[Pragmatic and effective treatment of painful neck]

Management of a patient with atraumatic neck pain is a complex task that necessitates a careful differentiation between harmless and risky but preventable courses (red flags), with account having to be taken of psychosocial and somatic factors. At the same time diagnostic measures need to be limited to the truly necessary, and the development of chronicity must be avoided. The very fact that the clinical significance of neck pain clearly takes second place to its psychosocial and health-economic aspects points up the need to explicitly draw attention to the rare dangerous courses.