Cervical spondylosis is currently a more common spinal disease, causing it for many reasons, the following three different perspectives to explain the common causes, I hope that we can avoid in the future work life, to prevent the occurrence and development of cervical spondylosis.
(A) Medical theoretical (professional term) causes
1.Degenerative changes of the cervical spine
Degenerative changes in the cervical spine are the main cause of the development of cervical spondylosis, of which the degeneration of the intervertebral disc is particularly important and is the first factor in the degeneration of the structures of the cervical spine, from which a series of pathological anatomy and pathophysiological changes of cervical spondylosis evolve.
(1) Degeneration of the intervertebral disc
When degeneration of the intervertebral disc begins to occur, the normal function is lost due to morphological changes, which in turn affects or disrupts the biomechanical balance of the cervical spine motion segments and produces a series of changes in the associated structures. Therefore, degeneration of the cervical intervertebral disc becomes a major factor in the occurrence and development of cervical spondylosis.
(2) Emergence of the ligament-disc gap and hematoma formation
This process is crucial to the occurrence and pathogenesis of cervical spondylosis and is the pathological-anatomical basis for its progression from cervical disc disease to osteogenic cervical spondylosis. In fact, in the early stages of cervical spondylosis, the degeneration of the intervertebral disc not only causes the displacement of the dehydrated and sclerotic nucleus pulposus to the posterior or anterior part of the vertebral joint and finally to the lower part of the ligament, thus increasing the local pressure and causing the separation of the ligament and periosteum from the peripheral cortical bone of the vertebral body, but also the degeneration of the disc itself can cause the loosening and abnormal movement of the intervertebral joints, which further increases the tearing of the ligament and periosteum. Tearing of the ligament and periosteum is exacerbated and the formation of the ligament-disc gap is accelerated. Ligamentous-disc interstitial hematomas are formed after subligamentous separation of the posterior aspect of the intervertebral space, which is often accompanied by local microvascular tears and hemorrhage.
(3) Bone spur formation at the vertebral body margin with hematoma formation in the subligamentous space
Fibroblasts become active and gradually grow into the hematoma, gradually replacing the hematoma with granulation tissue. As the hematoma mechanizes, ossifies, and deposits calcium salts, it eventually forms a bone flab that protrudes into the vertebral canal or into the anterior edge of the vertebral body.
(4) Degeneration of other parts of the cervical spine
Degeneration of the cervical spine is not limited to the intervertebral disc and the adjacent vertebral body edges and hook vertebral joints, but should also include: (1) small joints Most of the intervertebral joints become degenerated after disc degeneration, resulting in instability and abnormal activity of the intervertebral body. The ligamentum flavum mostly begins to degenerate on the basis of the degeneration of the first two. In the early stage, the ligament is lax and gradually becomes hypertrophic and thickens and protrudes into the spinal canal. In later stages, calcification or ossification may occur. (3) The degeneration of the anterior longitudinal ligament and posterior longitudinal ligament is mainly manifested by fibrous hyperplasia and sclerosis of the ligament itself, and later calcification or ossification is formed and is consistent with the diseased vertebral segment.
(5) Reduction in the sagittal diameter and volume of the spinal canal
Due to the aforementioned causes, the internal volume of the vertebral canal is reduced, mainly due to posterior nucleus pulposus, invagination of the posterior longitudinal ligament and ligamentum flavum, and loosening and hyperplasia of the crooked vertebral joint and small joints. At this time, if there are other limited pathogenic factors. For example, nucleus pulposus prolapse, traumatic displacement of vertebral segments, bone spur formation and other occupational factors can cause or aggravate the symptoms of neurological involvement.
2. Developmental cervical spinal canal
In recent years, it has become clear that the internal diameter of the cervical spinal canal, especially the sagittal diameter, has a very close relationship not only to the occurrence and development of cervical spondylosis, but also to the diagnosis, treatment, selection of surgical methods and prognosis of cervical spondylosis. Some people have severe cervical degeneration and significant bone growth, but do not develop the disease, mainly because the sagittal diameter of the cervical spinal canal is wide and there is a large compensatory gap in the spinal canal. In some patients, the cervical degeneration is not very serious, but the symptoms appear early and are more severe.
Chronic strain injury is a variety of overload activities that exceed the maximum of the normal physiological range of activity or the local tolerable hourly value. Because it is different from obvious trauma or accidents in life and work, it is easy to be ignored, but it has a direct relationship to the occurrence, development, treatment and prognosis of cervical spondylosis, etc. The causes of such strain injury are mainly from the following three situations.
(1) Poor sleep position
Bad sleep position, because of its long duration and inability to adjust in time when the brain is at rest, is bound to cause imbalance of the paravertebral muscles, ligaments and joints.
