DDx ⬇
- Acute or chronic cervical strain, eg, poor sleeping posture, whiplash injury
- Osteoarthritis, eg, cervical spondylosis on x-ray
- Herniated disk (discogenic neck pain)
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Compression fracture
- Osteomyelitis
- Meningitis
- Migraine
- Metastatic cancer
- Spinal stenosis
- Fibromyalgia
- Deep neck infection, eg, Ludwig’s angina
- Thyroiditis
- Shoulder disorder
- Subarachnoid hemorrhage
- Thoracic outlet syndrome
- Temporal (giant cell) arteritis
- Carotid artery aneurysm or carotid dissection
- If myelopathy (eg, bilateral upper extremity findings, lower extremity spasticity or weakness, bladder dysfunction): osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord tumor, syringomyelia, tropical spastic paresis (HTLV-1)
Related DDx ⬆