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Many of us experience neck pain at some point in our lives. In fact, neck pain is so common that studies revealed that three out of four people would experience neck pain at least once in the course of their lives. When you have neck pain you would like to discuss, start by searching for a multitude of possible causes for your pain.
Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out which symptoms are indicative of an issue with your neck. While finding a cure for your neck pain is important, the initial step should be getting the right diagnosis or evaluation from a Manhattan pain management specialist.
There are certain symptoms you should look for. Symptoms are one thing you can use as clues to find out if you're dealing with neck pain. They're also clues that can tell you what stage of the problem you have. Since most cases of neck pain get worse over time unless treated, it's a good idea to know the signs and symptoms of each stage, so it's easier to properly address the problem when it first shows up.
In this blog post, we're going to look at common symptoms that can indicate you suffer from neck pain. If you see these signs, see a pain specialist to rule out anything serious and get relief from the stiffness or soreness you feel.
Limited mobility
If you're unable to move your neck — or if movement causes severe pain, you may have either a muscle spasm or ligament strain. A spasm occurs when the muscles around a joint contract too much and become tight. This puts pressure on the surrounding nerves, causing pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness in surrounding areas of the body. Sometimes these sensations can radiate down into one arm or both arms as well as other parts of the body like fingers and toes.
Pain that travels to arms, shoulders, and hands
If your neck pain is affecting other parts of your body, such as your arms or hands, it could be a sign of a more serious problem like spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal). Spinal stenosis can cause compression of the spinal cord and nerves. The compression can cause numbness or weakness in affected limbs along with tingling, weakness, or loss of sensation near the neck area.
Muscle weakness in the arms and hands
Muscle weakness can occur if there is nerve damage due to nerve compression in the brachial plexus (a network of nerves that runs from the neck down through the shoulder). This can affect the muscles at the base of your head and cause them to weaken. As a result, these muscles may not be able to support your head properly.
Numbness and tingling sensations
Tingling or numbness in the back of your head is usually caused by pinched nerves in the neck area. Pinched nerves don't always cause pain but can cause tingling sensations that may come and go throughout the day or even become permanent if left untreated.
Numbness usually occurs on one side of your face but can also affect both sides at once or only one side intermittently as well as other parts. The good news is that this symptom usually goes away after a few days or weeks. However, if it persists for more than six months, you should visit a pain specialist.
Pain when turning your head
If you have neck pain and you turn your head and feel a sharp pain in your neck or shoulder, this could be a sign that something more serious than just muscle soreness is going on. The muscles in your shoulders and upper back work together with other muscles in the body to move our heads from side to side and up and down. If they're experiencing trauma because they're overused or strained, they could become injured and inflamed as well.
A clicking noise when you tilt your head to the side
This is often an early sign of osteoarthritis (OA). In OA, the cartilage wears down in the joints between bones in the spine and neck. As a result, the joint becomes stiffer and more prone to cracking when moved out of place — which can cause intense pain throughout the body.
Pain that gets worse when you sleep or sit for too long
Neck pain that gets worse when you sleep or sit for long periods of time is usually the result of muscle tension in your neck and shoulders. These muscles may be too tight because you spend too much time in the same posture or because you have poor posture habits (such as hunching over a computer screen).
Relieve Your Neck Pain
There are a number of signs that can indicate you may be suffering from neck pain. While some of the more serious symptoms, such as numbness, tingling, and weakness, require immediate medical attention, there are other warning signs that can signify something is wrong and that you should schedule a check-up with a Manhattan pain management specialist. While these symptoms may seem harmless, they could be a sign of something else entirely--don't wait to see if it goes away on its own.
Hopefully, this blog post will help you recognize some of the most common symptoms of neck pain so you can get some relief sooner. Don't ignore the signs of neck pain—do everything you can to get treatment as soon as possible!