The neck is, first of all, the most mobile part of the spine, which is responsible for the movements and turns of the head. But if we compare the structure of the cervical and, for example, lumbar or thoracic vertebrae, it can be seen that the former have a much thinner body. But it is on this department that all the burden of maintaining the head and its movements falls. Due to this natural "injustice", it is the cervical region that often suffers from diseases and injuries, leading to the fact that a person's neck hurts when the head is turned.
Neck pain has now become one of the most common problems. They occur in people regardless of age, occupation, or physical fitness. More and more often, patients turn to doctors with such complaints: "I can't turn my head", "My neck hurts a lot", "My neck has tightened. "There are many reasons for such symptoms, it is important to correctly diagnose. Otherwise, it will be impossible to quickly get rid of the pain.
Characteristics of pain
This condition, when it hurts to turn your head, is familiar to many. This happens due to pathologies of the muscles, ligaments or spine in the cervical neck area. In addition, 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. In this case, the head cannot be turned to the side, a person has to turn around with the whole body.
In most cases, neck stiffness and pain last anywhere from a couple of days to a week. They can vary in character: shooting, breaking, burning, encircling, stabbing. Sometimes the pain is different and in intensity: from weak, aching - to sharp, very strong. If it is not associated with any pathology, but appeared due to overwork or stress, it will pass even without serious treatment, only by reducing the load and anesthetic ointments.
A visit to the doctor is necessary if the neck does not stop hurting within a week and also when other symptoms appear. This can include numbness, tingling or burning sensation, headache, nausea, weakness or fever. It is important to see a doctor even if the neck suddenly hurts for no apparent reason and the stiffness builds up quickly.
Causes
Neck pain can be caused by a variety of factors. Most often they are associated with muscle fatigue or their increased tone. This happens after physical exertion, for example when playing sports. When a person often tilts or turns his head, lifts weights, or performs high-amplitude movements with his hands, lactic acid forms in the muscles and microtrauma of the fibers occurs. The damage can be located in the neck or collar area. This leads to pain that gets worse every time you turn your head.
Athletes aren't the only ones suffering from this problem. It often reduces the neck of shippers, builders, workers, seamstresses, drivers, that is, those whose professional activities are associated with constant overexertion of the hands and the collar area.
Static loads are no less dangerous for the neck. Often, upon waking up, a person notices that they have rested their neck. This happens due to an uncomfortable position during sleep or the wrong choice of bedding. For example, sleeping on a comforter that is too soft, a large or hard pillow, a sagging sofa can cause pain in the neck area. A similar situation occurs when a person spends a lot of time in an uncomfortable position, for example, sitting with his head tilted in front of a computer or talking on the phone, pressing it to the ear with his shoulder.
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, or even a person's fall can cause injury to this area.
Mainly muscles and ligaments suffer from injuries. Most often, the muscle that runs along the back of the neck and is responsible for moving the shoulder blade is prone to sprains. A common occurrence is also a mixture of vertebrae or a fracture. The consequences of all injuries are severe pain that makes any head movement impossible.
Muscle disorders that cause neck stiffness and pain when turning or tilting also include myositis. This is inflammation of the muscles that occurs as a result of hypothermia, infectious disease, injury, or overexertion. The inflammation is accompanied by edema, as a result of which the mobility of the head is severely limited. The cause of this condition can also be severe stress, which leads to muscle spasms and limits 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, any movement causes pain, numbness or tingling in the fingers, headache, 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 best to seek the advice of a specialist.
Most often they occur in diseases of the cervical spine. Each person has different symptoms, but pain almost always occurs when turning the head. There are some of the most common pathologies.
Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is becoming more common. This is due to a sedentary lifestyle, malnutrition, increased stress on the neck muscles when sitting at the computer. Usually, with osteochondrosis, the neck hurts on the right or left side, since the cause is the violation of the nerve roots.
A herniated disc or a protrusion of the disc in the cervical region is common. After all, the muscles that hold the vertebrae in the correct position are weak here, and the load on the neck is always great. Therefore, the discs suffer, which, due to improper nutrition, become very fragile. As a result, the vertebrae converge and violate the nerve roots. This, in addition to muscle spasms, causes pain when turning the head.
Osteoarthritis of the intervertebral joints is less common. Older people are mostly susceptible to it, as it is a degenerative-dystrophic process. Often osteoarthritis is accompanied by a narrowing of the spinal canal and the appearance of bony growths near the vertebrae. For this reason, some patients cannot move their head at all.
