Why does the neck hurt on the right side and how to treat

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Cervicalgia is a painful sensation in the cervical region. This is a common phenomenon caused by inflammation, infections, articular and vascular pathologies, or objective causes of various origins. According to the description that the neck just hurts on the right side, it is impossible to make a diagnosis. Pain can be a symptom of another disease, the result of external influence or damage to a separate segment.

Anatomical structure: reasons for the emergence

The place of the human body between the head and the body is a complex formation. To make the head moveable in relation to the body, nature has provided for the cervical spine:

• the esophagus passes through it, providing transport of food;
• larynx and trachea - for verbal communication and getting air;
• large blood vessels - are responsible for supplying the brain;
• muscles necessary to ensure the functionality of the vertebrae, the mobility of the head - the organs of sight, smell, hearing, brain, arteries and veins.

If the neck hurts on the right side, it may be a sign of a disease of the nervous system, muscles, spine, vascular pathology, a disease located in this area of the thyroid gland or other organs (larynx, pharynx, esophagus or trachea, parathyroid glands), or spinal damage.

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Localization and nature of pain

You can determine the approximate cause by the location of the pain syndrome and sensations. Each group of diseases has characteristic and uncharacteristic signs, taking into account which only a specialized specialist can diagnose the disease:

1. The fact that the neck on the right side hurts when turning may be the result of an intervertebral hernia, osteochondrosis or osteoarthritis. The appearance of pain in the morning sometimes appears due to poor-quality sleep conditions, hypothermia. If pains are noted at another time, the fault may be a sedentary lifestyle, hypothermia or sitting in a draft.
2. Pulsating pain can be noted when a nerve is pinched, accompanied by a return to other segments located nearby: to the head, arm or shoulder.
3. Diseases of the spine and oncology can cause simultaneous pain in the neck and right ear, localize under the jaw and give it to the shoulder.
4. If it hurts to turn your head, there is a kickback to the right shoulder and neck pain, this may indicate kidney or lung disease.
5. Diseases of the joints, rheumatoid pathologies associated with chronic stress or depression, manifest themselves in the process of swallowing and give to the back of the head. With different etiology, the symptoms are similar, but the pathologies are different.
6. With cardiovascular diseases, the neck hurts on the right side of the back, but it can be coronary artery disease, cardiosclerosis or heart attack.

You should not look for a description of your feelings in reference books or on Internet resources, try to get rid of it with the help of folk remedies. The first thing that happens when you visit a doctor is a detailed verbal questioning. It is not only the nature of the pain, the recoil that matters, but also the accompanying symptoms: numbness of the limbs, fever, nausea, ringing in the ears, skin rashes. It is impossible to answer the question, when the neck hurts on the right side and it hurts to turn, then how to treat this condition, without further clarifying the diagnosis

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List of common violations

Treating cervicalgia as a simple hindrance to daily activities means not paying attention to an obvious symptom that indicates a malfunction in a complex segment of the body. The pathology of any of the components - the spine, arteries and veins, muscles, nerves - can affect the functioning of the brain, lead to a breakdown in the activity of systems that provide information about the world around us (hearing, sight, smell).

If this is a symptom of a dangerous condition, then measures should be taken urgently, otherwise the likelihood of death is not excluded.

The list of the most common reasons is not exhaustive, but it also gives enough reason to show anxiety about your condition.

Neuralgia

It develops as an independent disease - damage to the occipital nerve, but it can also be a symptom of another disease. Pinched nerve root occurs in osteochondrosis, osteoarthritis, oncology, gout and diabetes. Although it is possible that sharp pulling pains were the result of an uncomfortable position in sleep, injury or hypothermia, stress, the development of an infectious process.

Manifestations of neuralgia can be different symptoms: cephalgia, photophobia, nausea and vomiting. Pains appear not only in the neck and back of the head, but also in the ear, jaw, or eye on the same side of the skull. Loss of sensitivity at the site of damage to the nerve endings is the least of the consequences, which is sometimes perceived by the patient as getting rid of torment, but in fact it is no less dangerous.

Spondylosis

This is a disease caused not only by permanent stress and specific functionality of the cervical spine, but also by age-related changes and metabolic pathologies. It is accompanied by destruction of osteochondral vertebral segments.

Pathology is practically not treated, but at the initial stage, therapy inhibits development, and subsequently improves the quality of life and relieves discomfort. The cause of spondylosis can be an existing osteochondrosis, flat feet, trauma and metabolic disorders.

In the initial stages, it can be asymptomatic, and subsequently create a feeling as if the muscle is constantly tense, and this leads to immobilization of an important segment. In the first two stages, it is still possible to achieve an improvement in the condition using a complex method of therapy (taking medications, using physiotherapy, exercise therapy and massage). At the third stage, it is already impossible to do without surgery.

Hernia of the cervical spine

This is a natural consequence of osteochondrosis, which was ignored by the patient, an injury or spondyloarthrosis. The etiology of hernial formation is wider, it leads to:

• age degradation;
• improper nutrition;
• passive lifestyle;
• age-related changes in the cartilage layer;
• weakening of the vertebral discs.

Symptoms are blurred: the hand may hurt and become numb, aching pain in the neck manifests itself, headaches torment, instability is observed when moving. The result of the disease can be paralysis - respiratory or lower extremities.

Osteochondrosis and its consequences - protrusions and hernias. This is the most common reason why the neck hurts on the right side, it hurts to turn the head, especially among the stronger sex, whose age has exceeded the 40-year mark. The appearance of osteophytes, displacement of the vertebrae, hernias and protrusions can be the cause of the appearance of a cervical migraine caused by compression of the vertebral artery, which is in an unfamiliar environment.

Diagnostics and treatment

The first visit should be made to a therapist, who will prescribe tests based on the medical history, interview and examination. After X-ray, MRI and laboratory tests, the primary assumption will be confirmed or refuted, but it will already be possible to talk about a referral to a narrower specialist.

As incredible as it may seem, complaints that the neck hurts on the right side in front, when pressed, under the jaw, when turning the head, throbbing and pulling, may indicate several diseases.

1. With the localization of pain in the larynx and pharynx - for laryngitis, pharyngitis, tonsillitis, lymphadenitis, sialoadenitis (inflammation of the salivary gland).
2. This may indicate inflammation of the thyroid gland (thyroiditis), nerve - neuritis, muscles - myositis, arteries - arteritis, veins - phlebitis.
3. Compression of soft tissues is possible - cervical syndrome, cyst and volumetric formation of the mediastinum.
4. Neck pain can be caused by a heart attack, ectopic pregnancy, pleurisy of a certain location and even a stomach ulcer.

In each case, the treatment will be determined not by the patient's complaints about subjective sensations, but by the results of diagnostics, hardware and laboratory tests. Self-medication looking for descriptions of symptoms is not only useless, but sometimes fatal.

Outcomes

The neck is an important segment of the human body, in which there are many components: the spine, larynx, nerves, blood vessels, muscles, etc. Each of them can undergo inflammatory processes, destruction and deformation. The cause of the disease can be general disorders in the body. Self-medication for neck pain can be ineffective and the condition can be life threatening.