Mostly neck pain is caused by activities that perform in repeated or prolonged movements of the neck's muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, or joints. This can lead to the strain (an overstretched or overused muscle), sprain (injury to a ligament), spasm of the neck muscles, or inflammation of the neck joints.

Severe neck injuries sometimes may be caused by traumatic accidents or falls. They can result in vertebral fractures, whiplash, blood vessel destruction, and even paralysis.

Rare causes of neck pain:
- injury
- infection
- chronic disease
- nerve root, spinal cord, or disc problems
- problems related to aging such as arthritis
- herniated disc, fibromyalgia and arthritis
- meningitis cause significant neck stiffness

Muscle strains
Overuse, such as too many hours hunched over a steering wheel, often triggers muscle strains. Neck muscles, especially those in the back of your neck, become fatigued and eventually strained. When you overuse your neck muscles repeatedly, chronic neck pain can develop. Even such minor things as reading in bed or gritting your teeth can strain neck muscles.

Arthritis
All joints in your body tend to deteriorate with age.

Disk problems
With age, the cushioning disks between your vertebrae become dry, in such a way they narrow the spaces in your spinal column where the nerves come out. The disks in your neck also can herniate. This means the inner gelatinous material of a disk extends through the disk's tough covering. Surrounding nerves can be irritated. Other tissues and bony growths also can press on your nerves as they exit your spinal cord, causing pain.