I'm 40 years old and recently my neck has been getting these really strong and severe pains. What could cause neck pains? Should I see a doctor?
Pain on the neck is annoying, but we need to know what cause the pain:
1. Muscular pain, neck muscle, shoulder muscle spasm cause the pain.
2. Arthritis pain, the neck (we call cervical spin has small joints connect each other, call facet joint, also can cause arthritis, then the joints are swelling, squeeze your nerve, cause pain.
3. Disk pain, this is people called herniated disk etc, cause the disk pain or cause pinch nerve pain.
4. Autoimmune disease, can be tested from blood, X-ray, MRI, etc.
5. Spinal Canal stenosis cause pain, may have lower extremity pain, and bowel movement and urine incontinence as well.
When problems 2 and 3 cause pain, if it is from upper neck pinched nerve, it usually stays on neck, shoulder, and between the shoulder blade, no arm or hand pain. When it is from the lower neck, it will have arm and hand pain, numbness, or weakness as well. You should see a doctor, let the doctor examine you, and get the cause of your pain.
Hope this will help you.