Neck Muscles and Pain- find out why you're suffering

Firstly, Neck muscles

In the understanding of pain one must first understand the anatomy of the area. While this seems complicated, having a resource to check the muscles of the neck can help you to understand why you are suffering. This can guide the management approach and treatment of the problem.

Here is a list of the major muscles of the neck.

1. Sterno-cleidomastoid muscle: this muscles runs across your neck. In most people it can be seen and felt by turning your head to one side and looking at the other side
2. Trapezius muscle: a large muscle covering most of your upper back and up to the base of your skull.
3. Platysma muscle- this muscle is seen at the front of your neck between your chin and collar bone. It can be seen when you "bear down" with your throat
4. Splenius capitis muscle- this muscles attaches from your neck to the base of your skull and aids with pulling your head backwards
5. Levator scapulae muscle: this muscles attaches from the shoulder blade to the neck and is important for pain referral, shoulder control and neck movements.
6. Scalenus medius muscle: the scalenes are on the sides of your neck. You will feel them stretch when you move your ear to your shoulder on the same side.
7. Scalenus anterior muscle: similar to Scalenus Medius this muscle is on the sides of your neck. You can feel a stretch by bending your head to the side and slightly backwards.

For more information about the neck muscles and pain you can visit the Inner Body website.

For a 3D view of all the muscles of the neck you can visit Health Line by clicking here

The image below shows part of the anatomy of the neck.

Muscle pain in the Neck

If you are looking for information on the causes of neck pain you can find them on our other page "Neck pain causes" by clicking here. Alternatively you can use the "My Dr" website for more information by clicking here. 

As for the muscles of the neck, specifically, we know there are a few ways they can cause pain, discomfort or suffering. These are listed below:

• Lactic acid build up as a result of prolonged abnormal posture.
• Muscle strain following whiplash during sports or a car accident.
• Muscle/tendon overuse
• Referred pain from muscles causing headache

Wherever your pain is coming from, our practitioners at Docklands Health are trained to find out the cause (diagnose) and provide management or referral for muscular conditions.