What Can Cause Neck Pains?

QUESTION: I have terrible neck pains. What can be causing them?
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ANSWER: Many things could be causing your neck pains and only a detailed
physical examination by a physician can tell you exactly what makes yours so
difficult.
I do not know how old you are, but neck pain is common in elderly people,
possibly as frequent as low back pain.
Among the numerous possible causes are degenerative changes in vertebral
column tissues called cervical spondylosis. That occurs to a greater or
lesser degree in everyone, usually beginning in middle age. One estimate is
that neck pain caused by this condition occurs in more than 50 percent of the
working population.
Another cause of neck pain is rheumatoid arthritis, which can affect the
cervical spine in much the same way that it does other joints of the body.
A rupture in a cervical disk often causes sudden neck and arm pains.
Such pains frequently begin after a neck strain or injury. The injuries do
not have to be recent, at times necks begin to ache after a strain or injury
have been forgotten.
Posterior longitudinal ligament ossification (forming of bone, or bony
substance in place of a supporting ligament) can cause neck pain as can
different types of tumors on or near the spinal cord.
Among several other possible things that can cause your neck to be
painful are myofascial syndromes which are pains that originate in some other
part of the body yet may produce pain in a wide area, and the well-known
whiplash that often occurs after an automobile rear-end accident.
As with many other conditions, early detection and treatment of the
problem can both relieve your suffering and possibly prevent later
complications.