Scoliosis and curvature are not considered by many to be serious, 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 also be other diseases: vascular disorders, neurological pathologies or infections. Of these, meningitis is the most dangerous. This is a rather rare, but dangerous disease. In addition to stiffness in the neck, with meningitis, a person has a headache, nausea, weakness, and can raise the temperature. One of these diseases is meningococcal disease.
Pain and stiffness in the neck-neck area can be a symptom of scalene muscle syndrome, cervical sciatica, humeroscapular periarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, vertebral artery insufficiency, neuralgia of the occipital nerve. Although the manifestations of these diseases can be similar, their treatment should be different, so it is very important to diagnose correctly.
Pain in children
This condition, when it is impossible to move the head, also occurs in children. Some babies are born with a condition such as a stiff neck. In this case, the baby'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 most often caused by infectious diseases. It can be lymphadenitis, mumps, 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 becomes the cause of such an unhealthy condition, you can relieve the pain on your own. The main thing at the same time is not limited to taking painkillers. An integrated approach is needed: it is necessary to limit the mobility of the head with the help of orthopedic devices, massage is useful, special gymnastics, rubbing ointments or applying compresses.
But if such pains are a symptom of any disease, only a doctor can determine how to treat them correctly. After all, it is very important that not only symptomatic therapy is carried out, but also the treatment of the underlying pathology.
Different therapeutic measures depend on the cause of the pain, but there are a few that still apply:
- Medicines to relieve pain, inflammation, muscle spasms, to improve blood circulation and metabolic processes.
- Rest for several days, immobilization of the neck with a shants collar or a more rigid orthosis is sometimes indicated, which will help accelerate the healing of damaged tissues.
- Cold or hot compresses.
- Massage, rubbing ointments.
- Physiotherapy.
The treatment of this pathology should be complex, necessarily including massage or manual therapy.
Medical therapy
Many people, when they don't know what to do to get rid of pain when they turn their heads, start drinking pain relievers. Sometimes this helps if such a condition is not associated with a serious illness. But it is worth remembering that any analgesics or NSAIDs should not be taken without consulting a doctor for more than 3-5 days. Therefore, if the pain does not go away during this period, it is better to consult a specialist.
Also, in many cases, pain relief alone does not help restore neck mobility, as it is still necessary to relieve muscle spasms, normalize blood circulation, and relieve inflammation.
Therefore, in such cases, a complex of drugs is usually prescribed:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve pain and inflammation.
- Muscle relaxants to relieve muscle spasms.
- Chondroprotectors help restore cartilage tissue, improve spinal mobility.
- Various ointments relieve pain, inflammation, warm and relax.
- Multivitamins compensate for the lack of vitamins.
Physiotherapy treatment
In addition to medications, neck pain treatment necessarily includes other methods. Most often, a massage is prescribed, which helps to relax the muscles, improves the mobility of the neck. Manual therapy is effective, but in this ward it must be applied very carefully. Also, spinal traction is sometimes indicated. This method helps well with the violation of nerve fibers, osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia.
For any pathology, physiotherapy is effective. It can be electrophoresis, UHF, laser, magnetotherapy, paraffin applications, acupuncture. Useful muds, 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 range of motion. Start doing special exercises after relieving pain and inflammation. They strengthen muscles, increase mobility and prevent muscle spasms. All exercises are performed slowly, without sudden movements, avoiding the appearance of pain.
Folk remedies
This pathology is treated at home. Therefore, many patients, in addition to the methods prescribed by the doctor, use various folk recipes.
- A heated bag of salt warms the neck well with muscle spasms.
- Pour boiling water on a sheet of horseradish, after allowing it to cool, attach it to the neck and wrap it with a scarf. You can leave the compress overnight if there is not a strong burning sensation.
- Similarly, a compress is made with the leaves of burdock or cabbage.
- Mix 50 g each of honey and vodka, add 2 tablespoons of fine salt and a little grated horseradish. When the mass becomes homogeneous, use it to rub the neck.
- An effective warming pack consists of 300ml of alcohol, 10ml of camphor and a vial of iodine.
- Mix the egg yolk, camphor alcohol, vodka and mustard powder. Rub your neck before going to bed.
- If you mix crushed ginger root, a little garlic and butter, this ointment will help you get rid of cramps quickly.
- Well relaxes and soothes a drink based on aloe juice and black radish, mixed with honey.
By itself, the neck will not stop hurting, its mobility will not be restored. Therefore, it is better to consult a doctor immediately and start the correct treatment rather than constantly suffer from the inability to turn your head.