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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Severe Pain At The Base Of My Head, Upper Neck Pain On Moving Neck. Cause Of Worry?

I have a sever pain in the very top part of my neck and the base of my head. The pain has gotten so severe that there have been times were the pain went on constantly for 20 minutes and it was one of the worst pains I have felt. My neck hurts when I turn it to the left or right. It is very tight when i try to move my head down and up but when I bring it back up it has a very stabbing pain. This pain started over two days ago and the pain is getting worse.
Fri, 6 Sep 2013
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Spine Surgeon,  's  Response
Hi
Thank you for your question.

The kind of pain you have described is typical of degeneration at the craniocervical junction. Atlantoaxial arthritis can lead to pain at the base of head that particularly worsens on head movements. This pain is not uncommon in elderly individuals. A CT scan of the cervical spine with inclusion of craniocervical junction can diagnose this. Treatment of this is pain killers, local analgesic application and local heat. Image guided steroid injections can be done by aan expert specialist.

Wish you the best.
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Severe Pain At The Base Of My Head, Upper Neck Pain On Moving Neck. Cause Of Worry?

Hi Thank you for your question. The kind of pain you have described is typical of degeneration at the craniocervical junction. Atlantoaxial arthritis can lead to pain at the base of head that particularly worsens on head movements. This pain is not uncommon in elderly individuals. A CT scan of the cervical spine with inclusion of craniocervical junction can diagnose this. Treatment of this is pain killers, local analgesic application and local heat. Image guided steroid injections can be done by aan expert specialist. Wish you the best.