The neck is, first of all, the most mobile part of the spinal column, which is responsible for head movements and turns. But if we compare the structure of the cervical and, for example, lumbar or thoracic vertebrae, it can be noted that the former have a much thinner body. But it is on this department that all the load from maintaining the head and its movements falls. Due to such natural "injustice", it is the cervical region that often suffers from diseases and injuries, leading to the fact that a person’s neck hurts when turning his head.
Neck pain has now become one of the most common problems. They occur in people regardless of age, occupation or physical fitness. Increasingly, patients turn to doctors with such complaints: "I can’t turn my head, " "My neck hurts a lot, " "My neck cramped. "There are many reasons for such symptoms, it is important to correctly diagnose. Otherwise, it will be impossible to quickly get rid of soreness.
Characteristics of pain
This condition, when it hurts to turn your head, is familiar to many. This happens due to pathologies of the muscles, ligaments or spine in the cervical-collar zone. Moreover, the pain appears not only in the neck, but also in the shoulders, even in the hands, gives to the back of the head. Other symptoms may appear: numbness, tingling, weakness, darkening of the eyes. In this case, the head cannot be turned to the side, a person has to turn around with his whole body.
In most cases, stiffness in the neck and pain last from a couple of days to a week. They can vary in character: shooting, breaking, burning, encircling, stabbing. Sometimes the pain is different and in intensity: from weak, aching - to sharp, very strong. If it is not associated with any pathology, but appeared due to overwork or stress, it will pass even without serious treatment, only by reducing the load and anesthetic ointments.
A visit to the doctor is necessary if the neck does not stop hurting within a week, and also when other symptoms appear. This may include numbness, a tingling or crawling sensation, headaches, nausea, weakness, or fever. It is important to seek medical attention also if the neck hurts suddenly for no apparent reason, and the stiffness builds up rapidly.
Causes
Neck pain can be caused by a variety of factors. Most often they are associated with muscle strain or their increased tone. This happens after physical exertion, for example, when playing sports. When a person often tilts or turns his head, lifts weights or performs high-amplitude movements with his hands, lactic acid is formed in the muscles and microtrauma of the fibers occurs. Damage can be localized in the neck or collar area. This leads to pain that gets worse every time you turn your head.
Athletes are not the only ones suffering from this problem. Often reduces the neck of loaders, builders, workers, seamstresses, drivers - that is, those whose professional activities are associated with constant overexertion of the hands and the collar zone.
Static loads are no less dangerous for the neck. Often, waking up, a person notices that he has rested his neck. This happens due to an uncomfortable position during sleep or due to the wrong selection of bedding. For example, sleeping on a too soft featherbed, a large or hard pillow, a sagging sofa can lead to soreness in the collar area. A similar situation develops when a person spends a long time in an uncomfortable position, for example, sitting with his head tilted in front of a computer or talking on the phone, pressing it to his ear with his shoulder.
In addition to muscle strain, injuries are often the cause of pain. In most people, the muscles of the neck are rather weak, and the cervical spine has a more fragile structure than others. Because of this, any sudden movement, a blow to the neck, or even a fall of a person can lead to injury to this area.
Suffer from injuries mainly muscles and ligaments. Most often, the muscle that runs along the back of the neck and is responsible for the movement of the scapula is subjected to sprains. A common occurrence is also a mixture of vertebrae or a fracture. The consequences of all injuries are severe pain that makes any head movement impossible.
Muscular pathologies that cause stiffness in the neck and pain when turning or tilting also include myositis. This is an inflammation of the muscles that occurs due to hypothermia, an infectious disease, injury or overexertion. Inflammation is accompanied by edema, as a result of which the mobility of the head is severely limited. The cause of this condition can be even severe stress, which leads to muscle spasm and limits any movement of the head.
What diseases appear
There are more serious reasons for this problem. If the pain does not go away after a few days, any movement causes pain, numbness or tingling in the fingers, headaches, it is very important to see a doctor. After all, most likely, such pains are a symptom of a pathology that requires special treatment.
With severe pain that limits the mobility of the neck, it is better to seek the advice of a specialist.
Most often they occur in diseases of the cervical spine. Each person has different symptoms, but pain when turning the head almost always occurs. There are some of the most common pathologies.
Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is now becoming more common. This is due to a sedentary lifestyle, malnutrition, increased stress on the neck muscles when sitting at the computer. Usually, with osteochondrosis, the neck hurts on the right side or on the left, as the cause of it is the infringement of the nerve roots.
A herniated disc or disc protrusion in the cervical region is common. After all, the muscles that hold the vertebrae in the correct position are weak here, and the load on the neck is always large. Therefore, disks suffer, which, due to improper nutrition, become very fragile. As a result of this, the vertebrae converge and infringe on the nerve roots. This, as well as muscle spasms, lead to pain when turning the head.
Arthrosis of the intervertebral joints is less common. Elderly people are mostly susceptible to it, as it is a degenerative-dystrophic process. Often arthrosis is accompanied by a narrowing of the spinal canal and the appearance of bone growths near the vertebrae. Because of this, some patients cannot move their head at all.
