6 Main Types of Neck Pains, Home Remedies & Professional Help for Neck Pain Relief!

Some people experience a dull ache so intense the need to self crack is almost limitless.

Some people experience sharp stabbing pains where they cannot turn their head in it’s full range making things like driving difficult or even dangerous.

Some people experience a ‘crick’ in the neck.

Some people’s neck pain is so unpleasant that it causes headaches and migraines.

Some people simply cannot get comfortable when trying to sleep which then affects their mood for days and week.

No matter what experience you have with your own neck pain… it’s not fun.

In this article, we hope to shed light on causes of neck pain, the types of neck pain you may be experiencing, and how you could become free from neck pain.

Understanding Your Neck

To fully understand why we experience the pain we do it will help to have even a basic understanding of your neck and how it is made up.

Your neck is the start and top of the spine and spinal cord containing 7 of the spine’s vertebrae, known as the cervical spine. These vertebrae help support the skull, move the spine and protect the spinal cord.

Each vertebra is numbered starting from the top being C1. C1 is also known as the ‘atlas’. This then follows onto C2 to C7.

Why is knowing this important? If you are to see a professional about your neck pain they may start talking about something like ‘the compression between C3 and C4 is a cause for concern’, this basic understanding gives you a bit more of an idea about what they are talking about and doesn’t leave you in the dark.

Note: If you do seek professional help about your pain and they say something you don’t quite understand do ask them to clarify it. It is their job to tell you everything you need to know in a way you can best understand it. We do our best to never leave our patients in the dark or confused about what is going on.

Around the seven vertebrae, the neck is made up of a complicated, strong and efficient combination of muscles, fascia and flexible ligaments that give us the relatively large amount of movement we are used to.

With any complicated system, things can go wrong and we can then experience neck pain. There are 6 main types of neck pain you may have to deal with.

The 6 Main Types of Neck Pain

Headaches & Migraines

Although headaches aren’t experienced ‘in’ the neck, headaches are a major secondary issue caused by neck problems.

If your neck pain is causing headaches it is often felt in the back of the head and upper neck around the base of the skull. These headaches are usually dull and achy rather than sharp and are often caused by muscle pain and muscle spasm.

Note: We often have people visit us because after suffering from headaches for months without realising the true cause is their neck.

Even though the pain is only dull it still impacts your day to day life. The dull ache can affect your concentration, your comfort and your mood making things like sleeping and work much harder than they should be.

When people experience Nerve Pain, especially in the neck, they often look for professional help almost immediately as it isn’t something you can live with for long.

Nerve pain in the neck is often caused by an injury to the nerve, a loss of curve in the neck, a prolapsed disc, or compressed joint which pinches the nerve.

Thankfully not all pain that feels like nerve pain is nerve pain. For example, an injury to a muscle may give the same type of pain.

Referred Pain

Referred pain is when there is an issue in one part of the body that causes pain in another.

For example; If you have an issue with one of the muscles in the shoulder it may cause you pain and discomfort (muscle pain, muscle spasms, or even nerve pain) in the neck even when your shoulder feels fine.

That is one example of many and also why at Spine, Body & Health we make sure every new client has a thorough consultation and assessment so we can see the full picture of what is going on in their body. You may visit us with neck pain, yet we may end up treating a different part of the body that doesn’t seem related.

Bone Pain

Tenderness and aching in the bones themselves are far more uncommon than muscle pain, muscle spasms and nerve pain. Generally speaking, bone pain comes under two main categories; neurological (it’s a nerve issue) or there’s a break. There are, of course, other categories too but those are the most common of this uncommon type of pain.

If you believe you are experiencing bone pain it’s best to seek professional help as soon as possible.

Give us a call on 01234 340317 today and we will get you booked in for a full consultation including essential scans as soon as possible (often the same week, even the next day!).

The Least Common – Facet Joint Pain

Facet joint pain is the least common issue we see at Spine, Body & Health with neck pain. Usually, this type of pain feels deep, sharp and achy and may radiate down to the shoulders and upper back.

Generally, this type of pain is due to arthritis in the neck.

