Why does your neck hurt?

Why does your neck hurt?

Neck pain just plain sucks. Stiffness and soreness in the neck causes discomfort, irritability, loss of sleep and often numbness and strength loss down the arms into the hands.

Many patients report neck pain after car accidents, injuries and overexertion but some can't point to any specific incident that caused them to have neck pain. Some people blame it on sleeping wrong, stress or overworking and many times these may be factors but usually aren't the root cause.

Basically you have a fat head! Well it may not be fat but it is rather large compared to the little spine that it is supported by. This spine is made up of seven vertebrae whose job it is to not only keep you standing tall and allowing movement but they also carry blood vessels to the brain and the spinal cord runs right through them. In between each of these units nerves exit the spinal cord and go to their respective origins. The nerves of the lower cervical spine join to form the nerves to your shoulder, arm and hand muscles. Discs provide support and cushioning to these vertebrae On top of these important structures are your windpipe, esophagus , lymph nodes and muscles. So you can see that this is a complex area of the body and any irritation can affect numerous structures.