A construction worker's injury also typifies the traumatic origins of most neck pain. 'I was hurt on a construction job and was in the hospital forty-one days,' the worker wrote. 'I saw many doctors. Most had different opinions on the extent of damage done to my back. All I know is that I have suffered severe pain.'

In a recent international survey of back and neck pain sufferers, almost one-third of survey participants attributed the onset of neck pain to emotional stress. For example, a television personality suffered neck pain while two members of her immediate family were gravely ill. A teacher linked her neck pain to working with highly disturbed and disabled children. An executive experienced severe neck pain while going through a painful divorce.