Neck Pain

Neck remains one of the most sensitive and important part of the body and is used frequently throughout the day. The neck muscles remain in motion for almost the entirety of the day and only get relaxation when one lies down to catch up with sleep. It is for this reason that many people suffer from neck pain at one stage or the other. While neck pain isn’t a hard problem to diagnose and treat, it can create further complications if left untreated. 

Descriptions

Neck pain is equally common in males and females with the most common cause for the condition being bad neck posture. However, there are various other reasons for the condition as well including muscle strain, wear and tear in joints, root nerve compression, various neck related injuries and diseases. Muscle strain and wear and tear issues remain the most common with people who have office jobs the most affected by them. Many people believe that neck pain is caused by fatigue and therefore, leave it untreated. While fatigue remains a factor, if the pain in the neck exceeds a certain time period, contacting a doctor is recommended.   

Types

Neck pain can be classified into two types based on the amount of time for which the pain lasts.

• Acute

Acute pain may be caused by any sudden force experienced by the neck like a collision with another person while running or it may be caused due to a neck strain. Such pain is actually caused by a sprain in ligaments or tendons and supposedly heals within two weeks at best.

• Chronic

Neck pain can be considered chronic once it shows no signs of going away even after a couple of months. The strength and intensity of the pain may vary during the period but it would always be there or there about. There can be various causes of chronic pain though most remain related to herniated discs and cervical stenosis.

Symptoms

It remains important that you identify the symptoms of your condition so that the doctor can then easily diagnose the issue at hand as well. The most common symptom remains a dull ache in and around the neck. In some cases, the pain would shoot up with sideways movement of the neck as well. Numbness in the shoulders accompanied with shoulder and back pain also remain commonly known symptoms of neck pain. A few types of neck pain also manifest their symptoms through dizziness and light head ache.

Treatments

There are various treatments that can be adopted for the condition. However, the treatment plan would mostly depend on the kind of neck pain the patient is suffering from the symptoms that have manifested themselves. Doctors usually ask for an x-ray to check any physical injuries or problems while they may ask for a CT scan or an MRI in case they feel that the situation maybe a bit more complex. Depending on the diagnosis, the treatment plans are decided.

In case of muscle strains or wear and tear, muscle relaxants and pain relievers remain the most oft opted treatments with the NSAIDs being the most preferred option. Physical therapy remains another treatment plan that is commonly used to tackle neck pain. In most cases, the doctors would ask the patient to take the NSAIDs and to undergo some physical therapy as well so as to get instant relief. In the most complicated of cases, the treatment of neck pain may involve the usage of steroid injections or may involve a short surgery too.

Diet

While diet isn’t as important a factor when it comes to neck pain, it remains recommended to not incorporate those items in the diet that remain difficult to chew and swallow. Such food items would only aggravate the symptoms and would cause more pain and thus, avoiding such a diet remains recommended so as to not subject yourself to more intense pain. Apart from such food products and items, there aren’t any diet restrictions that come with neck pain. However, it remains necessary that the patient follows a healthy diet that provides all the required nutrients to the body that keep the bones strong and the muscles healthy.

Remedies

Home remedies remain popular among neck pain patients with the hot and cold pack therapy being the most used. Alternation of cold packs and hot packs around the area where pain is felt the most usually helps with pain relief. Besides this, <strong