5 Signs Your Neck Pain Needs Treatment

Neck pain can make life difficult. It can make driving dangerous because you can’t turn your head well enough to see what’s behind and beside you. 

Physical therapy is the gold standard for many common kinds of neck pain. Board-certified physical therapist Dr. Mohamed Hablas with Outreach Manual Physical Therapy in Brooklyn, New York, uses active and passive modalities to ease neck pain caused by muscular strain, cervical radiculopathy, or injuries such as whiplash. 

The following five signs indicate your neck pain needs medical treatment:

1. Neck pain after a motor vehicle accident or fall 

Have you had a fender bender? Whether it’s a major or minor car accident or a fall, if you have neck pain afterward, it’s critical to seek medical treatment. In the first hours after an accident, your pain may be minor, but it could develop into a serious condition like whiplash or damage to your spinal cord.

Early diagnosis and medical treatment, including physical therapy, prevent further injury, such as chronic pain or nerve damage. 

2. Severe pain 

Contact your doctor immediately if you experience severe neck pain, especially with a fever. Your provider may say you should go to an emergency room. You may have spinal meningitis. Severe neck pain could also mean a brain bleed, which can cause pain in your head and neck. While a vertebral artery tear is rare, it can possibly lead to a stroke. All of these conditions require emergency care. 

3. Neck pain with muscle weakness in your arms or legs

Any time you experience neck pain with muscle weakness in your arms or legs, your condition requires treatment. You likely have a compressed nerve in your neck; the technical term is cervical radiculopathy. You may have less space between your vertebrae due to normal aging if the pain isn’t due to an accident. In this case, a vertebra or disc is pinching a nerve root in your cervical spine. 

Physical therapy is the gold standard for treating cervical radiculopathy that doesn’t resolve on its own with rest and treatment at home. The therapy calms inflammation, which reduces your pain. It helps you strengthen weakened muscles in your neck and shoulder that help support your cervical spine so that you regain lost range of motion. Your therapist teaches you the mechanics of good posture, which helps prevent your neck pain. 

4. Neck pain with tingling, numbness, or radiating pain in your arms or hands 

You likely have cervical radiculopathy or a compressed nerve if you experience numbness or tingling in your arms, hands, or fingers or pain radiating down your arm along with neck pain. Pinched nerves can be very painful. If home treatment isn’t working, physical therapy can help. 

5. Neck pain with loss of bowel or bladder control

If you have neck pain with loss of bowel or bladder control, go to the emergency room or call 911. Don’t delay treatment; you could develop permanent nerve damage. You may have a ruptured disc that is pinching your spinal cord. If you’ve been in an accident, you may have spinal cord damage. 

Contact Outreach Manual Physical Therapy or use our online portal to request an appointment today for expert neck pain treatment.