2. How Neck pain occurs?

Neck pain is widespread around young adults and adults, with about  14% to 70% of them receive neck pains and stiffness at some point in their life, at least once or multiple times. About 19 to 30% of people with active neck pains may develop a severe chronic case.

Neck pain cause discomfort and impaired quality of life and could affect a lot more than seems. People with neck pain at a young age are more likely to carry the discomfort and pain into adulthood; thus, treating it at a young age is very important. Many research evidence proves that symptoms like neck pain and others increase amongst students due to their stressful chores and developing addictive habits. Neck pain could be traced down to the multifactorial origins showing various physical and psychological factors to its point. Neck pains are linked to physical characteristics such as sports, accidents, bad posture, and physical stress on the neck. Studies have shown that people with smoking backgrounds, previously untreated disease, the stressful work environment, and any accidents or illness report the higher risk factor.

3. What are the risk factors of Neck pain?

 Neck pain could be traced down to the multifactorial origins showing various physical and psychological factors to its point. Neck pains are usually linked to physical characteristics such as sports, accidents, bad posture, and physical stress on the neck. Most young adults develop Musculoskeletal neck pain, which they are most likely to carry on into adulthood.

The risk factor of neck pain in young people and adults is relatively low, and usually, it is not something to be worried about. Though about 19 to 30% of people with active neck pain may be facing some serious issues or yet to face them, their neck pain may be a symptom of some critical illness or disorder. In such cases, there could be many risk factors to be aware of. As the sheer number of people with such chances of risk factor is low, there isn’t anything much to worry about for most of them. Studies have also found that a person’s BMI and gender have no direct relation to generating neck pains and stiffness. This has shown that there are risk factors surrounding neck pain, but unless there aren’t any underlying severe conditions, the elements have no association with neck pains.

4. What are the diagnostic modalities available for diagnosing the cause of neck pain?

If your neck pain lasts for more than a week, you should probably visit a doctor and get a diagnosis. Diagnosis helps to figure out the cause or the origin of your neck pain and figure out the best possible treatment and medication for you. Even though neck pain doesn’t seem that harmful, it may be a symptom of other diseases. There are various ways your doctor might diagnose your neck pain; they firstly will check your medical history and the movement of your neck to figure out any muscle weakness. They may perform various image testing for better such as,

• X-rays to reveal any of your nerves or spinal cord might have any degenerative changes.
• CT scan, which combines your X-rays from different directions and angles to produce a detailed cross-section view.
• MRI uses radio waves and a magnetic field to create a highly detailed image of your internals for figuring out any mis happenings.

Other tests don’t need any imaging for diagnosis, which your doctor might opt to.

Blood tests can help to find out if any infection or inflammatory conditions might be causing the pain.

Electromyography or EMG involves inserting a needle in your neck to perform a speed nerve conduction to determine the nerve functions, which helps in figuring out if your cord pinches any nerves.

5. What is the medication for treating neck pain?

Your doctor will treat you and prescribe medications according to the results of your diagnosis. If a diagnosis hasn’t taken place, you can inform the doctor of all your symptoms accurately so that they may give you proper medications. It would help if you also notify your doctor about all the previous medicine or other issues you have not to cause any side effects.

Your doctor may refer to a specialist or prescribe you themselves, the treatment for it would be:

• Pain medications to relieve you from pain and irritations caused.
• Muscle relaxants make your muscle a little numb, causing it to relax.
• Antibiotics will we prescribe depending on the type of infections you may have.
• Corticosteroid injections.
• Ice and heat therapy for internal muscle treatment.

Physical Therapy is an essential part of treatment, involving stretching and neck movement exercises. Various alternative therapies may incorporate acupuncture, massage, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.

You can also ease your neck pain at your home if it isn’t severe enough to visit a doctor. Apply ice for some days and then apply heat and take warm showers to relax your muscles. Don’t engage in any sports activities and heavy exercises which may trigger your pain. Exercise your neck by slowly stretching and performing up and down, side to side motion. Sit in a good posture with proper support to your neck.

6. Role of physiotherapy in neck pain?

Physical therapy is the most common treatment provided to a person with neck pain. Unless your neck pain is severe and causes some underlying condition, physiotherapy is best for treating your neck appropriately. Physical therapy is recommended when you are going through unspecified neck pain when there is no information about its cause when you have suffered from an injury. Physiotherapy helps reduce the stress on your neck and control the pain, improve your head movements, and flex your muscles for better neck motion. There are various effective physiotherapy options for you to perform to get a better treatment for your neck.

1. Head rolls are great for warmup and stretching for your neck; you perform head roll by slowly doing front-to-back motion and side-to-side motion. Avoid a full head roll which might stretch your neck too much, causing strain.          
2. Deep tissue massage is also a great way to relieve pain and acquire better muscle relaxation. This massage relieves stress from your tissues and muscle causes them to become flexible and less stiff.                     
3. Hot and cold techniques, there are various variations of this therapy as some may say apply cold pressure on your for a couple of minutes and hot pressure for a couple or the other way is to use cold pressure and then take a hot shower.     
4. Neck traction helps you lift your neck gently to relieve pressure from your cervical vertebrae, which improves your neck movements and provides better traction.                    
5. Core and back strengthening is helpful for your spinal cord and the surrounding muscles, which affect your neck movement, as this helps in a proper movement function.  
6. Aquatic exercises may also be an option for treating your neck, to take pressure off from your spine with the help of water buoyancy.