Neck Pain
 Though infections and inflammation
of the cervical spine are rare, if they are neglected for a period
of time, or if there is a delay in diagnosis, they can become a
significant source of pain and disability. Bone and joint infections
anywhere in the body can be crippling and life threatening, and
infections in the cervical spine are no exception.
Ankylosing spondylitis is a rare condition that can cause back and
neck pain. It is a rheumatic inflammatory disease that affects the
spine and sacroiliac joints. This disease is three times more likely
to develop in men than in women and it usually occurs between the
ages of 20 and 40. Although it primarily attacks the spine (usually
the low back first), this chronic and painful disease can also attack
other joints, tendons and ligaments, and the chest wall. Though
its cause is unknown, ankylosing spondylitis tends to run in families
which suggests that genetics plays a role in the development of
this disease. A patient is 10 to 20 times more likely to have ankylosing
spondylitis if a parent or sibling also has this condition.
Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis is a type of inflammatory arthritis
that affects almost 200,000 children in the United States. JRA is
a disease that causes painful, swollen, and stiff joints in children,
most commonly in large joints like the knee. JRA has three well-defined
subsets: a monoarticular form, which means that that the disease
affects only one joint; a polyarticular form, which means that it
affects many joints, and a systemic form, which means that it affects
other organs in the body besides the joints. The systemic form of
the disease is most often associated with high fevers and rash,
in addition to arthritis. The polyarticular and systemic forms of
the disease are the two types that commonly affect the cervical
spine.
Rheumatoid Arthritis is among the most debilitating forms of arthritis
causing joints to ache, throb and even deform over time. The exact
cause of this inflammatory condition is not known, but it is believed
to be caused by an attack on the synovium (tissue that lines the
joints) by the body's immune system. The upper cervical spine can
be damaged by the inflammation that is caused by rheumatoid arthritis.
This disease is three times more common in women than in men and
usually occurs between the ages of 20 and 50. Just like the gradual
destruction of other joints in the body, several joints between
the base of the skull and uppermost vertebral bodies in the cervical
spine are very susceptible to damage from rheumatoid arthritis.
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