Types of Neck Pain in Vacaville

There are various forms of neck pain in Vacaville, which can range from being a dull, irritating ache to a burning, debilitating nerve pain that can radiate down the shoulder and into the arm. The pain can also start in several ways as well as how long it will last. For you and/or the doctor to develop a proper treatment plan, you need to understand the different neck pain types first.

Types of Neck Pain in Vacaville

Check out these types of neck pain so that you can get a better understanding of what you are experiencing:

Axial Neck Pain

This is the most common type of neck pain and is also referred to as mechanical pain. Axial pain is focused on one area of the neck and it simply stays there without radiating to other parts of the body. It normally feels achy, dull, or throbbing but it can sometimes become sharp or stinging. Certain movements or posture can increase the symptoms.

Ligament sprains and/or neck muscle strains are some of the common causes of axial neck pain. There are other sources of axial neck pain which may include various mechanisms related to spinal degeneration or trauma, including facet joint dysfunction, cervical disc degeneration, or vertebral bone fracture.

Radicular Pain

Radicular pain can happen when a nerve root in the cervical spine becomes inflamed, which causes pain to radiate along the nerve then into the shoulder, arm, and/or hand.

This type of neck pain involves the nerve, and it comes with a searing or electric shock-like nerve pain. Certain movements and posture can intensify the pain. It affects only one side of the body, but there are instances that it can happen on both.

When radicular pain starts from the cervical spine, then it could be due to spinal degeneration, then it means that bony overgrowths are irritating the nerve root. This irritation is called osteophytes (bone spurs), or a cervical herniated disc.

The location of radicular pain is known to follow the dermatomal patterns (skin areas that are served by a single nerve cell). However, some studies have indicated that radicular pain does not always follow this pattern.

Referred Pain

When you feel pain in a different location other than the source and is not caused by nerve root irritation, it is known as referred pain. It can be felt as an achy, deep, cramping and/or throbbing sensation. The area of distribution is known to be more diffuse, or spread out, rather than a radiating pain, but these two types of pain can feel the same. Referred pain is normally felt on one side of the body, but it can be both.

Studies are still ongoing on how referred pain develops and spreads. For example, when a trigger point is compressed, the pain symptoms can be referred to other body parts. However, the medical community hasn't made a decision about how these trigger points develop and whether their patterns are predictable.

There are several ways that pain can be referred to the neck, such as from the heart or jaw. A neck pathology can also cause referred pain in other body parts, most commonly a headache, shoulder pain, or upper back pain.

Myelopathic Pain

When the spinal cord in the neck becomes compressed, then it can develop myelopathic pain. This pain may occur at the level of compression which then causes neck pain. The symptoms are sometimes located at a distance below the neck/compression site, like in the legs and/or feet. The separation of symptoms and casual region can increase the risk of misdiagnosis and mismanagement.

Another type of spinal cord-related pain is funicular pain and can happen when the cord's ascending tracts become irritated or compressed. Funicular pain comes as an achy, throbby, or cold feeling in one of the limbs, like in the leg, or a trunk of the body. It can also come as an electric shock-like and is like radicular pain going down the leg. Funicular pain is sometimes experienced when the neck is flexed forward (Lhermitte's phenomenon) and it results in a searing pain that travels down the spine and/or into the arms or legs.

Several Types of Pain Can Exist Together

Any of these pain types can happen on its own or in combination with one or more others. It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between referred and radicular pain, and some spinal pathologies can lead to both types of pain.