Ms. Zhang is 35 years old. When she was having dinner with her best friend recently, her best friend noticed a lump on her neck, so she reminded her to go to the hospital for examination immediately.
The next day, Ms. Zhang followed her best friend's advice and went to see the doctor. After a series of blood tests and B ultrasound , Ms. Zhang was diagnosed with thyroid cancer , and the tumor was spreading to lymph node .
The doctor advised her to undergo surgery to remove the cancerous thyroid nodules in the neck as soon as possible. Fortunately, the operation went smoothly and Ms. Zhang recovered well at present.
The neck connects the brain and body, and there are many nerves and lymph distributed here. Once the neck is abnormal, it will sometimes involve the whole body . Sometimes, abnormalities appear on the neck may also be warning signals of tumor invasion.
1. My neck hurts and I can’t move when I get up. What’s wrong?
Have you ever had this experience: when you woke up in the morning, you suddenly felt that your neck couldn't move, and it hurts very much. This kind of neck abnormality is very common, and it is medically called " stiff neck ".
The so-called stiff neck is simply a sprained muscle of the neck. causes the neck to be unable to move freely, and it also has a soreness and swelling . Stiff neck is often found in young and middle-aged people. Although the condition comes very quickly, the symptoms usually disappear within a few days.
The main common causes of stiff neck are as follows:
- Incorrect posture leads to excessive stretching of the unilateral muscles in the neck;
- Pillow does not match the neck curve, causing excessive stretching or excessive distortion of the head and neck;
- The neck is cold or injured, causing spasm of the muscles.
It should be noted that if frequently experiences stiff neck, you need to be alert to , which may be cervical spondylosis .
Repeated stiffness will cause the muscle fibers of the neck to be damaged multiple times, which will cause scar repair to cause restriction of neck movement, and a "click sound" will appear when twisting the neck.
will cause cervical spine instability and damage to the muscles and bones for a long time. may also cause bone hyperplasia, cervical disc herniation and ligament calcification and other problems .
If a stiff neck occurs, is there any way to quickly relieve the pain?
, In the acute phase of stiff neck, you can restrict neck movement and rotate the neck to the extent that it does not aggravate the pain;
, , and then after the neck pain is relieved, you can do simple exercise to help recover. For example, "Looking at the sky" exercise, "Looking left and right" exercise;
, If the neck is swollen and painful, you can first use an ice towel to compress the painful area locally to reduce swelling. After the swelling subsides slightly, apply hot compress to the affected area with a hot towel or hot water bag and gently massage the neck to relax the spasm muscles.
2. These three abnormalities appear on the neck. Beware of tumors.
. Tumors do not form in one day. If you find the following abnormalities on the neck, you should be vigilant, which is likely to be a sign of the tumor.
. An unknown lump appears.
Under normal circumstances, the neck will not have obvious bulges, but if you touch a lump of unknown lump, and the lump exceeds 1 cm and have a hard texture, you should be alert to the possibility of lymphoma and go to the hospital for relevant examinations as soon as possible.
, neck pain
If the neck and head hurt, even affects normal breathing, it may be , which grows on the upper neck segment, caused by spinal tumor . You must seek medical treatment immediately at this time and do not delay, otherwise you will miss the best time for treatment, which may lead to paralysis in severe cases.
, "Velvet" black pattern
The skin appears to be thicker like velvet, which is rough to the touch, soft to the texture, and looks symmetrical. This situation is medically called "Black Acupuncture".
Common causes of melanchondria in addition to prediabetes , diabetes , metabolic syndrome and polycystic ovarian syndrome , it may also be caused by malignant tumors.
If the black range is large and there is a strong itchy feeling, and it usually has early spread, need to be alert to the possibility of abdominal tumors (such as gastric cancer ) and chest tumors (such as lung cancer ).
3. The most "love" sleeping position of the cervical spine, it is natural to sleep well if you sleep well
cervical spine is the main part of the neck. Many discomforts in the neck are related to the cervical spine, so we should pay attention to protecting the health of the cervical spine.
has a long-term incorrect sleeping position, which will cause great damage to the cervical spine and soft tissues such as muscles and ligaments attached to the cervical spine. not only easily causes neck stiffness and pain, but also increases the incidence of cervical spondylosis such as cervical disc herniation .
The normal structure of the cervical spine is "C" type, and 7 small cervical spine bones are protruding forward, which can not only bear the weight of this head, ensure high stability of the cervical spine, but also allow the cervical spine to have a high degree of flexibility and can complete various rotational movements.
Therefore, is most favorable to sleeping position in the cervical spine, lying on your back , because such a sleeping position can best protect the cervical spine and keep the cervical spine in a natural arc.
It should be noted that when you sleep, you should try to avoid the two misunderstandings of high pillows and sleeping on your tummy.
When sleeping, the pillow will be too high, which will cause tension in the shoulder and neck muscles, thereby aggravating the strain on the shoulder and neck muscles. Sleeping on your stomach will cause the neck to be over-tilted for a long time. The cervical spine and its surrounding soft tissue need to withstand huge tension, which can easily lead to soreness and pain in the neck muscles.
So how can you effectively prevent cervical spondylosis when sleeping on a daily basis?
. Change posture habits
People who need to stay at their desks for a long time are recommended to adjust the height of the seats and tables to match them. Try not to bow their heads or bend their necks too much.
When working for a long time, recommends doing some neck movements every once in a while, such as left and right rotation, forward flexion and back extension, etc. to avoid excessive fatigue of the neck muscles. At the same time, you should also pay attention to relaxing the neck muscles and keeping the cervical spine in a natural state. If you have time, it is best to take time to sit down cervical spine health exercises .
, suitable sleeping positions
A reasonable sleeping position needs to meet these key points: it is conducive to rest, relaxes muscles, does not affect or increase the burden on the heart, and will not cause deformation of the head, neck and spine.
. Suitable pillow
The length of the pillow is appropriate to be 40-60 cm. The height of the pillow varies from person to person. is appropriate to be about the height of one fist. , and the filling of the pillow core is preferably fine, soft, and has a certain breathability and hardness, such as mung bean shells, crusts or buckwheat peels , etc.
The health of the neck is related to the whole body. Once injured, you may be implicated from the head to the waist and back.
If you want to protect your neck health, you must pay attention to the correct standing, sitting and sleeping posture, reduce the burden on your neck, and move your neck appropriately. Once you find abnormal symptoms in your neck, you should seek medical treatment in time and do not delay.
Reference:
[1] Neck pain, pay attention to "small joint" problems. Dahe Daily. 2019-12-16
[2] Lumps with unknown symptoms on the neck should be careful! .Hangzhou Daily .2016-07-14
[3] People who can "lie down" will not have bad cervical spine! Spineologist: The cervical spine loves this "sleeping position" the most. Life Times. 2020-06-01
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