Neck Pain - Inflammatory and Infectious Disorders

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
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
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
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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