Do you suffer from chronic neck pain? Want to know what is actually causing your neck pain? There are actually many factors that can cause neck pain.  Below are the 3 common factors that cause neck pain.

Degeneration in the neck joints

Due to poor posture, trauma, slips and falls, the spinal facet joints can actually degenerate and this degenerative process could cause the joints at the back of the neck to be irritated causing symptoms. Depending on the health of your spine, some people’s neck joints degenerates faster, some slower. The most important thing is that we need to make sure our everyday lifestyle doesn’t cause pre-mature degeneration of our spine.

Spinal Stenosis

This condition involves narrowing of the spinal canal within the neck. As with cervical spinal stenosis, this condition can be caused by disc degeneration, ligament thickening, and/or bone spurs. When the spinal cord becomes compressed within the neck, it can cause pain and/or cervical myelopathy (numbness, weakness, and/or reflex problems) anywhere beneath the level of compression, such as in the arms or legs.

Spinal Posture

The cervical spine is in neutral position when the ears are directly over the shoulders with the chest open and shoulders back. When the head drifts forward, such as while slouched at a computer desk or looking down at a tablet, additional stress is placed on the cervical spine’s joints, discs, and muscles. Research shows that for every inch of forward head posture, an additional 10 pounds of weight is felt on the cervical spine.

Kapandji IA. The Physiology of the Joints, Volume III. 6th ed. London: Churchill Livingstone; 2007.