Structural problems causing pain is a convenient and easy diagnosis to make because pictures of spinal degeneration can be pointed to on an x-ray or MRI image and named as the cause for pain. However, research has proven that structural problems are NOT the cause of most neck pain.
Confusion ensues about this topic because many times structural problems are found in conjunction with neck and other spinal pain problems making doctors assume that this is the source of discomfort. This type of thinking has been around for so long and is so prevalent that it is hard to change the mentality of most doctors about what causes neck pain. Fortunately, there is a lot of research now showing that structural problems are usually not the cause of most neck pain.
Research
1) A study published in Spine Jan. 2003 concluded: "...there is no difference in reported pain and disability levels between those with and those without evidence of cervical spine [neck] degeneration."
2) The Orthopedic Clinics of North America published a study in July 2005 stated that degenerative disorders of the cervical spine (neck) do not usually cause any symptoms.
3) The New England Journal of Medicine in July 1994 reported finding spinal disc bulges and protrusions, in other words 'structural problems', on MRI images in sixty-four of ninety-eight men and women who had NEVER had back pain.
4) The University of Copenhagen compared x-rays of patients with low back pain with those who had no low back pain and found no difference in the levels of degeneration or structural problems.
5) Hadasah hospital in Jerusalem showed no correlation between spinal degeneration and back pain.
6) A study published in the Journal of Rheumatology in Dec. 1991 stated: "Our findings show that neuroticism [mental stress] is a more powerful determinant of neck pain than radiological signs of disc degeneration or OA [osteoarthritis] in the general population."
Don't let the words 'low back' and 'spine' in some of these studies throw you off. The neck is still a part of your spine so the data is relevant. And, what the research shows is that many of the structural problems that doctors point to as the source of symptoms are NOT the cause of most neck pain.
Tissue Damage?
Another myth that is prevalent is that some sort of tissue damage has to occur in order for pain to exist in muscles.
NO tissue damage has to occur for muscles to send a pain signal. Here is a quote from the book Muscle Pain: Understanding it's Nature, Diagnosis and Treatment -
"The stimulus intensity required for activating a muscle nociceptor [nerve cell that sends a pain signal] is usually lower than that for causing persistent tissue damage."
In other words, you can feel pain in a muscle without there being any tissue damage.
How do you know what is causing your neck pain if doctors are usually wrong about degeneration being the cause?
Doctor Yourself
After having a doctor rule out any severe problems like fractures or tumors causing your neck pain then you can use a few simple test to determine if you have autonomic neck pain.
1) Exercise makes your neck feel better.
If exercise makes your neck feel better then most likely your neck pain is caused by oxygen deprivation to muscle tissue and not a structural problem. If your neck pain was caused by arthritis, for instance, then your neck would hurt worse with exercise. The inflamed joints would just get irritated with exercise.
The reason that exercise makes your neck feel better is because of the increase in oxygen to the tissue with exercise. This is another autonomic reaction.
2) Ice or cold packs makes it feel better.
What does ice do? It slows down the metabolism of the cells in your neck, including your nerve cells. If the function of your nerve cells slows down then they are less excitable and send a diminished signal to your brain.
The other benefit of ice is that when the metabolism of the cells slow they need less oxygen to function. This automatically increases the oxygen levels in the tissue and can alleviate pain caused by a decrease in oxygen.
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