What is meant by cervical spondylosis? There are seven cervical vertebrae in the neck and there are important tissues near the vertebrae, such as the nerve roots of the spinal cord and the vertebral artery. When cervical hypertrophy affects the nerve roots or spinal cord or vertebral artery, it can produce clinical symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain, radioactive numbness in the upper limbs or dizziness and vertigo, and even numbness and dysfunction in the extremities. This disease, caused by degenerative changes in the cervical spine after cervical hypertrophy, is called cervical spondylosis. As for cervical spine tuberculosis, inflammation, tumor, etc. are not included in the category of cervical spondylosis. In addition, the common cervical hypertrophy cannot be called cervical spondylosis. In daily work and life, the cervical spine is frequently active, and as the cervical disc and cervical vertebrae wear out and age with age (degenerative changes), X-rays show cervical hypertrophy, narrowing of the vertebral space, straightening or flexion of the physiological curvature of the cervical spine, and calcification of the collateral ligament. In the majority of people, changes such as cervical hypertrophy do not affect the nerve roots, spinal cord or vertebral artery near the cervical spine, and certainly do not cause symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain. Because this is the result of physiological changes in normal people, only when the X-ray shows changes such as cervical hypertrophy …… and clinical symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain and numbness in the upper limbs, the two together can be called cervical spondylosis. In addition, some people have symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain, but the X-rays are normal and no cervical hypertrophy is found, so it is important to consider whether these symptoms are the result of other diseases. Why are you prone to cervical spondylosis? Cervical spondylosis is one of the common diseases, with an incidence of 3.8% to 10%. Generally speaking, men and women over the age of 30 are prone to cervical spondylosis because the cervical discs in this age group have already started to age and degenerate, and on top of this, cervical spondylosis can occur due to certain common factors. Cervical spondylosis onset factors are: 1, the nature of work and living habits; often head down or head up work and low life habits, the neck is often in the flexion position or extension position, the neck muscle over fatigue, therefore, prone to cervical spondylosis. For example, caseworkers (secretaries, accountants, etc.), chemists and weavers who work with their heads down, painters and auto mechanics who work with their heads up, sleep with high pillows, play mahjong with their heads down, watch TV with their heads up, and especially nowadays, the popularity of smart phones has also made cervical spondylosis popular! More than half of the patients that Dr. Locke sees are young patients who play with cell phones. 2.Cold neck, repeated pillowing and spasm of the neck muscles are also important factors in the development of cervical spondylosis. 3, cervical trauma or head and occipital trauma, can damage the intervertebral discs, muscles and ligaments in the neck, accelerating the degeneration of the intervertebral discs and cervical vertebrae, which becomes the pathological basis for the occurrence of cervical spondylosis. Prevention and treatment of cervical spondylosis Cervical spondylosis is a common and frequent clinical disease in the Department of Orthopedic Injuries and Pain, mostly seen in middle-aged and elderly people, accounting for more than 25% of the middle-aged and elderly population, but now Dr. Luo found that this disease is showing a trend of rejuvenation, and even middle school and elementary school students have the disease from time to time. Long-term head-down, desk-bound workers are prone to this disease, such as accountants and computer operators. This disease is caused by the degeneration of cervical discs, resulting in the destabilization of the cervical spine, causing a series of pathological changes in the bones, joints and surrounding soft tissues of the cervical spine, thus stimulating and compressing the spinal nerve, spinal cord, vertebral artery, sympathetic nerve and surrounding soft tissues, resulting in symptoms such as neck, back, shoulder and arm pain, dizziness, headache, palpitation, and numbness and weakness of the upper limbs. In the early stage of cervical spondylosis, it is often neglected because it only manifests itself as repeatedly falling off the pillow, neck and back pain, numbness of the fingers and weakness of the limbs. Therefore, patients with cervical spondylosis should be actively prevented at an early stage, diagnosed as early as possible, treated correctly in a timely manner, and combined with neck exercises. Cervical spondylosis is not terrible, and it does not usually cause the sensational “paralysis”. There are many treatments for cervical spondylosis, both surgical and non-surgical, but the majority of