Torticollis and other pains in the neck

You might have experienced at least once in your lifetime that after you woke up fr0m a seemingly uneventful sleep, you just felt that you can't move your neck without having to suffer pain. You also feel that the muscles on one side seemed to be stiff. You go to your family doctor and he would probably, without hesitation, diagnose your condition as a "stiff neck" or, in medical language, a "cervical neck pain" or "torticollis."

'Torticollis" comes from two Latin words, "torus" for twist and "collum" for neck. In literal form, it is translated as "twisted neck." One culprit of torticollis is a muscle called the sternocleidomastoid which is one of the major muscles for neck movement. The sternocleidomastoid originates from the sternum and the clavicle to the mastoid bone just behind the ear. We have one of this muscle for each side. Acting alone, this muscle turns the head to its side and also rotates it with the face looking on the opposite side of the acting muscle. This means that if you face left, the right sternocleidomastoid is active and vice-versa.

So in torticollis, if you can barely move your head to the left, your right sternocleidomastoid is the cause of the strain.

Treatment of torticollis is the same for all types of muscle pains: hot or warm compress, oral pain relievers like ibuprofen, and to minimize head movement (which means you have to call sick until you feel better and can move your head without any pain).

"Whiplash" is an injury-related neck pain caused by sudden movement of the neck to one side. This is usually seen in vehicular accidents and should not be called as torticollis. Additionally, victims with whiplash also have back pain which may be caused by extreme stretching of the spine during the accident. 

"Stress headache" also may present as neck pain, this usually is caused by excessive muscle contraction of the head and neck due to work, emotional, or lack of sleep. However, a person with stress headache can move his head without pain, and sometimes a massage over the painful areas would relieve the pain.

A pain on the back of the neck or nape pain is a very common complaint in people who think they have a high blood pressure. Some of them would even take their anti-hypertension agent immediately just because they have this nape pain even without taking a blood pressure reading. This is a dangerous habit that healthcare providers must discourage. Hypertension run almost silently and oftentimes without a hint of it may suddenly cause a stroke or myocardial infarction (heart attack) to the patient. So we ought to teach and encourage patients to take their medications regularly and to monitor their blood pressure frequently.

Good resources of neck pain can be found in the links provided below:

MayoClinic on Neck Pain: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/neck-pain/DS00542

American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons: http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00231

Familydoctor.org: http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/tools/symptom/513.html