Unfortunately almost all of us have experienced some symptoms of cervicalgia at least once in life, so much so that it is considered one of the most widespread musculoskeletal disorders in the world : about 400 million people, more or less 5% of the world population, suffers chronically while about 65% make it the unpleasant experience at least once in their life.

The etymology of the term tells us a lot : cervix, the Latin prefix indicating the neck, the exact point where the painful symptoms of cervicalgia are concentrated, and which precedes the Greek suffix algia, or pain, has an ancient origin linked to the verb cast off.

It was already known in antiquity, in fact, that in the cervical area , that is the neck that connects the brain and the rest of the spine, a dense network of nerves is concentrated which can easily be inflamed in particular cases .

Symptoms of cervicalgia and early approaches

That said, we can then define cervicalgia, a medical term for what we commonly and popularly call "cervical", as a chronic pain that originates from the neck but that can partially extend to the head, back and, in most cases, behind him .

Intensity and duration are variable : it can be a localized pain connected to a specific movement, or a widespread and constant pain; just as it can concentrate in a few minutes or last several hours if not days .

In some cases it is relieved naturally with rest, while in others, paradoxically, it increases after a night of sleep making you feel more intensely in the morning.

Massages (like shiatsu) and non-invasive therapies such as physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy can help and not a little, but in many cases the problem re-emerges over time if the cause is deep and chronic.

Also the use of specific analgesic or relaxing creams and the practice of disciplines such as yoga with some particular asanas that can help but the most important thing is to discover the true cause of neck pain.

Causes of cervicalgia

People of all kinds, of all ages and with different medical backgrounds experience the symptoms of neck pain, because the causes can be numerous and varied. We see the most common, starting with the traumatic ones.

In the event of an accident that has involved the neck with excessive kinetic pressure on the neck, the cervical nerves can be affected for a long time by the trauma, transferring the pain that derives from an incorrect position to the neck, shoulders or back.

Not only trauma to the vertebrae but also muscle tears and neck pain may be at the origin of cervicalgia, as well as problems with the carotid artery .

Some cases of excessive workload or sports training overload can generate neck pain: work that stresses the neck with a load of weight or sports such as wrestling or judo or bodyduilding where microtraumas and cervical strains are the order of the day, should be counterbalanced by proper rest and by massages or preventive physiotherapy.

We then move on to cervicalgia given by an incorrect posture: hours of work at workstations in front of the computer or in any case at a desk, as in the office or at school, are one of the main causes of neck pain in the modern world, with a feeling of falling asleep in the neck muscles and pain located in the shoulder relative to the hand using the mouse.

Then there is a whole series of pathologies that can cause particular types of cervicalgia, we list for example the tumors in the neck, degenerative arthritis, and a whole series of inflammations that target nerves or glands located in the neck and throat, with consequent enlargement of tissues and organs, which go to press on the nerves, starting all the symptoms of the case.

The same is true for cases of infection located in the same area and which, for better or worse, produce the same effects of inflammation, enlargement, tissue laceration, and nerve sensitization.

Returning to trauma, even incidents that do not directly target the neck, but which affect other areas of the spine, such as the area of ​​the sacrum or loins, causing various types of low back pain or as a fall or a disc hernia, may however be the cause of cervical pain.

Finally we mention the stress of excessive sense of responsibility. Having "too many responsibilities on the shoulders" often results psychosomatically in cervical pains.