Can Neck Pain Be Serious?

Your neck is the vital passageway through which the spinal cord passes to connect the brain to the arms and legs and key bodily organs and tissues. The brain and spinal cord, with its important spinal and autonomic nerves, control and coordinate almost all body functions.

The seven cervical vertebrae (spinal bones) in the neck have highly mobile joints so that you can bend your head forward and backward, tilt it to either side and rotate the head an neck. Since the neck is exceptionally flexible, it lends itself easily to injury and pain.

Depending upon its severity, an insult to the head or neck may injure the supporting muscles, tendons and ligaments of the neck and perhaps interfere with essential circulation to the head and brain. A neck injury may even disrupt the functioning of the spinal cord and the autonomic nerves distributed by the cervical vertebrae. This can result in serious interference with the life-support communications network of the body.