Neck pain – the causes and how to prevent it

There are lots of things that can cause pain in your neck. The causes can range from sleeping awkwardly or bad posture when sitting, to a more severe neck injury after an accident.

Your neck pain might only last a few weeks, and there are things you can do yourself to ease it, such as resting your neck and taking painkillers. But if it doesn’t go away, see a doctor who will check you over to rule out other conditions, such as:

Neck sprains and strains

If you’ve pulled a muscle in your neck, or torn a tendon, it’ll be called a neck strain. Whereas a neck sprain is where you’ve injured the ligament. They both feel painful and are in the same area, usually at the back of the neck, upper back, or shoulder.

Symptoms include ^{Footnote [1]}:

• Pain, tenderness, or weakness around the neck
• Swelling or bruising
• Difficulty turning your neck
• Painful muscle spasms or cramping

Most strains and sprains heal on their own, but you can help relieve the pain with hot and cold compresses, rest, and painkillers.

If it isn’t healing and you see your doctor, they may prescribe you with a muscle relaxant, or refer you to a physiotherapist for a massage to increase blood flow to the damaged tissue.

Cervical spondylosis

This is where wear and tear has caused a degeneration of discs and bones in the cervical spine (the neck part of your spine). It usually happens in people over the age of 40 and can cause neck and shoulder pain.

You may be prone to cervical spondylosis if you have family history of it, or a previous neck injury which has left your neck weakened.

Some people have no symptoms at all, and in others it’s not a neck ache, but can be a headache that starts at the back of the neck ^{Footnote [2]}.

The pain and stiffness can come and go, and it’s worth seeing your doctor for a full check-up of the neck, to confirm if it’s cervical spondylosis.

Treatment depends on how bad your symptoms are ^{Footnote [2]}. Your doctor may prescribe medication, sometimes a muscle relaxant, which may take a few weeks to take effect.

They’ll probably give you exercises to do and encourage you to move your neck as normal. They may refer you to a physiotherapist.

You’ll only need surgery if you’ve slipped a disc or there’s a problem with your spinal cord.

Trapped nerve in neck

A trapped nerve in your neck can be painful. It’s caused by damage to the nerves in your neck – often when they are squeezed by a bone, ligament or tendon ^{Footnote [3]}.

As well as a sharp pain in your neck you might have some numbness, weakness or pins and needles in your arm and hand.

Nerve pain usually gets better with rest, but if your symptoms get worse or your pain becomes more severe, it’s worth seeing a doctor.

Whiplash

You might think of a whiplash injury as something that happens in a vehicle accident, but you can also get it from a blow to the head during sports, or in a violent encounter such as being punched from behind.

The injury is caused by your neck suddenly and forcibly being bent forwards and backwards again.

The symptoms can take several hours to start after the neck injury and include ^{Footnote [4]}:

• Neck stiffness and difficulty moving your head
• Pain in your neck, shoulders, and arms
• Headaches
• Muscle spasms in your shoulders and arms.

Your doctor might prescribe you strong painkillers such as codeine for your whiplash injury, and if it doesn’t get better within a few weeks you might be referred to a physiotherapist.

Whiplash can take a few months to heal depending on the severity of the injury.

Myelopathic neck pain

Cervical myelopathy is a general term meaning disease or injury of the spinal cord.

It can be as a result of cervical spondylosis (age-related changes) or trauma, which can put pressure on your spinal cord affecting your nerves and their function.

You may have a variety of symptoms, not just in your neck, but in your whole body. These can be ^{Footnote [5]}:

• Tingling, numbness and weakness in your arms and hands
• Heaviness, weakness and pain in your lower legs or hips
• Poor co-ordination, clumsiness and loss of dexterity – struggling to do your buttons up or write normally
• Not being as mobile as normal – stiffening up
• Problems with your bladder and bowel functions
• Mild to severe neck pain
• Stabbing arm pain.

Your doctor may offer you an MRI scan to confirm it’s cervical myelopathy and not another condition.

If your cervical myelopathy is caused by degenerative changes it can’t be cured - wearing away of joints is a natural part of ageing. But early recognition and treatment can stop it deteriorating further, or slow down the deterioration.

Disease and illness

Beware, there are some diseases that can cause you to have a neck ache and stiffness, such as meningitis, cancer or arthritis. You may notice other symptoms, such as a rash, painful lumps in your neck, or pain and stiffness elsewhere in the body. Get it checked out if you think it’s something more than neck pain.

Rarely, neck pain can be something serious. Seek medical help immediately if you’ve got neck pain with numbness or loss of strength in your arms or hands, or for pain that shoots into your shoulder or down your arm.