investigation of neck pain
Last reviewed 01/2018
Conventional radiology is of limited use, except attempting to identify bony injury following acute trauma to the neck. Degenerative changes are commonly seen on plain radiology, and except in very young patients are of dubious significance.
More helpful is magnetic resonance imaging which can identify tumours, atlantoaxial subluxation, abcesses, disc prolapse and injuries. For a majority of patients however with simple mechanical neck pain, MRI scanning fails to reveal any abnormalities.