X-ray of chronic neck pain
Author:
Mikael Häggström [notes 1]
Planning
Choice of modality
- X-ray of chronic neck pain is the initial imaging of choice in new or increasing non-traumatic neck pain, with absence of below findings.[1]
- In case of new or increasing non-traumatic cervical radiculopathy, MRI of radiculopathy is the preferable initial choice.[1]
- MRI of the neck is also the preferable initial choice in neck pain and either of the following is suspected:
- CT of chronic neck pain is an alternative to X-ray in new or increasing nontraumatic cervical or neck pain or radiculopathy in case of known prior cervical spine surgery.[1]
Evaluation
- Obvious fractures?
- More than mild spondylosis? If detected, see X-ray of spondylosis of the cervical spine.
- Incongruencies?
Incongruencies
Check:
- Vertebral lines
- Distances between vertebrae, and between spinous processes
Incongruencies indicate mainly cervical fracture, spondylolisthesis or ligament injury.
Notes
- ↑ For a full list of contributors, see article history. Creators of images are attributed at the image description pages, seen by clicking on the images. See Radlines:Authorship for details.
