A chronic neck ache where the pain stays mainly in the neck may be the result of degenerative disc disease and arthritis of the facet joints of the cervical spine. Doctors sometimes refer to this type of pain as mechanical pain. This term is used because it gets worse when we use our neck more and seems to be coming from the parts of the cervical spine - the mechanical parts that allow us to move our head around and up and down.
This type of pain does not come from pinched, or irritated, nerves. The pain seems to come from the inflamed facet joints and from the degenerated disc. As the disc and facet joints become more inflamed when we use our neck to move our head, the muscles around the cervical spine begin to spasm. You can think of a muscle spasm similar to a muscle cramp. Muscles that are cramping eventually cause pain. The spasm occurs as the body's response to try to stop the movement in the cervical spine.