Neck Pain - What causes chronic neck pain

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007 | Neck Pain with

More than half of the human beings face neck pain at some time in their life. If neck pain lasts for long time or it creates problem repeatedly, it is said to be chronic. Generally chronic neck pain is caused by abnormalities in soft tissues either because of injury or prolonged wear and tear. Different types of chronic neck pain are caused by different reasons.

Muscle strain:

Overuse of neck creates strain in the soft tissues. It creates acute pain in the neck and back. Poor posture and work habits sustain the pain for long. Repeated overuse of muscles creates pain particularly in the back side of the neck.

Cervical Foraminal Stenosis:

Pain developing very slowly over the years and occurring after particular positions of the neck is might be due to Cervical Foraminal Stenosis. Wear and aging of the vertebral joints in the neck or at the disc margins creates this kind of pain. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish this type of pain from muscle pain if on is depending on x ray and CT scan. In such cases, an injection called as medial branch block (MBB) is done. Injection conforms that cause of the pain is facet joint.

Cervical herniated disc:

Cervical herniated disc is the main cause of the neck pain radiating down the arm in some cases to the hands and fingers. Herniated disc or bone spur compresses the spinal cord to cause the pain. Symptoms of this type of pain create suddenly and slowly. If the pain is not responding to the conservative treatment (medication, physical therapy or manipulations), surgery is also needed.

Disk injury:

Disc controls motion of the neck. When it is stressed beyond the limits it creates the pain extending to the annulus (outer wall of the disc). General case of this is the whiplash injury. Muscles and ligaments are inflamed or stressed by an accident. Neck pain sometimes flares or gets worse. Pain is increased by certain postures. In most of the cases it gets healed but for some people it creates pain in normal activities. About one forth of the patients develops neck pain due to disc injury.

Neck pillow is essential to get a good night’s sleep without having to worry about neck pain.