The following three main misconceptions about cervical spondylosis have been clinically found to exist in patients’ perceptions.
Myth 1: Neck pain is cervical spondylosis
”Doctor, I’m suffering from cervical spondylosis and my neck hurts.” This is the most common expression heard from patients in outpatient clinics. However, Professor Liu said, in fact, 80% of the neck pain in outpatients is not cervical spondylosis, but due to long-term low status, such as writing, playing computer, playing cell phones and IPAD, or long time posture fixation leads to tension and strain of the posterior neck muscles, ligaments, soft tissues, resulting in local sterile inflammation, inflammation and increase the pressure of muscles, fascia, soft tissues, stimulating the local soft tissue nerves, thus triggering neck pain, which is actually cervical-shoulder dorsal fasciitis. Therefore, there is a misunderstanding of the definition of cervical spondylosis among the general public.
The strict definition of cervical spondylosis should be: the degeneration and protrusion of the cervical intervertebral disc tissue, which compresses the surrounding neurovascular and other tissues and brings about a series of clinical symptoms, before it is called cervical spondylosis. The diagnosis of cervical spondylosis should also meet the following two conditions: a physical examination of the patient by a professional doctor is required to confirm that there are corresponding signs brought about by a herniated cervical disc; secondly, there are corresponding imaging examinations, such as X-rays, CT, and MRI, one of which is missing to prove that the symptoms are caused by a herniated cervical disc. So it is not necessarily cervical spondylosis if you have neck pain, do not easily crowned cervical spondylosis.
Myth 2: Headache and dizziness are cervical spondylosis
In addition, in the clinic, we often hear patients say, “I’m dizzy, the sky is spinning, is it cervical spondylosis?” Professor Liu told us that most of the dizziness, especially the spinning dizziness, is not caused by cervical spine problems, but most often by ear diseases, especially related to the middle ear, because our body’s organ of balance is in the middle ear, such as otitis media, Meniere’s disease, otoliths (cerumen embolism), all these problems can cause dizziness. In addition, neurological disorders such as inadequate blood supply to the brain can also cause dizziness.
Of course some patients with cervical spondylosis will also experience dizziness. If the dizziness is caused by cervical spondylosis, then the cervical disc degeneration is more severe at this point, the osteophytes are affecting the blood vessels of the vertebral arteries, or there are other unexplained causes for the dizziness. However, these cases represent only a small percentage of the population. Most clinical dizziness is not caused by the cervical spine. Therefore, when making a diagnosis, it is important to do an examination to rule out the lack of blood supply to the brain and ear problems before diagnosing dizziness caused by cervical spondylosis.
Myth 3: Cervical spine surgery is very risky and may cause paralysis
Most cervical spondylosis can be treated conservatively and the symptoms can be relieved. However, some patients need surgery to relieve cervical spine problems. However, in the clinic, when hearing about surgery, most patients are afraid, because of the specificity of the site, many people think that cervical spondylosis open surgery is risky and will be paralyzed if the surgery fails.
However, Professor Liu talked about the fact that surgery for cervical spondylosis is now more mature and is relatively routine in spine surgery. Most surgical incisions are only 3 to 5 centimeters, with minimal damage to normal tissues, and you can go to the ground the day after surgery, which can be called minimally invasive surgery. Professor Liu informs that there are almost no cases of cervical spine surgery resulting in paralysis in Long March Hospital. Even so, cervical spine surgery is still a relatively high demand for professional technical level as well as anesthesia care. As long as the surgery is performed in a regular hospital by an experienced professional physician, patients need not worry too much.
In fact, what we need to worry about is the irregular treatment. In the clinic, we met many cases, blindly believe in some small advertisements, in irregular places, even places without medical qualifications for some so-called minimally invasive treatment, resulting in major problems in the cervical spine, indeed some will cause paralysis. Because the cervical spine is a very complex structure, it is connected to the cranial brain and the trunk, and the surrounding nerves are all central nerves, which are very important nerves in the human body, and once they are damaged due to improper treatment, the consequences are extremely serious. Therefore, when a problem occurs in the cervical spine, it is important to go to a regular medical institution and find a doctor specializing in cervical spondylosis for consultation and treatment.
