Neck pain is a fairly common affliction, caused for some by daily habits like poor posture or bad sleeping positions. But what happens when you have tried all the at home fixes you could think of and nothing changes? Persistent cervical pain can sometimes be an indicator for conditions that you may not be aware of. On the flip side, if you already have a diagnosis, the symptom isn’t always one that gets associated with the illness.
For those suffering from unpredictable neck pain, New York Pain Medicine Associate has compiled 4 conditions that are related to it, and hopefully making the connection can become the beginning of treatment.
Almost everyone has at one point or another experienced neck pain. For some, it’s a passing thing, the result of sleeping in a weird angle, looking up too long, or having bad posture at work. A bit of time and some light stretching is all you need to feel better, and the pain disappears in a few days.
However, for others, neck pain is something that affects their day to day life. It may be a chronic state brought on by cervical specific afflictions, the result of an injury where the head was unstable like a car accident, or due to aging related deterioration. A longer treatment plan or pain management strategy can help keep the discomfort at bay.
But what happens for people who have almost unpredictable bouts of neck pain? Sometimes it can even spread and become headaches, migraines, go into the shoulderblades or create muscle weakness.
In medicine the saying is “when you hear hoofsteps, think horses, not zebras”, but when every horse has gone by and there is still noise, it can be worth looking at diagnosis and conditions that seem out of the ordinary. For many it might not even mean a new diagnosis, but simply realizing that their neck pain was the result of a known condition, it’s just that they hadn’t been told it was a related symptom before.
New York Pain Medicine Associates brings up 4 different conditions that are a less common cause for neck pain, but that could bring answers for those who haven’t found any other explanations. Consulting with medically certified physicians, especially spine and pain specialists, can give a road to clarity and treatment options.
Read more: 6 Warning Signs Your Neck Pain Could Be a Cervical Spine Problem
Ehler Danlos syndrome is a condition that affects connective tissues like joints, creating many problems related to the articulations, and is commonly associated with hypermobility though they don’t always go together. The term groups together 13 types of genetic disorders that can be inherited, and impact the body in different ways.
EDS affects around 1 in 5000 people. The hallmark symptoms for EDS are joint instability, stretchy skin, hypermobility and atrophic scarring. It’s considered a rare condition, with hypermobile EDS and classical EDS being the most common amongst the variables.
Because the head is so heavy, a lot of neck stability and strength comes into play to keep it in place. For people who have this syndrome, it’s quite common to experience chronic neck pain because the connective tissues are too loose, and the muscles overcompensate. Fatigue, headaches and difficulty concentrating can also accompany the discomfort.
For some, neck pain is directly tied to headaches or migraines, and have a seemingly irregular pattern of occurrence. Sometimes the answer is something called thoracic outlet syndrome: the compression of veins or nerves that connect to the head through the sides of the neck. In most cases it’s a specific posture or movement that triggers the compression, making it hard to point out a cause.
TOS doesn’t just present as neck or head pain. Because it interrupts the flow of nutrients and information, it can also translate into muscle weakness, numbness of the arms, and even as passing out.
The condition can be a result of an injury, but there are other risk factors to take into account:
Have you experienced neck pain that spreads down to your shoulderblades, and wide on your shoulders almost like the shape of a coathanger? This is quite a common but not very discussed symptom of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, a condition that is defined because heart-rate goes up more than 30 bpm upon standing.
The syndrome however is not a heart issue, but a matter of the autonomic nervous system: the one in charge of automatic functions like breathing, blood pressure, etc. People with POTS tend to have an uneven distribution of blood volume in the body, because it’s hard for their system to fight gravity and other external forces.
While the reason why this syndrome causes neck pain isn’t yet clear, one theory is that when upright —standing or sitting— blood doesn’t go all the way up, leaving the cervical area and the upper back muscles depleted.
Some physical therapy exercises and movements can help lower pain levels. For the most part lying horizontally seems to be the only way to fully make POTS related neck pain go away.
Some autoimmune illnesses attack the joints in the body. The resulting inflammation or eroding can create general discomfort, but neck pain and stiffness are sometimes overlooked, when it’s actually a pretty common symptom.
The two main diseases where this happens are:
To know if the reason for your neck pain is coming from any of the mentioned conditions without previous diagnosis it’s necessary to find the appropriate medical evaluations. None of these illnesses have neck pain as their only symptom, so a full evaluation and taking into account what other markers there are is paramount.
But regardless of if you have a diagnosis or are simply looking for answers to why you are experiencing neck pain, New York Pain Medicine Associate provides professional specialized care relating to spinal conditions and many cutting edge treatments that offer non-invasive alternatives.
Our medical staff is comprised of board-certified and award winning doctors like Dr. Demesmin, who understand that putting the patient’s well-being and quality of life first is the most important thing. If you want to begin your journey towards a pain-free day to day, contact us and schedule an appointment.