Often, neck and back pain causes can be traced to the spine and the surrounding musculature, including muscle strains, ligament sprains, spasms, or a blend of those. These are the less-severe of back problems and can be treated mainly through the use of anti-inflammatories, stretching exercises, strengthening therapies and treatments with heat. There are too, causes that are more severe and might require more comprehensive care. Disk herniation or bulges might be diagnosed by your physician as the cause for your neck or back pain. If this is the case, cortisone might need to be injected into your spine at the site of the injury, and if all else fails, surgery may be recommended. Lumbar spine stenosis and compression fractures can also cause extreme pain, and may require surgical intervention if you are a good candidate.
Back and neck pain can alert you in a variety of fashions including moderate to severe aches, which may or may not radiate down from the neck, across the arms and through the upper back. Often, weakness or shakiness may be evident, and/or pain upon rising from bed in the morning and stiffness or your neck, shoulders, or back.
Being a highly complex system of nerve fibers and endings, muscles, spinal discs and fluid, ligaments and tendons, there are any variety of reasons that neck and back pain can happen. You might do something obviously wrong, say lifting with your back instead of your knees, and feel your back "give." But it might be something as simple as bending down to pick up something off the floor, or stretching to put away dishes. You might be completing daily tasks that require you to lift heavy objects, such as with children or at a labor job, where you can potentially throw out your back at any given time. It might be something as simple as a little slip and you catch yourself "funny", stretching an area of your back unnaturally while holding yourself in pain.
Whatever the neck and back pain causes may be the result is usually a tear in the muscles or a sprain of the ligaments in the back or neck. You will need to see a doctor to have a course of action or medications prescribed. Your doctor will recommend the correct physical therapies that you can undertake at home, or with the outside assistance of a physical therapist. They might prescribe x-rays to see if any underlying damage has occurred, and if not, may have you apply heat at home and give you prescription strength anti-inflammatory medication for pain relief. If there is underlying structural damage, more drastic medical steps may be necessary not only for repair of the damage, but for pain relief for you.
Your doctor may prescribe a whole-body remedy for the physical problems that manifest themselves with pain, stiffness, or limitations of movement. This holistic approach does not rely on surgery or medication, but a physical treatment regimen that your doctor will go over in great detail with you, should you be a viable candidate for such therapies. Through these therapies, your neck and back pain causes will be under control and your doctor will keep you on a plan to keep the pain at a minimum.
