Neck injuries usually present with a reduction in movement and pain. This is due to the number of joints, muscles and nerves in the neck that can be affected by an injury. Conditions causing neck pain may include whiplash, trapped nerves etc.

Whiplash

Whiplash is a common injury that mostly affects the upper back, neck and shoulders. Whiplash occurs when the head is jolted violently to the side or back an forth resulting in soft tissue injury to the muscles and ligaments of the upper back and neck.

Symptoms

Localised pain in and around the neck, upper back. Patients commonly complain of a reduced range of movement and sometimes pains in the shoulders and shooting pains in the arms.

Common Causes

Whiplash is normally the result of a road traffic accident but it can also be caused by contact sports such as rugby, boxing, and martial arts, additionally it can also be caused by a slip or a fall where the head is violently moved backwards or to the side.

Trapped Nerve

Nerves may be trapped at several points along their course. Those points of entrapment outside of the spine are rare. The focus of this page is upon nerves becoming trapped in the spine. The term trapped covers a range of situations in which the following may produce a range of symptoms from irritation to frank loss of function presenting as pain, pins & needles, numbness or weakness.

Mechanical Muscular Disorders Of The Neck

This injury occurs when the muscles go into protective spasm on one side or both sides of the neck. Sometime can be the result of a traumatic force applied to the head forcing the neck muscles beyond their normal range of motion. This often results in a muscle stain or muscle tear and can be extremely painful and immobilising. It can also occur without any obvious reason. This is known as an insidious onset of neck pain and can be as equally painful and debilitating.

Common Symptoms

Pain on one side or both sides of the neck, decreased range of movement, bilateral shoulder pain and pins and needles in one or both arms.