What is causing your pain?

Most neck pain settles on its own. The job is knowing which patterns do not.

A pinched nerve root in the neck, felt down the arm. Most settle without surgery.

Disc material pressing on a nerve or the cord. Many shrink on their own.

Compression of the spinal cord itself. The one neck diagnosis where waiting has a cost.

Uncommon, often incidental, occasionally pressing on the cord.

Normal age-related wear. Common on imaging, and only sometimes the cause of pain.

A narrowed canal in the neck. What matters is whether the cord is affected.

Common, usually self-limiting, and rarely a surgical problem. Knowing which is which matters.

The usual cause of sciatica. Most improve within three months without surgery.

A narrowed canal crowds the nerves. Leg symptoms build with walking, ease with sitting.

One vertebra slipped forward on another. Stable in many people, unstable in some.

Often mistaken for disc pain. Diagnosed by injection, not by MRI.

Common age-related wear, and one of the least reliable reasons to operate.

A curve that develops with wear in adulthood. Symptoms matter more than the angle.

A collapsed vertebra, usually from thin bone. Treating the fracture is only half the job.

Injury-related fractures. Stability decides treatment, and judging it is the specialist's job.

Rare and highly variable. Managed by a team, with surgery one part of the plan.

Uncommon and often diagnosed late. Antibiotics first; surgery for specific reasons.

Cancer spread to the spine. Surgery serves the wider oncological plan, not the other way round.

When a previous operation has not worked. The diagnosis matters more than the operation.

The umbrella term for spinal wear. A description, not a diagnosis.