6 Red Flags for causes of neck pain

What are the 6 red flags for neck pain?

1. cervical fx

2. upper cervical instability

3. cervical artery dysfunction

4. neoplastic conditions

5. systemic inflammatory/infe

ctious disease

6. cervical myelopathy

What can help identify cervical fxs?

Canadian C-spine rule

What can help identify upper cervical instability?

- trauma

+ occipital sx

+ severe AROM loss

+ myelopathy

- arthritides (various types of arthritis), down's syndrome

What can help to identify cervical artery dysfunction?

- 5 D's & 3 N's

- stroke risk

- cranial nerves

What can help to identify neoplastic conditions?

- age >50

- cancer hx

- thoracic sx

- unexplained wt loss

- constant/night pain

What can help to identify systemic inflammatory/infectious disease?

- abnormal vitals

+ temp >100 deg

+ BP > 160/95 mmHg

+ pulse >100 bpm

+ respiration >25 bpm rest

- fever/fatigue

What helps to identify cervical myelopathy?

- dexterity loss

- sensory disturbance; both hands (multisegmental)

- muscle wasting; hands

- reflexes; hyper-or pathological reflexes

- gait; clumsy

- incontinence