Neck pain: symptomes, Causes, Treatement

The pain of spontaneous type of neck and mechanical look.

It is a pain in the neck that occur without obvious cause and have the characteristics of the mechanical joint damage.

the cervicarthrose Neck pain

It is cervical spondylosis. It is frequent it mainly affects women over 35 years, rarely men who are affected afterwards to 50 years. The pain is later and may radiate to the neck, the back of the head and forehead or around the shoulders and arms or upper back. Cervicobrachial neuralgia (pain in the neck radiating to the arm) is sometimes felt.

Clinical examination shows a stiff neck pain.

There are often associated phenomena of vascular sympathetic system (dizziness with position changes of the head, tinnitus, small eye disorders) embarrassment to the blood circulation in the neck.

Radiographs show discal pinching between the cervical vertebrae. The shots obliquely may show osteophytes or "parrot beaks" that close more or less the foramen and impede the passage of vessels and nerves.

ESR is normal: there is no inflammation.

The usual treatment for arthritis is recommended. Physical therapy is very effective. In case of acute pain, setting the neck rest by a removable cervical collar is associated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

neck pain is strong and brutal appearance; it comes with an antalgic attitude (attitude to relieve pain). Most often, torticollis is due to the contraction of a muscle sterno-cleido-mastoidien, traumatic or inflammatory origin.

Inflammatory pain

The spine is stiff. Biologically, erythrocyte sedimentation rate accelerated.

When the stiffness is limited to a vertebral level, the doctor suggests a spondylitis (achievement of the intervertebral disc) infectious or rheumatic spinal tumor.

When the stiffness involves the entire spine, it may be rather ankylosing spondylitis, multiple metastasis of cancer or disease Kahler.

Accompanied pain

The radiating pain in the arms are within the scope of cervicobrachial pain (neuralgia cervicobrachial); the radiating pain to the neck with dizziness, headache, blurred vision (pseudo-scotoma, nystagmus) are seeking a vertebrobasilar arterial insufficiency.

Barré syndrome-Lieou (posterior cervical sympathetic syndrome) associated to signs of osteoarthritis, dizziness in the head position changes with tinnitus and floaters prints. It is a disorder of the blood flow in the vertebral artery. It is not at all certain that there is a causal link between osteoarthritis of the neck and these ischemic disorders. Atherosclerosis of the neck vessels are most often involved.

Post-traumatic pain

Automotive pathology (whiplash) is becoming more common. Muscle contracture is inconstant, limitation of neck movement is often found.

The special views of atlo-axial joint (between the atlas and axis) are paramount. The research is fundamental neurological signs.

The pain is sometimes integrated into the subjective syndrome traumatized skull.

Dizziness and neck pathology

The cervical spondylosis may cause discomfort circulatory compression of the vertebral arteries facing a osteophytes and consequently dizziness. This is atherosclerosis of the basilar artery is most often involved. The atherosclerotic narrowing causes a decrease in blood flow and Lieou Barré-syndrome.

Often, dizziness attributed to cervical spondylosis are the expression of a Benin paroxysmal positional vertigo which mainly affects the fifties and a woman is always triggered by the same quick positioning of the head. This vertigo disappears in a few weeks

A depressive syndrome can also be a frequent cause of dizziness.