Cervical spondylosis has a developmental process and prevention is important
Since cervical spondylosis is a degenerative disease, in addition to the natural age factor, it is also quite closely related to whether we use the neck reasonably. If you use it too much, it will become faster, and if you use it carefully, it will become slower. Therefore, Prof. Liu pointed out that “relaxation in moderation” is the only way to prevent cervical spondylosis.
Every cervical spondylosis patient is not born with it, it has a development process. The human cervical spine is an important organ that connects the head to the trunk. In order to maintain our posture, the head and neck rely on the back of our neck muscles to pull most of the time, and the muscles in front of the neck are few and not strong. So a long time low or fixed posture, it will cause tension in the muscles of the back of the neck, like a bow, pulled taut tense not loose, a long time bow will lose elasticity, or even break. So we need to be relaxed, pull a pull to relax a little, the bow can be used for a long time, in order to be as new as the day. So we can’t keep the same posture for a long time with the neck, especially the head down time can’t be too long, the back of the neck muscles also need to often relax, so that they can make their strength endure, strong power. And a long time low posture fixed, the first thing that brings is the fasciitis of the back of the neck and shoulder, thus causing neck pain, which is actually the early manifestation of cervical spondylosis, at this time, if not intervene, let it continue to develop, then over time will change the arc of the normal physiological state of the cervical spine. Once such an abnormal curvature is formed, it will further cause the strength of the muscles at the back of our neck to weaken and stiffen, and then due to the degeneration of the cervical discs, once the curvature has changed, it may cause the protrusion and collapse of the cervical discs, thus making the nerves compressed and cervical spondylosis will gradually The cervical spondylosis will gradually appear.
Therefore, one of the things that Professor Liu often does in the clinic is to teach patients how to protect their necks. He informed that only a few cases of cervical spondylosis require surgery, and most cases can be treated conservatively. Patients with mild cervical spondylosis can even be cured with conservative treatment. The first step in conservative treatment is to teach patients how to use their necks properly.
First, change a suitable chair
Now many chairs have a headrest, but Professor Liu said that this chair does not meet the physiological curvature of the cervical spine, when the head rests on the headrest, but will put the head forward, aggravating the stretching of the posterior cervical muscle groups. Therefore, the selection of chairs should choose the back height will not exceed the height of the head and neck when sitting down, so sit back and relax, you can lift your head back to do a light back stretch, so that the head just against the top of the back of the chair, is the full relaxation and rest of the posterior cervical musculature.
Secondly, frequent activities of the neck
Prolonged head down is taboo, it is recommended that you work with your head down, or play cell phones, IPAD 30 to 40 minutes after doing a light neck tilt and stretch movement, rest 1 minute. The change of posture can relieve the pressure on the back of the neck muscles.
Third, long-distance travel to wear an inflatable neck pillow
Long-distance travel time, and long-distance transport, such as long-distance car, plane, train seat design is not so reasonable, so wear an inflatable neck pillow when traveling, can help protect the neck. And it can prevent cervical spine injury caused by emergency braking.
In addition to the methods mentioned above, there are many other methods of conservative treatment, such as medication, some pain medication can be used to control the pain when it is painful; you can also apply heat to increase the blood circulation in the neck, relieve the pressure and let the inflammatory medium dissipate quickly early; you can also use some physical therapy to do traction on the neck to reduce the nerve compression. In addition, in the case of pain relief, you can also do some appropriate exercises, such as breaststroke, which can reduce the influence of gravity, but also allow the head to have a supine extension, the impact of water at the same time also plays a role of physical therapy massage.
For a clear diagnosis by a professional physician, the diagnosis of cervical spondylosis, and the symptoms are still not relieved after conservative treatment, seriously affecting the physical and mental health of the patient, resulting in the patient’s life can not be normal, you can receive surgery to solve the suffering of cervical spondylosis.
Finally, once again, if neck pain occurs, be sure to find a regular hospital physician for consultation and treatment. Low-headed people should not be too “buried in hard work”, young people should not be too keen to play electronic products, do more neck stretching, relax the neck and shoulders at the right time, to prevent the onslaught of cervical spondylosis.