your neck, so we can assess the damage and get you on a treatment plan as quickly as possible.
The term stenosis describes a narrowing in your spinal canal, and this mostly occurs in areas where your spine enjoys the most movement, largely in your lower back and in your neck. As your spinal canal narrows, nerve roots in the area can become compressed, leading to pain in your neck, as well as symptoms that can radiate into your arms and hands (cervical radiculopathy).
Spinal stenosis is typically a degenerative process, so the problem mostly reveals itself as you get older.
Your neck contains seven small vertebrae that are separated by six intervertebral discs. If one of these discs herniates or bulges, a piece of the disc can escape its space and compress one of the eight pairs of cervical nerves. As a result, you may experience neck pain as well as symptoms like numbness and tingling in your arms and hands.
Your risks for cervical disc herniation increase with age. In fact, the condition is most frequently diagnosed between the ages of 51-60, and 60% of cases occur in women.
Other common drivers of neck pain include spending long hours staring down at a screen or having poor posture. Your neck functions best in a straight position, and any time you hunch or keep your head down for long periods, you’re placing more pressure on your cervical spine, which can lead to discomfort.
It would be difficult to say here how we would go about remedying your neck pain as treatments may vary depending on the underlying cause. That said, we offer a wide range of neck pain treatments, including:
To figure out what's behind your neck pain and which treatment option is best, book an appointment online or over the phone with one of our offices in Worthington or Newark, Ohio, today.
