When should you take neck pain seriously?

The neck is part of the body where the spinal cord connects to the brain. The part of the spine that passes through the neck is called the cervical spine and has a huge coordinated network of nerves, bones, joints and muscles. In short, the neck is a structure designed for maintaining stability in the whole nervous system. Neck also has a flexible muscle network that allows us to easily turn our head. With so many functions to perform, the neck is very active and therefore neck pain is a commonly heard pair of words. An aching pain in the neck is one of the common medical problems that two-thirds of the earth’s population suffers from. The medical condition of neck ache includes pain located in the neck region of the body. This pain can be either muscular or musculoskeletal pain. There are innumerable causes of for this. With these innumerable causes, there are various types of pains occurring in the neck. There are several problems that can lead to neck pain but some of these problems can self-heal. For example, you may have a severe pain in your neck and shoulders for a few days if you slept at an odd angle at night or if you are jet lagged. But such pains shall pass within a week. Sometimes people ignore the pain as it is so common in humans that the severity of the problem is not acknowledged by people. Most instances of neck pain go away within a few weeks but if signs persist, you should realise that it is time to get medical attention. In many cases, the problem is escalated because it was not paid heed to at earlier stages. So, to make sure that you get medical attention for your neck ache at the earliest, I list down all the signs that you need to take seriously and all those that do not need to be taken seriously.

Neck pain

When to take neck pain seriously?

There are 2 thumb rules when it comes to taking the paining neck seriously - the pain lasts for more than 6 weeks and the pain is getting worse and unbearable. These two thumb rules, if satisfied along with one of the other mentioned signs, you need to book a doctor’s appointment right away:

1. The pain has become almost chronic.
2. The pain is getting worse day by day.
3. Light tapping on the neck is painful too.
4. Continuous throbbing pains in the neck.
5. Inability to bend the head forward or backwards.
6. Mystery fevers or chills keep occurring frequently.
7. A headache that comes on suddenly along with a chronically paining neck.
8. There are possible spinal cord troubles within the neck.
9. Unexplained episodes of dizziness sometimes accompanied by nausea.
10. If you are taking steroids or drugs regularly, a paining neck is a serious problem.
11. HIV positive patients need to get even the slightest signs of neck pain assessed right away.
12. While facing progressive symptoms of autoimmune diseases, a stiff neck or a neck pain has to be assessed by a doctor.

Neck pain

When to not take neck pain seriously?

Sometimes, it so occurs that you may be having a neck ache problem which is temporary and is caused due to some physical causes, with no permanent repercussions. All these causes are not worrisome and do not need a doctor’s assessment. So, to save your time and keep you from worrying unnecessarily, I have listed down all the false alarms of neck pain:

1. Sign of neck pain due to arthritis.
2. A sudden sharp or shooting pain in the neck is generally false alarms. There is no common cause of neck pain that is indicated by a sudden shooting pain. It is generally a minor source of irritation in the spine which is temporary.
3. A stiff neck - 99% of the cases of stiff necks are due to wrong body posture or sleeping in an odd position. This may be painful, but it is not at all a red flag.

All these points will now help you get a clear idea about when to panic about neck pain and when not to.