As You Can See…

There are 6 main types of neck pain you may experience, the most common being muscle pain and muscle spasms. It’s worth understanding that these types of pain do overlap and you may experience a combination of them.

Now we understand the pain let’s take a journey into how we can reduce it and get it treated.

Home Remedies for Neck Pain

Depending on the pain you are experiencing depends on what you may be able to do from home to help relieve it. The following may help with muscle pain, muscle spasm and headaches.

Pain Relief

There are many over the counter medications that can help relieve your pain and may help reduce inflammation. It is our professional opinion that these shouldn’t be relied on long term as a fix for your neck pain.

Although they may remove most the pain it doesn’t mean the cause has been fixed and may give you a false sense of security with how bad it may actually be.

Professional Help for your Neck Pain

Getting Professional Help Too Treat Neck Pain Can Make All The Difference

PRECISE POSTURAL ANALYSIS

Your posture is largely determined by the shape of your spine. If your spine is healthy on the inside then your posture on the outside should be healthy too, with just small variations. When it comes to the neck, if it has the right shape your head will also be positioned on what is known as the “gravity line”. If your head is not positioned on the gravity line we may need to make further in depth evaluations of “why not?”

In many cases we will only utilise postural analysis in order to determine your spinal/structural abnormalities, this is because UK law states that we must make every effort to minimise the use of X-Rays. Therefore, we will only utilise X-Ray analysis when absolutely necessary and we believe that there is a serious structural problem that has occurred.

Your postural analysis is made by accurately placing coloured dots on specific landmarks on the surface of your body. Again we utilise the most sophisticated computer software that we know of to analyse what is happening to your structure.

NERVE FUNCTION ANALYSIS

Your nerve system is the master communication system of the body. It is also the most delicate and vital system of the body and it is easily harmed. It’s a fact that it needs to be healthy for you to be healthy. That’s why we focus on your nerve system, because it can offer us advanced signs of health problems developing in your body long before you experience the symptoms. That way we can tackle them before they become a problem.

PEERLESS DIGITAL X-RAY

We possess the most advanced digital x-ray imaging system in the world, allowing us to extract even the tiniest details. In addition, we have specialized software that digitises the x-rays that we take and analyses them precisely. To our knowledge we are the only facility in the UK that has access to this technology. It’s just another step we take (if necessary) to make sure we leave no stone unturned.

The combination of these three give a clear picture to you and your specialist about how your body is functioning and why you experience the pain you do. The more we know and understand the better we are able to help improve the quality of your life.

Professional Treatment

Once the cause has been highlighted, treatment can take many forms.

It could be structural based with manual treatments applied to the spine, it could be muscular based with deep tissue release, there could be specific-to-you activities to perform from home to help make faster progress, and more.

Regardless of what form your treatment takes, the aim is always simple. Fix the real cause of your pain so you don’t have to experience it again.

In Conclusion

It’s fair to say that living with neck pain is not a fun experience. Although it can be easy to ‘live with’ for a while it does start to get in the way and cause more harm than good to your day to day life.

Of the six main types of neck pain, the most common is Muscle Pain and Muscle Spasms however, it is not unusual to see a mixture of the six affecting the same person.

Although your pain can be managed at home it is doubtful the true cause will be fixed without some professional help, especially if there is a structural or muscular issue and especially if you’re suffering with referred pain that has little to do with your neck (from home you may be treating the wrong area and never know!).

Spine, Body & Health Treatment & Therapy

We Hope This Has Been Useful…

As you can see from the information above, there are many types of neck pain and many potential solutions from home remedies to seeking professional help.

If you do want to discover the cause of your neck pain and you live in Bedford, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Wellingborough, Luton or one of the surrounding areas then why not come to Spine, Body & Health for a Consultation. You’ll be in good hands with one of our Spinal Specialists.

Normally Consultations cost £405.00 due to how in-depth and powerful the testing is, however, right now you can get the same consultation for only £93. Enter your name, number and email in the form below and one of our team will give you a call as soon as possible to get your Consultation booked.

*We can only provide this offer to people that live 25 miles or less from the clinic (as determined by Google maps)

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