Pain and stiffness of the neck may result if the lump is big
enough or uneven enough to have encroached onto one of your
cervical nerve sitting and jutting out from the upper neck region
(C2 and C3). This will increasingly be evident if you also
experience symptoms of numbness and pain below your ear level, the
sides of your neck and perhaps the collar bony region. However, the
symptoms may not be present altogether, but if you feel worried
about it, may I suggest you to a radiologist, get a skull and
cervical X ray done to check for any possibilities of nerve
compression or irregularities of the cervical vertebraes.
The skull X ray will rule out any possibility of lumps that are
depressed into the skull, which may coompress on the meningis and
causes pain without any external pressure (if you have this problem
that is).
Most patients are curious, and this is often encouraged as they
will be more aware of their problems, but not over-aware, hence
seeking treatment in future at an earlier stage which enhances the
medical or surgical intervention which may be fatal if detected
late.
When doctors say there is no problem, it means that it is not going
to affect any of your quality of life (QOL) or your activity of
daily living (ADL) in anyway.