(2) Improper working posture
A large number of statistical materials show that the incidence of cervical spondylosis is particularly high in certain workloads, not high intensity, but in a seated position, especially for workers with their heads down, including domestic workers, embroidery workers, office workers, computer users, assembly workers on the instrument assembly line, long-term drivers, etc.
(3) Inappropriate physical exercise
Normal physical exercise contributes to health, but activities or exercises that exceed the endurance of the neck, such as human inversions or somersaults with the head and neck as weight-bearing support points, can increase the load on the cervical spine, especially in the absence of proper guidance.
Congenital deformities of the cervical spine are often found during health examinations or comparative study radiographs of the normal human cervical spine, and various abnormalities can be seen in the cervical spine segment, of which skeletal deformities are evident in about 5％. However, in contrast to patients with cervical spondylosis, the number of deformities in the latter cervical spine is about double that of normal individuals.
(II) Age segmentation and work-related causes
1. Etiology of cervical spondylosis in the elderly.
Middle-aged and elderly patients, due to their older age, will have severe symptoms if they develop the same lesions as young people on the basis of degenerative changes. In addition to cervical pain, if there is osteophytes and hypertrophy of the ligaments, which can lead to narrowing of the vertebral foramen, degeneration of the intervertebral discs and elaboration of disc herniation, it is not just a problem of strain. There will also be nerve irritation, such as paralysis of the hands, shoulders, etc.
2, the cause of cervical spondylosis in office workers.
Some office workers work under high pressure, and the popularity of computers is also very high, the cervical discs are overloaded for a long time, will accelerate aging, degenerative lesions. Such as prolonged head down, ambulatory work, playing mahjong, using a relatively low position of the laptop, this low posture is in the normal physiological curvature of the cervical spine “against”, resulting in the cervical spine by the pressure is increased, the normal physiological structure of the cervical spine is also susceptible to wear and tear, which in turn leads to cervical spondylosis.
3, primary and secondary school students suffer from cervical spondylosis cause.
Primary and secondary school students have a heavy study load, learning pressure, sitting for a long time. Due to the long-term incorrect sitting posture, muscle and soft tissue fatigue, resulting in cervical spine overload bearing. Long-term, repetitive strain and stimulation induce cervical spine pain.
(C) Other common causes
1, wind and cold factors: wind, cold and wet factors in the external environment can reduce the body’s tolerance to pain, which can cause muscle spasm, small blood vessel constriction, lymphatic reflux slowdown, soft tissue blood circulation disorders, followed by aseptic inflammation.
2, bad posture: such as lying in bed watching TV, reading books, high pillow, sleeping in a sitting position, etc.; sleeping on a recumbent car, poor muscle protection when sleeping, easy to neck injury when braking.
3, strain injury: long-term so that the head and neck in a single posture position, such as prolonged low head work, prone to cervical spondylosis.
4, head and neck trauma: many spinal cord cervical spondylosis are related to trauma to the neck. Some patients have cervical spinal canal in a narrow critical state due to cervical spine osteophytes, cervical disc bulge, soft tissue lesions in the spinal canal, etc. Trauma to the neck often triggers the symptoms.
5, cervical spine structural dysplasia: congenital small spinal canal, cervical degeneration, etc., is the basis of some cervical spondylosis causes.
6, chronic infection: mainly pharyngitis, followed by dental caries, periodontitis, otitis media, etc. Inflammation in these areas stimulates the soft tissues of the neck and causes lesions in the soft tissues of the cervical occipital area through the rich lymphatic system. It is believed that chronic throat infection is an important factor in the pathogenesis of cervical spondylosis, which may be aggravated by chronic strain and inflammation of soft tissues with each other.
From the causes of cervical spondylosis described above, we can easily see that cervical spondylosis is not a single disease, but a comprehensive syndrome affected by a variety of factors. Therefore, the treatment should be targeted at the cause, rather than simply using acupuncture and physiotherapy, physical traction, blind massage alone, which will aggravate the disease and increase the pain of patients! For the onset characteristics of cervical spondylosis, in order to reduce the pain of patients, the essence of Chinese and Western medicine treatment combined with modern high-tech technology can be used to develop different treatment plans according to different causes of cervical spondylosis.
Many people feel cervical discomfort and will “invent” some cervical exercises to exercise their necks. However, some inappropriate neck forging can also cause chronic strain injury, such as the elderly frequently do head twisting action or do rice exercises (i.e., the head to the surrounding “write” the word rice), chicken pecking rice and other movements, once the movement is excessive, will make the neck of the tiny fibers strain or even break, and these fibers once broken it is difficult to grow on their own again Once these fibers are broken, it is difficult for them to grow back on their own, leaving a weak point in the neck where problems can easily occur. So be sure to do scientific and reasonable exercise under the supervision of your health care provider.
Both men and women, young and old, must do a good job in life to prevent cervical spine disease, do not give the disease a chance to take advantage of.