Diagnosis and treatment of cervical pain

Methods of diagnosis for pain in the neck

Radiography

This method allows you to see the bones of the spine in an incomplete volume. On the x-ray, bone tissue infections are visible, the consequences of injuries are fractures, tumors (they are clearly visible in the area near the bones). The distance between the vertebrae can also show a good X-ray. So, the doctor will be able to determine how much it has been altered, that is, how much the vertebral column is deformed.

The disadvantage of X-rays is that other tissues, except bones, are difficult to view in pictures, and the doctor can not see any changes in them. Because the X-ray for neck pain needs to be reinforced with other methods of diagnosis.

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

This is an excellent method of diagnosis, in which you can see bone tissue, muscles, cartilage, and disk tissue.

Due to the fact that MRI gives a three-dimensional image, the doctor can diagnose both tumors, and deformation of the spine, and deformations in the muscles. In just half an hour you can diagnose the most serious diseases, including the causes of cervical pain.

MRI has practically no contraindications, except for claustrophobia and the presence of steel objects in the body - especially the implant in the heart area.

Computed tomography, or CT

This is an X-ray examination method, in which tissues are visible in several layers. That is, this is a highly accurate method of examination.

At CT it is very good to trace the changes in bone structures and to reveal their deformation. On this depends how quickly the doctor will be able to determine the cause of cervical pain. With deformation of the vertebrae and changes in the spinal cord, it is inevitable.

Analyzes in the laboratory

Very simple laboratory tests can enable a doctor to determine the causes of cervical pain. If there is an infection in the blood, then it can influence the weakness or hypertonic muscle, blood flow, filling tissues and organs with beneficial substances.

It is enough to donate blood to hormones or to make rheumatic tests to make an accurate diagnosis for pain in the neck.

What to do to relieve the tension of the neck muscles?

It is important not to drop your hands, do not sit out at the computer, and be distracted from it for physical exercises. They will help relieve tension in the muscles of the neck or prevent it from appearing.

Council number 1. Keep Posture

The breast is raised, the shoulders are divorced to the sides, even, the head and chin are held straight. Feel the muscles of the neck - what they are strong, flexible, tense them as far as you can. Now relax. Do the exercise several times before you feel complete relaxation of the neck.

Council number 2. Sleep in the right posture

If your neck is constantly overexerted in sleep due to a too high pillow or its complete absence, the vertebrae can deform and the muscles become numb. Therefore, it is necessary to take care not only of the comfortable, but also of the correct pose for sleep.

Doctors say that sleep on the stomach is more good for young children than for adults. When you sleep on your stomach, you have to turn your head to the right or left, so you do not suffocate during sleep. Therefore, the muscles of the neck can become numb, and the head may ache. Change the posture during sleep, and your neck will be in order.

Council number 3. Adjust posture while working

If you are an office worker and you do not have the opportunity to get up from your computer every 45 minutes, as stipulated by work hygiene, at least on the spot let's rest your neck.

While sitting, do not hold your head in one position for more than 30 minutes. Turn your head to the left, tilt it to the right-left-sideways, turn your entire body into one, then the other way. So you will protect yourself from pain in the neck, shoulder blades and back.

Tip # 4. Do not refuse massage

Now massage is so advanced service that you can use it collectively. In many offices with sedentary work from pain in the neck and back, a large number of people suffer.

Why do not they agree and order a massage therapist right into the office? This does not require a lot of money (collective order - a collective discount). But it will save you and your colleagues from pain in the neck. A 15-minute massage is an excellent everyday remedy for muscle strain.

Than and how it is possible to treat cervical pains?

What is the doctor's task in the treatment of pain in the neck? First of all, you need to remove them. Further it is important to remove the causes of pain: deformation of the vertebrae, their incorrect position, remove infections from the body. Methods of treatment can be radical - surgical - and conservative - with the help of medications, physiotherapy procedures and a healthy lifestyle.

Conservative methods of treating the neck To avoid disturbing more spasms, inflammation has gone, muscle tone has recovered, correct medications are needed. Then the pain will leave the neck area (not immediately, but it will go away)

When taking medication, it is worth considering these moments

• It is necessary to strictly calculate the doses of medicines only taking into account the recommendations of the doctor
• Remember that some drugs with analgin in the composition can give complications
• If you take painkillers for a long time, they can stop working on pain receptors, and the pain continues. Then other methods of treating pain in the neck will be required.
• If a vertebra is deformed in a person, then medicines are powerless - mechanical methods of influencing pain are needed.

Orthopedic pillow

This method of saving the neck is very good when the patient lies a lot. And at night a shaving pillow is used, so that a person sleeps in the right posture and reduces the load on the neck muscles and vertebrae.

The method of physiotherapy and physical education

To remove the inflammation of the nerve endings, it is important to conduct a course of physical therapy. Use a muscular corset for the neck or other areas of the neck. It will help to strengthen the ligaments of the neck, and will also keep the vertebrae. Also, additional methods of treating the neck can be either warming up or ice on the neck area. 

Collar around neck

In order to direct the cervical spine in the correct position, you need a cervical collar. It is most often used to return the vertebrae to the correct position after a trauma, a severe stroke, when the vertebrae are not in place, and the muscles are spasmodic.

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Surgical intervention

Before the surgery, the doctor should familiarize the patient with all methods of cervical pain treatment. Surgery can solve the following problems for cervical pain.

1. Infringement of nerve roots
2. Herniated discs or cervical radiculopathy
3. Injury and compression of the spinal cord
4. Fixed position of vertebrae in their warping and fracture

What complications can occur during surgery?

No matter how experienced and skilled the surgeon was, the patient is not immune from the consequences of surgical intervention for neck pain. These can be such consequences.

• Allergic reaction to anesthesia
• Exacerbation of infections, especially if they were not known before surgery
• Damage during the operation of the spinal cord, nerve roots or vessels

Before deciding on an operation for the elimination of cervical pain, it is important to listen to an alternative opinion of physicians, independent of each other, and make the best decision. Perhaps the surgical methods of treating the neck are not for you.