patients can be solved through non-surgical treatment. Among the various non-surgical treatments, acupuncture, tui-na, cervical traction, physical therapy, internal Chinese and Western medicine, closure and other methods have different efficacy, while the newly developed micro-needle knife (also called blade needle) technology in recent years is the most effective, especially for cervical, nerve root, vertebral artery, spinal cord type early have a better treatment effect. What are the problems that patients should pay attention to? 1, the patient if repeatedly fallen pillow, or often feel neck and back pain, or upper limb numbness, should pay great attention to the hospital, that is, to prevent the aggravation of the disease. After each attack, treatment should be adhered to for a period of time, do not stop treatment that the symptoms ease, should continue to treat several times, in order to consolidate the effect. Patients should pay attention to the warmth of the neck, avoid blowing wind and rain, use a scarf to protect the neck in winter, avoid blowing electric fans and living in an air-conditioned environment for a long time in summer, especially not blowing cool breeze on the back. 3, the disease is closely related to the occupation, if the long-term low head, can be 1-2 hours between the activities of the neck, avoid the neck to maintain a posture for a long time. Do not read books and newspapers in a semi-recumbent position for a long time, or rest on a desk, or rest on a sofa with your head in a sitting position. 4, usually should be low pillow lying flat rest, pillow should be narrow, placed in the back of the head. 5, appropriate neck exercise, slow and rhythmic neck flexion, extension, left rotation, right rotation, left flexion, right flexion, clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, 10 minutes each time, 2 to 3 times a day. 6, the usual work, study, if the neck fatigue, self-care massage, to Shu Tong meridians, relax the muscles, such as using the three fingers of the food, middle and ring to press the neck and back, focusing on pressing the soreness and swelling, lightly pound the back with a fist, rub the neck muscle, to the degree of heat, etc.. 7, you can search online Pingle spinal health exercises for overall exercise. Self-care for patients with cervical spondylosis Cervical spondylosis is a slowly progressive degenerative cervical spine disease. The disease is most common in middle-aged and elderly people, especially teachers, editors, writers, accountants, surgeons, sewers, modern students and cell phone enthusiasts who have been engaged in case work for a long time. Cervical spondylosis develops slowly and has a long course, causing great pain to patients, affecting daily work, study and life, and in serious cases, the ability to work and live can be lost. The symptoms of cervical spondylosis are very complicated, such as neck, shoulder and back pain caused by nerve root compression, numbness and swelling of the upper limbs, and muscle atrophy; dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, tinnitus, deafness, blurred vision and other symptoms of insufficient blood supply to the brain caused by compression of the intervertebral artery. In recent years, it has been found that cervical spondylosis can also cause urinary and bowel disorders, paralysis, blindness, abnormal blood pressure, coronary heart disease-like lesions, neurodermatitis, colitis, ulcer disease, gastric bleeding, intestinal dysfunction, neurosis, intractable headache, urinary incontinence, frozen shoulder, and so on. Therefore, when you suffer from similar symptoms and the treatment is not effective in many ways, do not forget to go to the hospital to check the cervical spine. In the face of cervical spondylosis, we introduce a set of simple medical gymnastics to patients with cervical spondylosis, which can help improve blood circulation in the neck, promote inflammation, release muscle spasm, reduce pain and prevent muscle atrophy. 1, left and right rotation: take a standing or sitting position, hands crossed waist, head rotation in turn to the left and right, the action should be slow, the amplitude should be large, whenever the rotation to the maximum pause 3 to 5 seconds, left and right rotation 15 to 20 times, dizziness, panic should stop rotation. 2, forward flexion and backward extension: do it with deep breathing, exhale when the neck forward flexion, jaw close to the upper edge of the sternal stalk; inhale when the neck extended to the maximum, repeatedly do 10 times. 3.Lateral extension: Inhale the head to the left and restore the head when exhaling. Then inhalation head to the right, exhale head restoration, repeatedly 10 times. 4, massage the neck: both hands take turns to massage the neck 20 to 30 times, then press the “Fengchi point”, and then use the first section of the thumbs of both hands to massage upward and downward with force 30 to 60 times. The above medical gymnastics, do 1 to 2 times a day. Cervical spondylosis patients must follow the rules when performing medical gymnastics, do not make irregular movements of the head and strength.