What patients and caregivers need to know about
Causes of Neck and Head Pain
Understanding the Root of the Problem
Neck and head pain are common complaints that affect your daily life, posture, and overall health. These pains may feel like stiffness, dull aches, sharp tension, or radiating pressure. If ignored, they can lead to headaches, shoulder pain, or even jaw issues.
Neck and head pain discomfort can result from several interrelated factors — poor posture, muscle imbalance, and surveyor misalignment — all of which are exacerbated by our current way of life. One major contributor to this type of discomfort is a forward head posture caused by limited or prolonged management of screen or handheld devices, which places excessive strain on the neck musculature, such as upper trapezius and levator scapulae. Various physical, psychological, and emotional adaptations to stress might all lead to muscle stiffness, fatigue, overuse, and nerve irritation, causing radiating pain or numbness along the upper extremity. Stress that recruits an immediate physical, psychological, or emotional response are common triggers that often elicit feelings of muscle filament tightness in the neck, shoulders, and jaw, which, if prolonged, might cause tension headaches.
Sometimes this discomfort may occur just from poor posture after old injuries such as a minor whiplash from a car accident or misalignment of the jaw (TMJ dysfunction) that has a compounding effect on neck alignment which might last for prolonged periods and create chronic pain. Discomfort can result from poor sleeping posture after choosing a pillow that adds additional strain to the neck while sleeping. Even additionally if you have weak upper back and shoulder muscles as a result of your settled lifestyle it creates a scenario where the neck has to compensate completely or incompletely. This often results in the next set of events starting a loop of recurring pain which needs to be dealt with the issue or underlying cause for permanent improvement.
