Neck Pain is not the most common disorder for the human body, but when it hurts, it can be disabling. Neck pain affects women greater than men, as well as, females are noted to have more years lived with disability than men (1, 2, 3). Additionally, between 45 and 74 years is when neck pain peaks (2). What is the cause neck pain?
Neck pain is multi-factorial:
- Trauma (whiplash, direct head injuries) (3)
- Sports injuries (wrestling, football, soccer, MMA) (3)
- Occupational (office, computer use, manual labor, use of screen devices) (3)
Mental states (depression, anxiety, poor coping skills), sleep disorders, smoking, and sedentary patterns contribute to pain and perceptions of pain (3). Pain from the neck can also refer to other parts of the body such as: the shoulder, the upper and middle of the back, down the arm, and into the hand.
When physical therapy encounters patients with neck pain, we are determining where the pain is coming from – bone, nervous tissue, or muscles, ligaments, and tendons – in order to provide the best treatments.
- Mechanical pain can arise from joints, discs, and muscles (3)
- Neuropathic pain arises from mechanical or chemical irritation of nerve roots that appear away from the cause of pain such as pain referral from a herniated disc or loss of space from spinal stenosis (3)
- Post surgery could have a combination of mechanical and neuropathic pain symptoms (3)
