The neck is a part that is closely related to us but does not get much attention from us, as the so-called "black under the lamp", often some discomfort on the neck can not cause us to pay high attention.
Nowadays, with the advent of the Internet electronic age, on the streets, subways, buses, you can see people looking down at their mobile phones everywhere, and the incidence of neck pain and cervical spine pain is increasing in our country, and the age range can be from 20-year-old young people to 60-year-old people.
But did you know that neck abnormalities are not only related to cervical spondylosis, but even some cases are an early phenomenon of some cancers?
First, there are two abnormalities in the neck, we must be vigilant!
(1) Persistent pain: More and more people are Xi to bow their heads and play with mobile phones, maintaining a posture for a long time is bound to cause neck stiffness and pain, but if there is persistent pain, and it will be aggravated with the activity of the cervical spine, we must pay attention.
(2) Unexplained lumps: The skin of this part of the neck is relatively thin, and the subcutaneous fat content is relatively small, so some internal abnormalities can often be revealed on the surface of the skin, so if there is an unexplained lump, we must pay close attention to it.
2. What diseases are often associated with neck discomfort?
(1) Cervical spondylosis
As the name suggests, cervical spondylosis is a degenerative degeneration of the cervical spine. Mainly due to poor sitting Xi and other reasons, the cervical spine has been in an unscientific curvature for a long time, which makes the muscles around the cervical spine strain, bone hyperplasia of the cervical spine, or intervertebral disc prolapse, nucleus pulposus to both sides, or ligament thickening and a series of changes, which eventually lead to the compression of nerve roots and spinal cord around the cervical spine, and then a variety of functional and sensory disorders appear.
Neck pain is often the first symptom of cervical spondylosis, and the nature of the pain is mostly dull pain and discomfort. The discomfort is often felt in the neck, and if it is aggravated by bowing the head, the pain can gradually radiate from the cervical spine down to the shoulder blades and both upper arms.
(2) Thyroid disease/thyroid cancer
The thyroid gland is located in the front of the neck, on both sides of the trachea. Normally, it can move up and down with the swallowing action.
Don't look at the thyroid gland is as small as chewing gum, but it is the largest endocrine organ in the human body, and the thyroxine secreted by the thyroid gland can promote the body's metabolism, and it is one of the main hormones that promote the growth and development of the body and improve intelligence in early childhood.
Thyroid disease is often accompanied by neck discomfort. Such as thyroid nodules, thyroiditis, and even thyroid cancer.
Take thyroid cancer as an example, thyroid cancer is the most common tumor in the head and neck of the human body, and there are no obvious symptoms and signs in its early stage, but the thyroid nodules are found during the physical examination through the doctor's palpation of the thyroid gland and professional neck ultrasound, accompanied by unclear surrounding boundaries, or the patient himself touches a hard lump with a hard texture and uneven surface on his neck, and the range of motion is limited.
(3) Lymphoma
Some people may wonder how lymphoma, no matter how it sounds, has little to do with the neck? In fact, the neck, which is the part of the body with less fat, has a large superficial lymph node group.
Therefore, diseases related to lymphatic immunity, such as fever and infection, can often palpate enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, especially for lymphoma.
Lymphoma, as the name suggests, is a group of malignancies of the hematopoietic system that originate in lymph nodes or other lymphoid tissues. Unlike tumors, which are often said to be benign and malignant, and malignant tumors are called cancers, lymphoma is a completely malignant tumor although it is called a tumor. Clinically, painless, progressive lymphadenopathy is the most common.
3. Does neck discomfort necessarily mean that you are sick?
The answer, of course, is no, for any disease, the diagnostic criteria should not be evaluated solely on symptoms, but on the whole.
(1) Cervical spondylosis
There are many types of cervical spondylosis, which can be roughly divided into: cervical spondylosis, cervical myelopathy, radiculopathy and other types. The most common and most troublesome in clinical practice is often cervical radiculopathy. It accounts for about 60% to 70% of all cervical spondylosis.
In addition to the persistent pain in the neck, the main symptoms of cervical radiculopathy can be aggravated by activities such as bowing the head, there are two important manifestations, one is the increased tension in the neck, most patients can not move the neck at will like normal people, and the other is the nerve damage of the upper limbs, that is, numbness and weakness of the upper limbs.
(2) Diseases of the thyroid gland
This is better distinguished, as an important endocrine organ, when the thyroid gland is disordered, it will inevitably involve changes in the corresponding hormones in the human body.
Thyroid hormones are multi-faceted, not only by increasing the metabolism of energy, thereby increasing the production of body heat, by increasing the basal metabolic rate, but also by promoting glucose absorption in the small intestine and accelerating the breakdown of glycogen in the liver to increase blood sugar levels. In addition, thyroid hormones are essential for maintaining the body's basic physiological activities.
It can excite the nervous system of the human body, and can also increase the heart rate, increase myocardial contractility, and increase cardiac output and myocardial oxygen consumption. It can also promote the function of the digestive system.
The occurrence of these abnormalities is often associated with thyroid abnormalities. Thyroid cancer also has the title of "happiest cancer", because papillary thyroid cancer, the most common thyroid cancer (about 90% of all thyroid cancers) has a very high 5-year survival rate, and most patients can still live a normal life for more than 20-30 years after diagnosis, and it does not affect daily life.
(3) Lymphoma
As mentioned earlier, lymphoma is essentially a systemic disease, and because lymphocytes circulate in the peripheral blood of the whole body, lymphocytes can be said to exist in any tissue.
Therefore, it would theoretically be said that lymphoma can appear in lymphocytes in any patch. Therefore, the treatment of lymphoma has always been a hot topic of research and attention in the medical community. At present, clinicians mainly rely on pathological biopsy for the diagnosis of lymphoma, and at the same time rely on imaging methods such as PET-CT to determine the erosion extent of lymphoma. For ordinary people, it can be roughly through the following aspects:
1. Subcutaneous lump: For the superficial lymph nodes where the lymphoma gathers, it is also the place where lymphoma can be seen and felt with the naked eye, such as the neck, armpits, and groin area.
2. Symptoms of B in patients with lymphoma: This is for some patients with lymphoma, there will be 3 special symptoms, called symptoms B, including unexplained recurrent fever (often > 38 °C), night sweats (sweating after napping, I don't know it), and unexplained weight loss (10% weight loss in 6 months).
epilogue
Therefore, we should also pay great attention to the uncomfortable symptoms of the neck, especially if there is an unexplained lump in the neck, or in the case of pain, we must pay attention to it, and seek medical attention in time after making a simple assessment!