Neck arthritis is mainly caused by three major types of arthritis that might affect the neck: rheumatoid arthritic, osteoarthritis and post-traumatic arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is a systematic condition that affects the joints of both sides of the body. It is caused due to inflammation of the joint cartilage, leading to its destruction. Osteoarthriti is the most common arthritis affecting the neck and gradually leads to degeneration of the cartilage. It occurs due to wear and tear of the joints between the bones. Post-traumatic arthritis is caused by repeated stress like falls in contact sports or injury to the neck, leading to multiple hyperextensions and hyperflexions of the neck. This can develop years after the injury.

Arthritis is also heredity. The presence of certain genes can risk a person to develop neck arthritic . People after the age of 40 years are more prone to suffer from neck arthritis, because with age the healing ability decreases. Men develop neck arthritis more often than the pre-menopausal women, but the risk of neck arthritis increases in women after the menopause. Any prior neck injury can also be one of the reason for developing neck arthritis.

Signs and Symptoms of Neck Arthritis
The most common signs of neck arthritis are pain and stiffness in the neck. These signs may worsen by standing as opposed to lying down due to the force of gravity on the spine. Sleeping can also aggravates the symptoms, as while sleeping the muscles are relaxed and are not able to provide extra support to the spine. The patients may also suffer from some neurological signs like weakness, tingling, numbness and severe pains down the arms, forearms and hand. headache  is another symptom, usually experienced towards the back of the head. The patients may also experience dizziness, spinning, or loss of balance during the advanced stages of the disease due to decreased blood supply to the brain.