6 days ago
The best exercises to fix a cricked neck
There's a reason why neck pain is associated with persistent annoyance. The 'pain in the neck' metaphor rings true for anyone who has woken with a cricked neck and then spent days trying to recover.
And while there are no exact figures on the societal impact of neck pain, figures released last year showed that almost a million people in the UK were too sick to work because of back or neck ailments and that the welfare bill for people with back problems alone has tripled in two decades to £1.4 billion a year, and is up by more than a quarter compared with before the pandemic.
Of the research that does exist into neck pain, one 2022 study described the economic burden as 'remarkable' and cited data that revealed that in 2016 low back and neck pain had the highest health care spend (£99.9 billion) in the United States out of 154 of the commonest ailments.
Despite all of this, it's often not even apparent what a cricked neck is.
The term is often used to describe a broad spectrum of symptoms that can include conditions such as herniated discs and whiplash but is generally taken to describe an often-sudden pain and stiffness in the neck that can make turning the head difficult or uncomfortable. Medically, this can be referred to as acute torticollis or simply, neck spasm. It usually occurs when the muscles in the neck become strained or go into spasm, causing the head to tilt or turn awkwardly.
Navin Furtado is a consultant neurosurgeon and spinal surgeon at The Harborne Hospital, part of HCA Healthcare UK. He explains: 'A cricked neck is a broad term that can include more sinister pathologies that present with non-specific neck pain and progress to other symptoms. But for the majority of people, it is localised neck pain and some restriction of neck mobility with a very simple cause, be that muscle or ligament strain.'
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Causes of a cricked neck
The best exercises to fix a cricked neck
Other ways to fix a cricked neck
How to prevent a cricked neck
Pain relief
Causes of a cricked neck
Muscle spasms
Most cricked necks are caused by awkward or sustained head and neck positions which in turn cause soft tissue pain. In some cases, they can also be the result of minor injury causing localised pain, tenderness and mobility restriction.
Arthritis
The next most common cause of a cricked neck is degenerative wear and tear.
'This will largely affect individuals over the age of 40,' says Furtado. 'In the same way you get arthritis in your hip and knee, you can have similar issues in the joints in the neck if the cartilaginous part of the joint wears away. This can cause bone irritation and inflammation. The muscles in that area then go into spasm, which is a self-protective mechanism to try and limit movement across that area.'
Herniated/slipped disc
Disc problems can cause acute neck pain if the nerve inside the vertebrae is under pressure.
