I have a neck that is always stiff and sore. I work as a typist and computer terminal operator, and I believe this is the cause, as my doctor cannot find any cause. He said I should exercise my neck to make it move more freely. Can you suggest some exercises for me?
Cerrainly! The following neck exercises and positions are useful for all forms of neck stiffness and arthritis.

A. POSTURE
This is very important! Don’t slouch, shoulders back, chin in, think tall’

B. STRETCHES
1. Move neck SLOWLY in all directions every day (eg. in hot shower):
— tilt to side
— rotate
— forwards & back
2. Rotate shdulders forwards and backwards.
3. Tuck chin in and hold for 2-3 seconds.
4. Push shoulders back and attempt to bring shoulder blades together.
5. Drop one shoulder, tilt head towards opposite shoulder thus:

C. STRENGTHEN
1. Lie on back with knees bent. Tuck chin in. Lift head JUST off the floor thus: Aim to hold for 30 seconds.
2. While sitting, tuck chin in, and push shoulders back and attempt to bring shoulder blades together. Use your hand to push against the side, front and back of your head in turn, but tense the neck muscles to prevent the head from moving. Hold for 6 seconds and repeat 6 times.

My husband has had problems with his neck for eleven years, which causes pain and stiffness down his right side. The doctor says his extra pair of ribs is a problem. Can this explain his shoulder pain?
In a small percentage of people, a pair of accessory ribs grow out from the base of the neck. These are usually very short, and serve no useful purpose, but may sometimes interfere with the normal path of a nerve from the spinal cord in the neck to the shoulder and arm.
Most of these accessory ribs are only discovered when a patient complains of symptoms such as your husband’s, and an X-ray is performed.
The extra rib may be responsible for pain in the neck, shoulder and arm, but not other parts of the body.
Treatments may include anti-inflammatory medications, physiotherapy, injections around the affected nerve, and surgical removal of the additional rib.

My doctor keeps feeling my son’s neck for glands every time I take him for a cold or sore throat. He prescribes antibiotics if the glands are tender. Why do your glands get sore when you have an infection?
If you have an infected cut on a finger, the bacteria can enter the lymph ducts, and slowly move along them towards the vital organs of the body. The neck glands are not really glands at all (glands secrete hormones) but are correctly called lymph nodes.
The lymph nodes act as filters along the lymph ducts, removing unwanted bacteria and viruses from the lymphatic fluid, and preventing them from progressing further. This filtering process is occurring every second of every day, but in the process of collecting and destroying germs, the lymph nodes are occasionally overwhelmed by the vast numbers of bacteria or viruses, and themselves become hot, red, sore, enlarged and infected. Some germs can then get past the nodes, and cause the fevers and muscular pains associated with a generalised infection. Without the vital lymph nodes and their vast numbers of white cells that can engulf and destroy bacteria and viruses, severe body infections would be a regular occurrence rather than an occasional nuisance.
Once lymph nodes become infected by a bacteria, antibiotics are required to assist the body in the fight against them. If treated promptly, the nodes will soon return to normal, but delay may result in an abscess forming in the node.
After a severe infection, some nodes may remain as hard lumps due to the scar tissue within them caused by the overwhelming infection. These painless lumps may take months or years to disappear.

I have a lump on the side of my neck that seems to go up and down, and every time it goes up it causes headaches and a general feeling of being unwell. My specialist wants to remove it, but says I will be left with a sizeable scar that cannot be avoided. Aren’t there more advanced techniques such as plastic surgery that can minimise the scarring?
A neck lump that increases in size when you are unwell and decreases when you feel berter is almost certainly a lymph node. Removing it may well remove a source of chronic infection, and therefore cure the problem.
Whenever any operation is performed, a scar must remain behind. Some areas of the body heal poorly (eg. the back) and a bad scar is inevitable. Other areas heal very well (eg. the face), and scarring is usually minimal. The part of your body being cut is far more important than the surgeon in determining the type of scar you will develop. Plastic surgeons are not able to perform miracles. They have techniques that will minimise scarring, but most general surgeons are aware of these techniques also. Making the initial cut along the natural skin folds of the body, using fine stitches, using stitches under the skin rather than through the skin, and removing the stitches at just the right time are some of the tricks of the trade.
There would be no benefit from having a plastic surgeon perform your operation, as I suspect your scar will be far less noticeable than you expect. The neck is an area of the body that heals quite well, but if the scar does worry you six months or more after the operation, a plastic surgeon can be consulted about having a scar revision operation.