My friend and her other co-workers thought at first that the neck pain suffering co-worker was perhaps, overly dramatic or even feigning her pain for attention.

It wasn't until my friend started suffering from stress induced headaches that she realized how much in common neck pain and headache pain can be and how they can oftentimes intertwine.

Like headaches, most people will experience neck pain at least once in their lives. Also like headaches, for most people, neck pain is temporary and annoying, not debilitating.

For some people it may dull and can last of many weeks. And for someone it may be sharp and temporary in nature.

Symptoms can include: sharp or dull pain in the neck, a "stiff" feeling in the neck, dizziness, difficulty swallowing, gland swelling and shoulder, back or headache pain on the same side as the neck pain.

Neck is mostly caused by bad posture or over using the support muscles around the neck.

Some disease such as arthritis, degenerative disc disease or trauma such as whiplash, pinched nerve can also cause neck pain.

Neck pain because of stress is not known to many people or not heard by many people. That is because the cause of the pain in tangible.

With economic concerns, demands on your time from your job, family, friends or a combination of those, it's no wonder that the body has trouble "letting go." The muscle tension fails to ease and pain and stiffness become the natural result.

If you don't find a way to deal with this stress, the condition won't get better but may in fact become a chronic condition. Add to that additional symptoms of stress such as insomnia and difficulty concentrating and you are just asking for poor posture at work and in bed.

Ways to help reduce the stress which is causing the pain include eating a healthy diet, regular exercise to relax such as yoga, avoid over indulging in alcohol and taking at least 10 minutes for yourself each day. Even if this is simply putting your feet up and telling yourself to "relax."