title: Neck pain from a rheumatologic perspective.
abstract: This article provides a comprehensive review of rheumatologic considerations for a clinician when evaluating a patient with neck pain. Clearly, anatomic derangements of the cervical spine should be considered when a patient complains of cervicalgia. However, one must also entertain the possibility of a systemic illness as the cause of the pain. Examples of diseases that may present with a prominent feature of neck pain are discussed, including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, myositis, and fibromyalgia. Evidence of an underlying rheumatic illness may guide the clinician in a different therapeutic direction.
authors.affiliation: Arthritis and Rheumatic Disease Specialties, Aventura, FL 33180, USA. eoberstein@med.miami.edu
authors.forename: Elana M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Oberstein
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carpintero
authors.forename: Aviva
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hopkins
mesh_terms: D003882:Dermatomyositis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D013700:Giant Cell Arteritis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D004057:Hyperostosis, Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy