Causes Cervical problems, particularly disc herniations are not usually associated with a particular injury. Most often, patients say that they woke from sleep and noticed neck and or arm pain. This does not mean that cervical spine problems can not be caused by injury, indeed many are. Chronic injury caused by heavy labor can also result in cervical spine problems though more often degenerative and less frequently acute disc herniation. The specific location of the arm pain depends on which disc is involved.
Patients find that turning their head away from the painful side helps.
Extending the head makes the pain worse so that looking up is avoided. Bending the head down usually gives some relief. Most of the symptoms of a disc herniation are related to pressure on a specific nerve root. Rarely, large disc herniations can cause pressure on the spinal cord. Pressure on the spinal cord can result in a problem called cervical myelopathy.