Scoliosis and stoop are not considered serious pathologies by many, but they can also cause pain and stiffness. Due to the incorrect position of the spine, the increased load falls on one side of the neck. As a result, pain appears only on the right or left side.
The cause of this condition can also be other diseases: vascular disorders, neurological pathologies or infections. Of these, meningitis is the most dangerous. This is a rather rare disease, but dangerous. In addition to stiffness in the neck, with meningitis, a person has a headache, nausea, weakness, and a temperature may rise. One such disease is meningococcal disease.
Pain and stiffness in the neck-collar zone can be a symptom of the syndrome of the scalene muscle, cervical sciatica, humeroscapular periarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, vertebral artery insufficiency, neuralgia of the occipital nerve. Although the manifestations of these diseases may be similar, their treatment should be different, so it is very important to correctly diagnose.
Pain in children
This condition, when it is impossible to move the head, occurs even in children. Some babies are born with a pathology such as torticollis. In this case, the child's head takes a forced position - tilted to one side. This is due to spasm of the neck muscles.
Pain when turning the head can also occur in older children. This is most often caused by infectious diseases. It can be lymphadenitis, mumps, purulent tonsillitis, meningitis. It is very important to recognize the disease in time and start treatment.
Treatment
In many cases, when overwork, hypothermia or stress becomes the cause of such an unhealthy condition, you can relieve the pain yourself. The main thing at the same time is not to be limited to taking painkillers. An integrated approach is needed: it is necessary to limit the mobility of the head with the help of orthopedic devices, massage is useful, special gymnastics, rubbing ointments or applying compresses.
But if such pains are a symptom of any disease, only a doctor can determine how to treat them correctly. After all, it is very important that not only symptomatic therapy be carried out, but the treatment of the underlying pathology.
Various therapeutic measures depend on the cause of the pain, but there are some that apply in any case:
- Medicines to relieve pain, inflammation, muscle spasms, to improve blood circulation and metabolic processes.
- Rest for several days, sometimes immobilization of the neck with a Shants collar or a more rigid orthosis is indicated, which will help speed up the healing of damaged tissues.
- Cold or warm compresses.
- Massage, rubbing ointments.
- Physiotherapy.
Treatment of this pathology should be complex, necessarily including massage or manual therapy.
Medical therapy
Many people, when they do not know what to do to get rid of pain when turning their heads, begin to drink painkillers. Sometimes this helps if such a condition is not associated with a serious illness. But it is worth remembering that any analgesics or NSAIDs should not be taken without consulting a doctor for longer than 3-5 days. Therefore, if the pain does not go away during this time, it is better to consult a specialist.
In addition, in many cases, pain relief alone will not help restore mobility to the neck, since it is still necessary to relieve muscle spasms, normalize blood circulation, and relieve inflammation.
Therefore, in such cases, a complex of drugs is usually prescribed:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve pain and inflammation.
- Muscle relaxants to relieve muscle spasms.
- Chondroprotectors help restore cartilage tissue, improve spinal mobility.
- Various ointments relieve pain, inflammation, warm and relax.
- Multivitamins make up for the lack of vitamins.
Physiotherapy treatment
In addition to drugs, the treatment of neck pain necessarily includes other methods. Most often, massage is prescribed, which helps to relax the muscles, improves neck mobility. Manual therapy is effective, but in this department it must be applied very carefully. In addition, spinal traction is sometimes indicated. This method helps well with infringement of nerve fibers, osteochondrosis, intervertebral hernia.
For any pathology, physiotherapy is effective. It can be electrophoresis, UHF, laser, magnetotherapy, paraffin applications, acupuncture. Useful mud applications, therapeutic baths. These procedures normalize muscle tone, improve blood circulation and metabolic processes, and have a general strengthening effect.
And therapeutic exercises will help to consolidate the result of treatment and restore range of motion. Begin to perform special exercises after subsiding pain and inflammation. They strengthen muscles, increase mobility, and prevent muscle spasms. All exercises are performed slowly, without sudden movements, avoiding the appearance of pain.
Folk remedies
Such a pathology is treated at home. Therefore, many patients, in addition to the methods prescribed by the doctor, use various folk recipes.
- A bag of heated salt warms the neck well with muscle spasms.
- Pour boiling water over a sheet of horseradish, after cooling, attach to the neck and wrap with a scarf. You can leave the compress overnight if there is no severe burning sensation.
- In a similar way, a compress is made from the leaves of burdock or cabbage.
- Mix 50 g each of honey and vodka, add 2 tablespoons of fine salt and a little grated horseradish. When the mass becomes homogeneous, use it to rub the neck.
- An effective warming compress is made from 300 ml of alcohol, 10 ml of camphor and a vial of iodine.
- Mix the yolk, camphor alcohol, vodka and mustard powder. Rub your neck before bed.
- If you mix crushed ginger root, a little garlic and butter, this ointment will help you get rid of cramps quickly.
- Well relaxes and soothes a drink of aloe juice and black radish, mixed with honey.
By itself, the neck will not stop hurting, its mobility will not be restored. Therefore, it is better to immediately consult a doctor and begin the correct treatment than to constantly suffer from the inability to turn your head.