Neck pain should be taken seriously. If you are experiencing discomfort or pain every time you move your neck, and the situation hasn’t improved in a couple of days, you should immediately get it diagnosed to understand the root cause of this discomfort.
A neck injury, when not treated properly, has the potential to cause long-term difficulties including headaches, immobility, and degeneration of muscles, among others. If you’re looking for neck injury treatment in Greenville, SC, look no further.
Here at Injury Medicine, our team of pain management experts has years of experience in providing the best possible care to patients suffering from neck pain and related issues.
Give us a call at 864-866-PAIN to schedule an appointment with our neck pain doctors.
What Is Neck Pain?
Neck pain is quite common. Your neck is a network of muscles, bones, nerves, and joints. Your neck’s job is to provide mobility and support for the head. Any time there is a problem with the nerves, joints, bones, or muscles in the neck, it may potentially lead to neck pain.
Neck pain is often accompanied by headaches and pain in the arms, shoulders, and hands. Since the spinal cord is a part of the neck, any irritation may cause pain in your legs and other parts of your body. Neck pain may be caused by a range of things, such as sleeping in the wrong position, a contact sports injury, or a slip and fall accident, etc.
Typically, neck pain goes away after a few days or a week, but if these symptoms persist, this can indicate serious issues with your neck. You shouldn’t ignore persistent neck pain.
If you are suffering from neck pain, call the experts at Injury Medicine at [pain] today to set up an appointment.
What Are Some of the Common Symptoms of Neck Injuries?
Many neck injuries may present symptoms in other parts of the body in addition to the neck. Here are some of the most common symptoms associated with neck pain:
- Headaches – If you are experiencing chronic headaches, it could be due to a neck injury, as the muscles and nerves in the neck are connected to those in the head, which means the pain can be transferred to nerves in the head.
- Numbness in Fingers — If you are struggling to grip or if you are experiencing weakness in your arms or fingers, it could be a sign of a neck injury.
- Pain in Arm and Shoulders — If you’re feeling a constant pain in your arm and shoulder it could be due to pain radiating along a nerve from the neck to these parts of the body. Sometimes, you get a burning feeling when pain radiates along the nerve.
- Neurological Issues — If you suddenly begin to experience problems with reflexes, sensation, or strength, it could be due to nerve root compression in the neck.
- Lower Neck Pain — If you are experiencing a stabbing or stinging feeling in the lower part of your neck, often at a single spot, it could be due to a neck injury.
- Difficulty in Moving the Neck — If you find it difficult to move your neck or turn your head from side to side, it is a symptom of neck pain. It has the potential to interfere with your quality of life as it will be difficult for you to drive, get dressed or go to work.
If you’re experiencing any or a combination of these symptoms, it could be due to a neck injury. You should immediately set up an appointment with the experts at Injury Medicine at 864-866-PAIN to get relief from your neck pain symptoms.
What Are Some of the Common Causes of Neck Pain?
A wide range of injuries and medical issues have the potential to cause neck pain. Some of the most common causes include:
- Muscle Strain — If you spend hours upon hours in a sitting position working on your computer or smartphone, it could lead to muscle strain. Straining neck muscles is relatively easy as even maintaining the wrong position while getting in bed may cause muscle strain.
- Compressed Nerve — If there are bone spurs or herniated discs in the neck vertebrae, these can compress the nerves that go from the spinal cord to other parts of the body and may cause neck pain.
- Injuries — A variety of injuries may cause neck pain. Neck pain is common in contact sports. A simple slip and fall may also cause a neck injury.
- Whiplash — A sudden forward and backward or vice-versa motion of the neck may injure tendons, muscles, bones, or nerves in the neck and may lead to neck pain.
- Aging — As you age, you might suffer from spinal stenosis or osteoarthritis which may cause neck pain.
- Being Stressed — If you are experiencing a lot of mental stress, it could tighten neck muscles resulting in stiff neck and neck pain.
- Poor Posture — If you have developed a habit of poor posture, it will lead to neck stiffness and muscle weakness leading to neck pain.
- Certain Diseases — A range of diseases such as tumors or cysts may also cause neck pain.
What Are Some of the Treatments Available at Injury Medicine for Neck Pain?
Here at Injury Medicine, our experts develop a customized treatment plan for each of our patients depending on the source of neck pain, presence of other medical conditions, and various other factors.
Here is a list of some of the options our expert doctors offer for neck injury treatment in Greenville, SC:
Medication Management
A wide range of medicines is available for managing neck pain. These include both over-the-counter medications as well as prescription medications.
The first line of treatment typically involves the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Advil, Motrin, or ibuprofen. Our experts may also prescribe other muscle relaxants and nerve pain medications to provide relief from acute pain.
Nerve Blocks
Our experts offer both surgical and nonsurgical nerve blocks. The main goal of nerve blocks is to prevent nerves from sending out pain signals to the central nervous system thus providing relief from pain.
In surgical nerve blocks, specific nerves are cut off or destroyed to prevent them from sending signals to your brain. It is often permanent. Non Surgical nerve blocks achieve the same through injecting medicines. It offers temporary relief.
Chiropractic Adjustments
We also offer chiropractic adjustments where experts put pressure on certain parts of the nerve to loosen up your muscles and provide relief from neck pain.
Spinal Cord Stimulator
One of the options available for chronic neck pain sufferers is a spinal cord stimulator. It is often recommended by our experts for patients who haven’t found success with other treatments.
These are implantable devices that block painful nerve signals from reaching your brain. These devices have been in use since the late 1960s and have been a huge success.
Radiofrequency Ablation
In this treatment, heat generated by radio waves is used to cut off painful nerve signals from reaching your central nervous system. This treatment offers temporary relief that may range anywhere from nine months to two years.
Orthopedic Surgery
Our experts may recommend orthopedic surgery to provide relief from chronic neck pain if other treatments are not successful even after trying for around eight weeks.
A variety of options are available including cervical spinal fusion, discectomy, laminectomy, laminoplasty, and disc replacement.
Kyphoplasty
It is a minimally invasive treatment in which quick-drying bone cement is directly injected into the vertebral compression fractures. Kyphoplasty results in restoring the function and strength of the bone and provides relief from chronic neck pain.
Injections
If our experts determine the cause of chronic neck pain to be a sensitive nerve compression, we may recommend certain injections including medial branch blocks, epidural steroid injections, and facet joint injections.
These injections combine a local anesthetic with a steroid which helps to provide relief from pain and address inflammation.
Schedule Your Neck Injury Treatment in Greenville!
If you live in Greenville, SC or surrounding areas, and have been experiencing chronic neck pain, you should contact the neck pain experts at Injury Medicine. We offer a range of treatment options to help you get back to living your life and experience relief from your neck pain.
Give us a call at 864-866-PAIN to schedule an appointment with our neck pain doctors.
