Neck psychosomatics

What psychosomatics says

In psychosomatics, the neck is linked to how you judge your own mind, and to your sense of fairness. You were treated unfairly, not valued, not thanked. Or you feel stupid: “I won’t manage,” “I don’t understand anything about this.”

For example, your boss demands perfection, and you’re constantly afraid of making a mistake. Suddenly you’re told, “We don’t need you anymore.” You sit at the table with your husband’s relatives and feel like an outsider. Many people notice their neck and the back of their head start aching right in moments like these.

Your neck muscles hold this tension even when you’re not thinking about it. Psychosomatics helps you remember when the pain started and what was going on then. And see where you’re still putting up with unfairness or think of yourself as “not smart enough.”

What it is

Your neck holds up your head all day. It has vertebrae, discs between them, ligaments and lots of muscles. Most often it’s the muscles that hurt: they get tired and tight if you sit at a computer for a long time, look at your phone or sleep in an awkward position. That’s how the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) lists the causes of pain.

According to WHO (2022), 222 million people worldwide have neck pain. According to the Russian Ministry of Health clinical guidelines (2024), tension-type headache is often linked to tight muscles in the head and neck, and its main triggers are stress and long periods in an awkward position. Women get it slightly more often than men: about 5 to 4.

In everyday speech, almost any neck pain gets called osteochondrosis. Doctors are more precise: neck pain, muscle tension, age-related changes in the discs and joints. Many people over 40 have these changes, and often they don’t hurt at all. The same Russian Ministry of Health guidelines say that changes in the cervical spine on a scan are often wrongly blamed for headaches.

Sometimes a herniated disc or a bone spur presses on a nerve root. Then the pain spreads to the arm, and the arm goes numb, tingles or gets weak. This is called cervical radiculopathy. According to the clinical protocol of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan (2017), it’s more often brought on by sitting or standing in one position for a long time, moving too little and lifting heavy things abruptly.

How it shows up

• An aching neck, it’s hard to turn your head
• Stiffness in the morning or after long hours at a computer
• Pain and tension in the shoulders
• A headache that starts at the back of the head
• Pain spreading to the arm
• Tingling or numbness in the arm

A general practitioner or neurologist makes the diagnosis after examining you. The doctor orders an MRI or X-ray if needed.