When people talk about a pain in the neck it can refer to most anything causing trouble.

But the reason we use this description is because as humans, we so often do get pain in our necks and it often limits our activities. Neck pain is often joined by headache or by weakness and pain in the shoulders and arms. But all this is not too surprising when you consider the range of movement your neck allows for your head. Compared to the rest of the spine’s range of movement the range in the neck is enormous. Put something like the weight of a bowling ball swinging around on top and you get a recipe for strains and injury.

The neck’s vulnerability to injury is due partially because of its biomechanics. Factors and activities affecting cervical biomechanics include sitting for extended periods, repetitive movements, accidents, slips and falls and trauma to the body or head, progressive aging, and normal wear and tear. Neck pain can be extremely debilitating, and it can have numerous causes.

Most Common Causes of Neck Pain

Injury and Accidents: Whiplash is sudden “whipping” motion forward and backward of the head and neck. This sudden motion injures the supporting structures of the neck and head. Muscles react by tightening and contracting, creating muscle fatigue, which can result in pain and stiffness.

Normal Aging: Degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, and degenerative disc disease directly affect the spine.

• Osteoarthritis, a common spinal and joint disorder, causes progressive erosion of cartilage. The body responds by creating bone spurs that decrease joint motion.

• Spinal stenosis is a disorder causing the spinal nerve passageways in the vertebrae to tighten, which compresses and “pinches” nerve roots. Stenosis often causes neck, shoulder, and arm pain and discomfort, as well as numbness, when these nerves are unable to function normally.
  
• Degenerative disc disease may cause decreased elasticity and substance of intervertebral discs. Over time, a disc may bulge or herniate in the cervical spine (neck), causing numbness and tingling and even pain in the arm.

Daily Life: Poor posture, obesity, and abdominal weakness may often affect the balance of your spine, causing your neck to flex forward to compensate. Stress and emotional tension often cause muscles to spasm, tighten and contract, resulting in pain and discomfort. Postural stress may contribute to long term cervical spine pain with symptoms referring into the upper back and arms.

Neck Pain Northern VA (Fairfax, Merrifield, Vienna, Tysons Corner, Falls Church and surrounding areas).

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