Pinched nerve in neck relief

There are many people who quite often suffer from neck pain, especially people who sit at their desk all day long and work on the computer. In most cases, the neck pain is accompanied with shoulder pain as well. In these situations, most people tend to flex the shoulders and massage the neck in order to get rid of the stiffness and pain. The thing that causes this sort of pain in the neck is usually a pinched nerve in the neck or the shoulders area.

What is pinched nerve?

Most people already know that nerves are surrounded by the bones, cartilage, muscles and tendons. Certain situations make these tissues put too much pressure on the nerves. When that happens, the nerves will not be able to function properly and a person will end up suffering from neck and shoulder pain, tingling and numbness. A condition like this may occur in several places of the body but the neck is the most common.

Pinched nerve in neck symptoms

People should know that this condition does not have many symptoms. Experts agree that the most common is when a person experiences pain which is not like the ordinary pain. Along with the pain, the affected person may experience either cold or burning sensation as well. In many cases, the area where the nerve is pinched might get numb to touch. Weakness of the muscles is also pretty common. Apart from these, some of the symptoms which may occur are pain behind the eyes, delayed reflex response, even worse pain during certain actions like coughing and sneezing and such. An interesting thing is that these symptoms only get worse during sleep.

Pinched nerve in neck causes

The main cause of a pinched nerve is too much pressure by the surrounding tissue. There are various factors that lead to the excess pressure. Some of the most common are an injury to the neck, bad posture, repetitive movement like lifting, certain sports that require neck movement and certain conditions like osteoarthritis and even obesity.

What to do for a pinched nerve in neck?

Most doctors agree that rest is the best treatment for a pinched nerve in neck. A person should avoid any activity that might make the situation worse until the neck has properly healed. Getting the neck mobilized helps as well, especially during sleep. Physical therapy is also an option. A person may even be administrated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and corticosteroid injections to relieve the pain and inflammation. Surgery is also an option but these cases are quite rare.