The neck isn’t just a structure that holds your head up. Its vertebrae protect the spinal cord as it runs down into the back, and the neck also helps move your head, which increases how much you can see. After all, think about how limited your vision would be without a mobile neck. However, people with sharp pains in the side of their neck may know exactly how limiting decreased neck movement can be. Here are two issues that can lead to this type of neck pain:
- Car accident injury
Injuries to the neck are a common type of car accident injury. This is because the impact of your car hitting another car or unmoving object transmits a lot of force to your body. The force we’re talking about can snap your head back and forth like a whip, and this movement is commonly called whiplash. Whiplash can cause several issues that can lead to pain in the side of your neck.
It can cause the muscles in the side of the neck to be overstretched, and whiplash can even lead to partial tears in these muscles. Both of these injuries can easily cause the sharp pains you’re feeling. Also, whiplash can cause nerves in the neck to be pinched. When this happens, you can still feel sharp pains in your neck, but it might feel more like an electric shock or a burning.
- Sports injuries
Sports injuries to the neck can also lead to sharp pains in the side of the neck. Sports-related neck injuries are more common for people playing high-impact sports like football and rugby. In many cases, an impact to the head can damage a disc in the neck. This damage can cause part of the disc’s interior to poke out or herniate, which can pinch or irritate a neck nerve. In turn, the nerve pinching or irritation could be the source of the neck pain you’re feeling.
Panther Physical Therapy is ready to help treat sharp pains in the side of the neck
Are you feeling sharp pains in the side of your neck? If you answered yes, you shouldn’t wait to start treating the source of your pain, and Panther Physical Therapy can help you get the treatment you need. Our team offers free screenings to help you learn the source of your neck pain. We also build personalized therapy plans that are designed to target this source, and your plan can include beneficial therapy techniques such as:
Take the next step to start treating your neck pain with help from the specialists at Panther Physical Therapy. Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an appointment.