Neck Pain In Children
Child physiotherapy offers highly effective treatments to reduce neck pain in children, in addition to improving the child’s cervical mobility. Although they are not frequent, they sometimes occur secondary to an injury. The most common causes are contractures or trauma.
In the first years of life, children explore the world in a very active way. They also have little risk registration, which predisposes them to a greater risk of falls or blows in childhood.
In adult life we are used to feeling discomfort or neck pain. However, if it happens to a child, we must pay attention and deal with it.
His neck hurts, what do I do?
If your child’s neck hurts, the first thing you should do is consult your pediatrician. While pain is a highly variable symptom. It can be mild, moderate or reach intolerable levels. Children do not always know how to identify or describe what pain is like, so consultation with the professional is important to rule out possible diseases.
Child physical therapy provides conservative treatments for neck pain in children. When it comes to contractures, trauma or isolated pain, it is the therapy of choice. Through gentle manual manipulations, massage therapy, flexibility and strengthening exercises, among others, it helps to reduce neck pain.
Prevent pain
Beyond the fact that pain can be the result of multiple causes, there are measures that can be taken to prevent them. One of them is to offer children safe play spaces, as well as accompany them in their activities of daily life, teaching them safety measures to avoid bumps or falls.
In addition, it is advisable to promote recreational physical activity as one more habit of daily life. This gives them greater knowledge of their body, helps them respond more agile to a fall, favors their development and avoids a sedentary lifestyle. Inactivity predisposes to muscle weakness, often the cause of neck pain.
Likewise, it must always be borne in mind that healthy eating and postural hygiene are part of the main axes to promote health. They must be considered essential in the stages of development of the child.
Different pains
Pain is a symptom shared by the vast majority of trauma diseases of all ages. The younger the child, the more difficult it will be to describe how pain is perceived. As you learn to speak and get to know your body better, you will be able to identify the location and characteristics of your sensation.
Therefore, the medical examination is essential to determine if it is a simple temporary pain from a slight blow or some bad posture. Or, otherwise, if the child has associated symptoms that require professional attention and specific treatment. Here are the most common causes of neck pain.
Contracture
Muscle contracture is a sustained and involuntary contraction of some of the muscle fibers or of an entire muscle. It is a very common condition in adults and less common in adolescents. In children it is rare that it happens due to the great flexibility of the tissues, in general. However, they usually appear with growing pains.
Muscle contractures can also occur during or after exertion. In some cases they are associated with other injuries. Sometimes they happen from bad postures held for long periods of time. Also due to emotional states of tension or stress. All this, as we have said before, is more frequent in adults than in children.
Trauma
Trauma is called an internal or external injury caused by an external aggression to the body, such as blows or accidents, for example. Trauma can be mild, localized to a single area of the body, or serious, involving several injuries to the body. Minor trauma is very common in children.
Herniated disc
The intervertebral discs are similar to circular pads, located between the vertebrae. Among their main functions, they cushion and help keep the vertebrae in place. A herniated disc is a rupture of one of those discs. This implies that its jelly-like nucleus loses its shape and irritates the structures around it.
In short, we can say that pain is a very broad symptom. Depending on the cause that generates it, it will be the prognosis of the child’s recovery. Therefore, physical therapy for neck pain in children is the first treatment option. There are few cases in which it is necessary to supplement with an analgesic. It is important to remind parents to avoid medicating their child without prior medical advice.
