Tender neck muscles and neck pain

[kmm110]

This has been going on for several months now but it seems to be occurring more frequently, on a daily basis. I have dull neck pain which turns into a headache, stiffness in the neck and there are several very tender spots on my neck, which almost feel like muscle but I am now wondering if they could be lymph nodes. They don't really feel swollen but maybe I just can't tell? The tenderness can be felt on both sides of my neck.
I've tried chiropractic treatment, changing pillows and using a heating pad but these things only temporarily help. I am terrifed to get any x-rays or MRI's done and I think if I go to the doctor, they are going to order some diagnostic testing.
Has anyone had these symptoms and received a diagnosis and/or discovered the cause? I don't have discomfort anywhere else except for my neck.

[oregoncoastlady]

I have had neck /shoulder pain every day for years. When i roll my neck it crackles. Certain areas are sore to the touch. Some days my throat feels tight and swallowing is difficult. Sometimes I get a dull headache. It is all tension. Everything tightens up. Some days are worse than others, but I've learned to accept it. I do exercises to try to ease it, but sometimes I just have to wait for my stress/anxiety to ease up before it feels better.

[Tupac]

Doctors worry about lymp nodes when they're larger than a grape, hard as a rock, painless, and matted in place. Where are you feeling these "tender spots"? Any weight loss? I had really bad neck pain because of straining my neck while studying and I thought I might have neck cancer. So I went to the doctor and my doctor told me its not cancer but a strain and he wanted me to get a x ray for my reassuarance. And it came back normal. The pain in my neck also radiated to my head and it caused various aches in my head region. Neck pain is one of the most common complaints doctors hear about in their practice, I highly doubt that this is anything serious.

What exactly is your fear?

[annoyingwife21]

Its all tension. I have the same thing. If you go to you tube and put in tension headaches they give you some at home exercises to make it feel a lot better.

[judi957]

kmm110, you have described my neck perfectly.  Except, I did get a diagnosis through an MRI.  I have arthritis in my neck from bone spurs.  It does cause neck pain, dull headaches, sometimes lightheadedness, and tender spots.  But some people, like my father, have arthritis without the bone spurs.  Some days, one side is worse than the other.  Depends on how much time I spend in front of the computer--and that is the worst offender from what my doctor said.  In fact, even without the arthritis, my husband gets sore neck muscles from the time he spends in front of the computer.   Like oregoncoastlady, mine cracks, too  I've just learned to live with it.   The best relief I've found is deep tissue massage; I walk out of those appointments feeling so--o-o-o-o good.     My muscles are working very hard to help my older neck joints.   Nothing sinster, just annoying. 

Judi

[ejmommy]

I could have written that post! I get that pain, and I did have an MRI of my neck for unrelated reasons. It came back that I had a couple bulging discs in my neck, but the neurologist said it was unrelated, which I think is weird but you know!

So mine seems to have no explanation either other than my neck gets used a lot in my job and of course my stress/anxiety causing tenseness. When it gets bad, I just use heating pad, ibuprofen, and try to massage it out myself.

[kjoyce]

Could be anxiety but could be cervical disc disease (actually anxiety elevates my symptoms of disc disease). You should get an Xray to rule it out. It's not a very serious condition and it's easily managed with physiotherapy.
My symptoms are: stiff neck, pain in the neck and shoulders, headaches, dizziness, fainting like feeling. Symptoms are worse when I'm anxious but also when I get a cold.
You could try some simple neck exercises (look up ISOMETRIC EXERCISES on youtube). They help me big time. Also heat pads are good. Magnesium supplement to help to relax the neck muscles work tooa little.
Goodluck!

[AdamWW]

Your symptoms are reletively common and usually related to either muscle spasm or irritation from repeated movement.

If it is a muscle spasm, most doctors can do a basic physical to identify the stiff area.  I would alternate hot/cold compress on the area and give gentle massage and see if it helps.  If so, it's certainly nothing serious and you can get fix it with basic physical therapy.