The neck is, first of all, the most mobile part of the spine, 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 noted that the former have a much thinner body. But it is in 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 illness and injury, leading to the fact that a person's neck hurts when turning their head.
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, patients turn to doctors with such complaints: "I can't turn my head", "My neck hurts a lot", "My neck is cramping". There are many reasons for these symptoms, it is important to diagnose correctly. Otherwise, it will be impossible to quickly get rid of the pain.
Pain characteristics
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 collar area. In addition, the pain appears not only in the neck, but also in the shoulders, even in the hands, in 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, the person must turn with the whole body.
In most cases, neck stiffness and pain last from a few days to a week. They can vary in character: shooting, breaking, burning, surrounding, stabbing. Sometimes the pain is different and in intensity: from weak, painful - to sharp, very strong. If it is not associated with any pathology, but appears due to overwork or stress, it will pass even without serious treatment, only reducing the burden and anesthetic ointments.
A visit to the doctor is necessary if the neck doesn't stop hurting within a week and also when other symptoms appear. This can include numbness, tingling or crawling sensations, headaches, nausea, weakness, or fever. It is also important to seek medical attention if the neck suddenly hurts for no apparent reason and the stiffness increases rapidly.
Causes
Neck pain can be caused by a variety of factors. Most often they are associated with muscle tension or increased tone. This happens after physical exertion, for example, when playing sports. When a person often tilts or turns their head, lifts weights, or performs high-amplitude movements with their hands, lactic acid is formed in the muscles and microtrauma to the fibers occurs. Damage can be located in the neck or collar area. This leads to pain that gets worse each time you turn your head.
Athletes are not the only ones who suffer from this problem. It often reduces the neck of porters, builders, workers, seamstresses, drivers - that is, those whose professional activities are associated with constant excessive strain on the hands and collar area.
Static charges are no less dangerous for the neck. Often, upon waking up, a person realizes that he has rested his neck. This happens due to an uncomfortable position during sleep or due to the wrong choice of bedding. For example, sleeping on a very soft feather mattress, a large or hard pillow, a fallen sofa can cause pain in the collar area. A similar situation develops when a person spends a lot of time in an uncomfortable position, for example, sitting with his head bent in front of a computer or talking on the phone, pressing it against his ear with his shoulder.
In addition to muscle tension, injuries are often the cause of pain. In most people, the neck muscles are quite weak and the cervical spine has a more fragile structure than others. Because of this, any sudden movement, a blow to the neck or even a fall from a person can lead to injuries in this area.
They suffer from injuries mainly to the muscles and ligaments. Most of the time, the muscle that runs along the back of the neck and is responsible for the movement of the scapula is subjected to sprains. A common occurrence is also a mixture of vertebrae or a fracture. The consequences of all injuries are intense pain that makes any head movement impossible.
Muscle pathologies that cause neck stiffness and pain when turning or bending also include myositis. This is an inflammation of the muscles that occurs due to hypothermia, an infectious disease, injury, or overexertion. Inflammation is accompanied by edema, as a result of which the mobility of the head is severely limited. The cause of this condition can even 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, headaches, it is very important to consult a doctor. After all, most likely, these pains are a symptom of a pathology that requires special treatment.
With severe pain that limits neck mobility, it is best to seek expert advice.
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, as the cause is the violation of the nerve roots.
A herniated disc or disc protrusion in the cervical region is common. After all, the muscles that keep 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 inadequate nutrition, become very fragile. As a result of this, the vertebrae converge and impinge on the nerve roots. This, as well as muscle spasms, lead to pain when turning the head.
Arthrosis of the intervertebral joints is less common. The elderly are more 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. Because of this, some patients are unable to move their head.
Scoliosis and drooping are not considered serious conditions by many, 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 stiff neck, with meningitis, a person has a headache, nausea, weakness, and the temperature may rise. One such disease is meningococcal disease.
Pain and stiffness in the neck-collar zone can be a symptom of scalene muscle syndrome, cervical sciatica, humeroscapular periarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, vertebral artery insufficiency, occipital nerve neuralgia. Although the manifestations of these diseases may be similar, their treatment must be different, so it is very important to diagnose correctly.
pain in children
This condition, when it is impossible to move the head, occurs even in children. Some babies are born with a condition such as torticollis. In this case, the child's head assumes 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 yourself. The main thing at the same time is not to limit yourself 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 these pains are a symptom of any disease, only a doctor can determine how to properly treat them. After all, it is very important that not only symptomatic therapy is carried out, but the treatment of the underlying pathology.
Several therapeutic measures depend on the cause of the pain, but there are some that apply in any case:
- Medicines to relieve pain, inflammation, muscle spasms, improve blood circulation and metabolic processes.
- Rest for several days, immobilization of the neck with a collar of Shants or a more rigid orthosis is sometimes indicated, which will help to accelerate the healing of the damaged tissues.
- Cold or warm compresses.
- Massage, rubbing ointments.
- Physiotherapy.
The treatment of this pathology must be complex, necessarily including massage or manual therapy.
medical therapy
Many people, when they don't know what to do to get rid of the pain when turning their head, start drinking painkillers. This sometimes helps if such a condition is not associated with a serious illness. But it is worth remembering that no pain reliever or NSAID 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 will not help restore neck mobility, as it is still necessary to relieve muscle spasms, normalize blood circulation, and alleviate 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 make up for the lack of vitamins.
physiotherapy treatment
In addition to medications, the treatment of neck pain necessarily includes other methods. Most often, massage is prescribed, which helps to relax the muscles, improves the mobility of the neck. Manual therapy is effective, but in this department it must be applied very carefully. In addition, spinal traction is sometimes indicated. This method helps well with disturbance of nerve fibers, osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia.
For any pathology, physiotherapy is effective. It can be electrophoresis, UHF, laser, magnetotherapy, paraffin applications, acupuncture. Useful applications of mud, therapeutic baths. These procedures normalize muscle tone, improve blood circulation and metabolic processes, and have an overall strengthening effect.
And therapeutic exercises will help consolidate the treatment result and restore range of motion. Start performing special exercises after the pain and inflammation have subsided. They strengthen muscles, increase mobility and prevent muscle spasms. All exercises are performed slowly, without sudden movements, avoiding the appearance of pain.
Folk remedies
Such pathology is treated at home. Therefore, many patients, in addition to the methods prescribed by the doctor, use various folk recipes.
- A warmed salt bag warms the neck well with muscle spasms.
- Pour boiling water over a horseradish leaf, after it has cooled, secure it around the neck and wrap it with a scarf. You can leave the compress on overnight if there is no severe burning sensation.
- In a similar way, a compress is made from burdock or cabbage leaves.
- Mix 50 g of honey and vodka, add 2 tablespoons of fine salt and a little grated horseradish. When the dough is homogeneous, use it to rub your neck.
- An effective heating pad is made with 300 ml of alcohol, 10 ml of camphor and a bottle of iodine.
- Mix the yolk, camphor alcohol, vodka and mustard powder. Rub your neck before bed.
- If you mix crushed ginger root, some garlic and butter, this ointment will help you get rid of cramps quickly.
- Well relax and soothe a drink of 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 immediately consult a doctor and start the correct treatment than to constantly suffer from the inability to turn your head.