Unexpected Headaches and Neck Pain Causes

Most Common Reasons for Headaches and Neck Pain

– Injuries

– Overused

– Strain

– Pulled Muscle

– Sprains

– The way you sleep

– Stress

– Over-exercises

– Whiplash

– Arthritis

– Torticollis

 

Most of the time, headaches and neck pain are related. When the neck is injured or even just overused because of an activity or sport, it can send pain shooting in different directions. The pain from a neck injury has been known to spread to the shoulders, back and even in the arms. Along with headaches and neck pain, the neck might feel stiff and a localized pain can be felt almost anywhere in the neck area. This is referred to as a kink and it may become difficult to move the neck when this type of pain is present.

Neck pain includes any area where the pain is felt from the base of the skull and up or down a few inches. So neck pain can actually be a headache and vice versa. The degree of pain and severity of the condition can be found by locating the initial injury or strain. There are many different types of these injuries that can cause headaches and neck pain. The injuries include problems with the cervical spine or the bones and joints, the cervical discs that absorb shock when a body moves and pulled muscles and ligaments within the neck area. But people can have neck sprains and injuries that are self-inflicted.

If you are at a sporting event or watching television, the way that you hold your neck can cause problems. If you spend a few hours with your head tilted or slanted it can cause headaches and neck pain. The way you sleep can also cause problems. If you sleep on your stomach with your head turned to one side, the neck can become sore and stiff. But perhaps the most common type of self-inflicted neck pain is due to stress. When people experience stress they have a tendency to tighten the muscles in the shoulders and neck for long periods of time. This makes the muscles tight and sensitive to the touch and the problem will persist until the stressful situation is resolved. Of course, over-exercising can also bring about this tightening of muscles and pain in the neck and back.

There are sudden injuries that can cause headaches and neck pain. Whiplash can occur during a car accident and this is known to cause a significant amount of pain. Direct blows to the head area, strangulation and falls from heights are a few types of sudden injuries. Because the skull is connected to the cervical spine, any injury that occurs there is likely to cause headaches and neck pain too. But sometimes they are only a symptom of another medical condition.

Arthritis can damage the discs in the neck area and this can feel like a painful kink in the neck. It usually only occurs on one side of the neck and other symptoms include tingling, weakness in the arms and hands and numbness.

Bacterial and viral illnesses cause inflammation in the spinal cord and the brain. The biggest symptom is headaches and neck pain and the pain can be so severe that the sufferer is unable to move it in any direction. Other symptoms include a fever, vomiting and an extremely stiff neck.

Torticollis is easy to recognize because the sufferer is unable to move the neck and it is permanently slanted to one side. This condition is usually present at birth but it can occur because of an extreme injury. If the sufferer does attempt to move the neck area it can be very painful and most people who have torticollis always have problems with headaches and neck pain.

Unexpected Headaches and Neck Pain Causes, Last Update: 13/6/2017