CERVICAL PAIN (NECK PAIN)

 CERVICAL PAIN (NECK PAIN)
cervical is a medical terminology that is used by most of the health care providers or professional. In common words cervical means neck. Neck or cervical is the most used part of the body and is highly functional part. Due to its high mobility or the demand for the daily task,cervical is most vulnerable to pain,.any dysfunction may result in neck pain. Neck pain is most commonly seen among young adults. There may be several causes that one go through cervical pain. In the world of modern age and the days of technology this is not knew to know that even children are going through neck pain, the reason is obviously the use of gadgets and mobile phones for the purpose of entertainment for long hour that ultimately result in dysfunction of neck.
There are a lot of causes, and we are going to discuss the major ones in this article.
CAUSES OF NECK PAIN:
Some most common causes of neck pain is discussed below.
    Due to continuous use of mobile for long hours without taking break can cause muscles to become stiff. The tight muscles loose their ability to return in their original position or the recoiling ability. The duration of the muscles to recoil is altered and eventually this cause muscular pain.
    When we use mobile phone in the same posture and position for long hour ,our neck is flexed for a long time that is an alarming sign for the neck muscles. When neck remain flexed ,due to shortening of flexor muscles ,there is obviously the extensor muscles got tighten and stay in a lengthened position for whole time. This cause the extensor muscles to become stiff and hence painful.
    Computer user , bank officers and all IT professionals may experience pain sometimes in their working routine so the main focus is the good way to hold equipment or gadgets so it may not have the adverse effect on neck.
    In children the bag weight is the main cause of cervical  pain, our children carry these heavy bags with bundle of books and weight in them for long hour during their way to school and then back to home, this cause the tightening of lateral muscles of neck. If these muscles or lateral flexor loose their elasticity due to shock and weight lifting or unnecessarily extension ,it causes pain at the lateral side of the neck.
    Sleeping posture is also a main risk factor. If your posture is not stable and you are sleeping in a very bad way and the positioning of your muscles and the body weight is disturbed, it can cause spasm of the muscle at one side or you may go through pain. So the sleeping pattern should be kept corrected to stay safe.always try to protect your neck muscles to go through strain and stress otherwise it will be painful.
     Another cause can be injury or trauma near or at the site of cervical. Cervical injury is mostly seen in road accident, any direct hit or trauma.
    Some degenerative disease e.g if there are bony spurs at the vertebrae of cervical spine it may cause discomfort and pain and if these bony spurs start irritation to the nerve passing through at this point ,it may impinge the nerve that can cause neuropathy.
    Cervical neuropathy can cause nerve pain radiating toward the arm of a person and he may feel the numbness,tingling sensations, and pain at the area of his arm.
    DIAGNOSIS:
Diagnosis can be made by seeing the patient condition and current complaint. Ask him the questions and take medical history of the patient what he has been diagnosed in past or if there is any pathology he is suffering .if he is just having pain due to muscle spasm or stiffness due to long working hours or tiring schedule ,he can be simply treated but if his past complaints are indicating toward some serious condition like he is suffering from pain and the pain is referred somewhere else or radiating and causing numbness ,then therapist or physician should make differential diagnosis to see if patient is suffering from neuropathy or some degenerative changes in his cervical spine.
    Radio logical finding can be helpful in making correct diagnosis in case of osteoarthritis or recognition of bony spurs at the cervical spine.
Symptoms:
Neck pain
Heaviness
Headache
Numbness
Irritation
Sharp pain
One side may feel heavy
TREATMENT:
There may be different treatment protocols for the management of cervical pain or simple neck pain that are discussed below one by one.
    Muscle relaxant can be helpful in treating stiff and tight muscles, it  can help the patient to get relief from the pain.
    Heat therapy is helpful for making a patient comfortable and for temporary relief of neck pain. Most physios use heat pack at the site of pain
    In electrotherapy therapists use TENS trans cutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to treat the pain.  
    Proper way or training of managing the luggage or heavy weights should be taught to patients so they may not harm their muscle by putting extra load at a particular point.
    Postural exercises.
    Mobile operators or computer users should have break after every hour and should do self stretching to keep themselves healthy as a primary prevention
    Active  or passive stretching is being done by physiotherapists so the muscle can come to their original position and they may not cause any hindrance.
    PNF or proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation exercises can give relief to patients .
    Hold relax technique is considered one of the best way to treat cervical pain .
    Conservative management of cervical pain must include physiotherapy.
    Trapezius muscles or sternocleidomastoid muscles are the main muscles and their stretching can give so much relief.
    Pain killer or some ointments and some topical gels are in market that give relief.
 
So these were some treatment protocols and management ways but the main focus should be to take care of your neck as a primary prevention and the postural correction education should be given to the world.
Stretching every morning can helps you to get rid of neck pain as it keeps muscles in good position and makes a person to feel comfortable,
Cat stretch or ear to neck stretch is considered good for self stretching.
This article was about the basic knowledge of cervical pain and its easy way of management at home by self care.