How to deal with neck pain?

This is an automatically translated article.

Neck pain is a common disease of all ages, but is more common in adulthood, especially in the elderly. This is also the most common cervical spine disease.

1. What is neck and shoulder pain?

Shoulder and neck pain is a condition in which the muscles of the shoulder and neck are stiff, causing pain, accompanied by limited movement of the neck and head. Neck pain usually appears in the morning, when waking up. In fact, this is a group of diseases closely related to the musculoskeletal system and blood vessels in the shoulder and neck region.
There are many different causes of the disease, but all lead to a final syndrome that is the patient has muscle pain in the shoulder and neck area and limited movement of the head and neck. Shoulder and neck pain often appear suddenly, there are many patients who suddenly wake up after a night of sleep and find pain in the neck, shoulder, and back of the neck. Therefore, the first symptom that the patient notices is muscle pain in the neck, shoulder, and possibly the upper back.
Initially, the patient only felt slight pain, aching in the shoulder and neck area and limited movement of the neck and neck area, the head area seemed to be unable to turn the head comfortably, only tilted to the left or right without turning back. This condition can appear spontaneously or appear after you do hard work, fatigue, stress or cold.

Trắc nghiệm: Bạn biết gì về bệnh đau cổ vai gáy?

Đau cổ vai gáy là tình trạng cơ vùng vai gáy co cứng gây đau, kèm theo các hạn chế vận động khi quay cổ hoặc quay đầu. Bệnh thường xuất hiện vào buổi sáng và có liên quan chặt chẽ đến hệ thống cơ xương khớp và mạch máu vùng vai gáy.

2. Neck pain symptoms

Pain symptoms are usually mechanical in nature:
Pain increases when standing, when walking, when sitting for a long time, when moving the cervical spine, when coughing, sneezing. Pain symptoms can also increase with changes in weather. Pain relieves with rest. Sometimes the pain spreads down to the shoulder blades, making the arms, forearms and fingers very uncomfortable, even just touching it feels like numbness, this is a sign of increased sensation. . Hyperesthesia makes it so that even a light touch on the skin of the nape of the neck or just a very gentle pressure on the skin of the arm, forearm, and back of the hand can produce a distinct pain. This could be a sign of a tendon reflex disorder. Even when the pain is too much, the patient just needs to walk gently enough to affect and cause pain in the neck, shoulder, and nape. If not treated early, until the disease is more severe, all activities and movements related to the neck, shoulders, and nape, even mildly, will cause pain and limit all activities of the patient.
This condition even affects the patient's eating and sleeping. When sleeping, if the patient lies on the affected side, the pressure of the body will increase the pain. If the patient lies on the healthy side, the affected side will be pulled back, causing pain.

Bệnh đau vai gáy có tính chất cơ học
Bệnh đau vai gáy có tính chất cơ học

4. How to deal with neck pain?

When you have neck and shoulder pain, you should see a doctor so that a specialist can find out the cause and determine if there is a compression phenomenon that causes nerve damage. Along with that, the doctors will assess the severity of the disease or mild, thereby giving an appropriate treatment plan.
4.1. Mild cases When you are newly ill, you can do the following:
Do not try to turn your head or neck. At this time, you should only move your neck gently according to your current ability, do not try to increase the amplitude as usual. Should limit turning and tilting the head to allow the disease to heal on its own. Do not sit in front of a fan or sit in an air conditioner, because it only makes the muscles more stiff and painful. You can apply warm compresses to the neck and shoulders or use infrared light. You can ask someone to gently massage the neck and shoulders for about 10-15 minutes. This will help improve blood circulation, relax muscles, and reduce pain. When bathing, use warm water, not cold water. For mild cases, related to anemia or vasoconstriction, the above measures will quickly get rid of neck and shoulder pain in 2-3 days.
4.2. In case of moderate disease, after taking the above measures, the next day the disease still does not improve, the patient may have to use some treatment drugs such as:
Use pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs under the guidance of a specialist such as: Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Diclofenac,... These drugs will help reduce pain, and at the same time fight the inflammatory reactions that follow. Use the Salonpas patch for pain relief, as it contains a transdermal non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent called Methyl Salicylate. Your doctor may also prescribe a muscle relaxant such as Decontractyl to combat excessive muscle spasms, thereby also reducing pain. B vitamins such as Vitamins B1, B6, and B12, which have the effect of increasing nerve transmission, can also be used. Note: Oral corticosteroids have little effect in this case. If the cause is not degeneration or spasm of blood vessels, massage should not be done in this case, because it will only make the disease more painful. 4.3. Severe cases With severe disease cases, it is necessary to use stronger measures that are:
Acupuncture measures: help to regulate the activity of the nerves. It is necessary to point at the exact position of the acupoints, then can create a diffuse effect that reduces spasm, thereby reducing pain.
Using drugs that inhibit neurotransmitters such as Lidocaine, Novocain,... will temporarily cut off strong nerve impulses and soften muscles. Note, the injection must be done by doctors, and have full emergency equipment when something goes wrong. Absolutely do not arbitrarily buy drugs for injection.
>>> Cure neck and shoulder pain effectively by impacting the spine

Châm cứu là một biện pháp chữa đau vai gáy hiệu quả
Châm cứu là một biện pháp chữa đau vai gáy hiệu quả

5. Prevention of shoulder pain

Everyone should regularly practice sports, should choose exercises that are suitable for them. There should be a reasonable work and rest regime. Should exercise, take breaks when sitting for a long time. When sitting reading, studying or typing, you need to keep your neck straight, do not bend your neck for too long, and avoid sitting in the wrong position. In the daily diet, it is necessary to eat enough nutrients and supplement some essential minerals for the body such as calcium, potassium, vitamins of groups B, C, E, ...

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