How to Diagnose Neck Pain

Many different tissues make up your neck area. When you experience pain at the site, it could be caused by a non-serious medical condition, like muscle strain, or a more serious reason, like heart attack. You'll need your neck pain diagnosed to make sure you're not facing a serious health problem.

Instructions

• 1

  Rule out injury to the site. If a trauma occurred, then you can easily diagnose your neck pain. If you were in an accident, you may have neck pain from a broken collarbone or whiplash.

• 2

  Look at your other symptoms. If you're having a heart attack, neck pain or shoulder pain is considered a secondary symptom. Other symptoms of a heart attack include chest pain, dizziness and shortness of breath.

• 3

  Call your doctor. If you're having neck pain, your doctor may want to run a series of tests to determine the exact cause of the pain.

• 4

  Get an electrocardiogram (ECG). If you're having neck pain and other symptoms of a heart attack, your doctor will want to hook you up to an ECG to confirm diagnosis.

• 5

  Make an appointment for imaging technology tests. Your doctor may order an x-ray, MRI or CT scan to examine your neck and surrounding areas. They can use these tests to look for neck pain caused by broken bones, fractures and deformities.