The back and the neck can suffer similar strains by having to remain in certain positions for long periods of time. The whole science of ergonomics has been developed to prevent these repetitive stress injuries by designing furniture and appliances that place body parts in the optimum position for working. Not knowing immediately what brought on your current discomfort is the first warning sign to take a pain seriously. Some pains that seem to be coming from the spine are actually referred there from elsewhere inside the body. For instance a sick gall bladder can masquerade as a strain of the mid-back and usually hurts just beneath the right shoulder blade.
Heart attacks can mimic neck pains that pinch nerves going into the left arm.
Additional symptoms that accompany the pain are added clues. Some of the most important are related to all the nerves that pass through your spine on their way between the brain and the rest of your body. These nerves send feelings in one direction and movement commands in the other. Certain changes in feeling like tingling, burning or extreme sensitivity are also signs of nerve problems. Paralysis is the extreme form of weakness.