It’s A Pain In The Neck, Arthritis

When you have any kind of neck arthritis, you really understand how insulting calling someone a pain in the neck is. You never realize how important a role the neck has in your life until it develops pain. You can’t easily move your head, you can’t get comfortable and the pain might keep you awake.

Since your neck is a part of your spine, the pain of neck arthritis rarely stays just in the neck. The pain seems to spread throughout your whole body. And it gets worse over time instead of better. But neck arthritis is often treatable, especially if you go to a doctor early.

Say Hello To Cervical Spondylosis

You can get neck pain from many factors, including injury, sitting for a funny position or from migraines. But most neck arthritis is often caused by cervical spondylosis, which is basically means neck arthritis. When the body ages – er, I mean matures – the spine goes through a lot of changes. Remember how awkward you felt when you had a growth spurt as a child? It seemed like the whole world suddenly became unbalanced.

Your body’s balance centers keep shifting as you gain or loose weight or develop osteoporosis. This can shift the weight from one part of your spine to the other so that one part of your spine is taking more of a load than another. The spine, in trying to even out the entire load, can grow bone spurs or other fun things that press on your nerves or the spinal chord. Ouch.

Now Say Goodbye To Cervical Spondylosis

You have to go see the doctor for this one. Neck arthritis will NOT go away on its own, like a common neck sprain or whiplash. You will often need to have x-rays. You will also have simple neck flexibility tests done in the office, where the doctor sees how badly you can’t move your neck. Sometimes, you might have to get more intensive hospital tests like a MRI.

You will most likely be given painkillers, a neck brace, physical therapy and other advice for your particular kind of neck arthritis. If your doctor thinks your neck arthritis is aggravated due to your weight, you will have to loose the weight. This can prevent lots of other health conditions like other kinds of arthritis, so pay attention to the doctor. In bad cases, you may have to be put in traction or have surgery.