Swollen and stiff neck muscles

Introduction The swelling of the neck muscles is a clinical symptom caused by ossifying myositis. Myositis ossificans is a disease of muscle sclerosis, toe, and hallar deformity caused by deposition of progressive bone structure in muscle and connective tissue. The cause is unclear. Part of it is autosomal dominant. Common in children or youth. The congenital torticollis, torsion and neck muscles that are characterized by abnormalities are swollen and hard, but most do not have pain. Muscles can be involved in the whole body. Strenuous exercise or trauma can cause muscle rupture, hemorrhage and hematoma formation. Most patients have hematoma absorption, but they can also develop muscle stiffness and ossification, and eventually cause the joint muscles to be stiff and crippled.

Cause

The disease is a disease of muscle sclerosis, toe, and hallar deformity caused by deposition of progressive bone structure in muscle and connective tissue. The cause is unclear. Part of it is autosomal dominant. Some scholars have reported four factors in ossification:

1 stimulating factors: often contusion accounts for 60% to 70%, which can lead to hematoma. This damage can be mild and only a small amount of skeletal muscle or myofibrils are damaged.

2 damage signal: damaged tissue or cells secrete a signal protein.

3 There are mesenchymal cells with defective gene expression, and these cells can generate bone-like or cartilage-like cells after receiving appropriate signals.

4 There is a continuous environment of ossified tissue, in which the signal gene is the most critical, Urist named the gene as BMP.

an examination

Related inspection

Pressure neck test EMG neck mobility test

Diagnosis is based on clinical symptoms.

The disease is common in children or young people. The congenital torticollis, torsion and neck muscles that are characterized by abnormalities are swollen and hard, but most do not have pain. Muscles can be involved in the whole body. According to the clinical characteristics, the disease can be divided into IV:

1. Reaction period: The mass enlarges quickly, the calcification is fast, and the swelling is rapid. Trauma is 1 to 2 months, up to 4 to 10 cm.

2, active period: active period can be expressed as fever, local skin temperature, tenderness, hard mass.

3, maturity: shell-like osteochondral carcinogenesis at maturity, stop growth during the recovery period, often after 1 year, the hard mass becomes smaller, and even disappears completely, with self-limiting

The auxiliary examination method for this disease is mainly X-ray examination:

X-ray examination is characterized by a localized swelling that occurs shortly after injury. At 3-4 weeks after injury, a hairy dense image is displayed within the swollen edema, and the adjacent bone will show a periosteal reaction. 6-8 weeks after injury, the edge of the lesion is clearly surrounded by dense bone and has the appearance of new bone. The core of the soft tissue mass sometimes becomes cystic and gradually enlarges its lumen, and in the late stage, it shows an egg-like cyst. The tumor contracted 5-6 months after injury, and an x-ray translucent band was observed between the mass and the adjacent cortical and periosteal reactions.

Differential diagnosis

Differential diagnosis of neck muscle swelling and hardening:

1, neck stiffness: neck stiffness refers to neck muscle tension, bloating, hard, sputum (cramp) and other phenomena, neck movement is not flexible. Common in fatigue, cervical spondylosis. Neck stiffness is a persistent over-contraction of the muscles, which not only reduces the blood supply to the neck muscles, but also causes the accumulation of metabolites such as lactic acid, which causes muscle ischemic pain. Back pain and head pain may be tension headaches caused by head or cervical lesions.

2, the neck is tough: neck activity is limited, this symptom can be seen in the neck rib syndrome. Cervical rib syndrome is a complex clinical syndrome caused by vascular nerve compression in the thoracic exit area. It is also known as cervical thoracic outlet syndrome, anterior scalene syndrome, pectoralis minor muscle syndrome, rib lock syndrome, and excessive abduction. Syndrome, etc., refers to a series of upper extremity blood vessels and neurological symptoms caused by compression of brachial plexus and subclavian arteries and veins for some reason. Clinically, the main manifestations are pain, numbness of the shoulders, arms and hands, and even muscle weakness, weakness of the hands, cold and purple, and weakening of the iliac artery.

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