Should cervical spondylosis patients sleep with a pillow?

  As previously mentioned, when people sleep, the head and neck pillow is very necessary. But the clinic survey shows that there is a common misconception in the population of cervical spondylosis patients, that is, “cervical spondylosis patients can not pillow”, or even “no pillow will help treat cervical spondylosis”. In order to confirm its pseudoscience, we also have to start with the pathogenesis of cervical spondylosis.  If the cervical spine with physiological convexity is compared to the sail of a sailboat, then the muscles, ligaments and other soft tissues attached to its surroundings are like a cable.  On the one hand, when the cervical disc begins to age, the support capacity decreases; on the other hand, due to long-term improper posture or persistent strain and wind and cold stimulation, the muscles, ligaments and other soft tissues will also age, and their strength and elasticity will show different degrees of decline, while the load they bear is increasing, and over time, the loss of compensatory capacity, forming a vicious circle. These reasons will eventually lead to the destruction of the mechanical balance of the cervical spine, the mobility of the joints will increase, and the cervical spine will become unstable, when the soft tissues around it need to use several times more force than normal to maintain the stability of the cervical spine.  Because the human body has a strong compensatory capacity, the cervical spine constantly coordinates the tension of the soft tissues around the cervical spine and the stress of the joints by adjusting the physiological pronation of the cervical spine.  In order to reshape the mechanical balance of the cervical spine, as seen clinically, about 90% or more of cervical spine patients present with loss of or abnormal cervical physiological anterior convexity. If the causative factors are not removed, the transient mechanical equilibrium is soon destroyed again, and over time, once the limit of the body’s compensatory capacity is exceeded, the clinical manifestations of cervical spondylosis will appear, such as neck pain, neck stagnation, dizziness and headache, hand numbness, etc.; from the above examples, we can easily see that cervical spondylosis is caused by the breakdown of the mechanical equilibrium of the cervical spine. Then, the key to the treatment of cervical spondylosis is to restore the mechanical balance of the cervical spine. Since one third of life is spent in sleep, so the pillow plays an important role in restoring the mechanical balance of the cervical spine. It can make the cervical spine in static rest to maintain the cervical spine physiological convexity, so that the strained muscles ligaments and joints are toned, thus helping to rebuild the mechanical balance of the neck. This shows that the use of pillows is still necessary for patients with cervical spondylosis.  Clinical practice confirms that the pillow plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of cervical spondylosis.  Therefore, for patients with cervical spondylosis, in addition to actively cooperating with the doctor’s reasonable treatment and removing the causative factors such as wind and cold stimulation and persistent strain injury, it is also necessary to do a good job of active adjunctive treatment of cervical spondylosis. Now to the majority of cervical spondylosis patients recommend a cervical spine cushion pillow adjunct therapy, which is not only simple to operate, and the efficacy is obvious, patients can operate whether at home or travel to live in hotels.  Specific method is: take the supine position, dry bath towel or thick towel folded with appropriate force into a cylindrical towel roll pad under the neck, the main force site is between the hairline and the seventh cervical vertebrae behind the neck (head down after the neck hand touch the highest bony bulge), pay attention to adjust the height of the cushion pillow, the height adjustment can be controlled by the number of laps of the volume. The most appropriate height to consider two points: on the one hand, to the normal physiological convexity of the cervical vertebrae arc pad out, that is, under the neck with a sense of support; on the other hand, the head of the back of the pillow and can not leave the bed. 1-2 times a day, each pad time to 30 to 60 minutes is appropriate, do not fall asleep and too long (available alarm clock timing tips), otherwise it will cause the pillow or cervical spondylosis symptoms aggravated. In short, the height of the towel roll and the time of the pad to feel comfortable for themselves.  This method, on the one hand, helps restore the physiological curvature of the cervical spine.  It is also a very practical and convenient traction method, which uses the mechanics of the principle of leverage, using the body and the head’s own weight to achieve traction on the cervical spine, traction in the state of maintaining the physiological convexity of the cervical spine, more natural and comfortable, long-term adherence can correct the abnormal stress of the joints and soft tissues of the cervical spine, reshape the mechanical balance of the cervical spine, so as to achieve the effectiveness of the prevention and treatment of cervical spondylosis. Therefore, it is not only suitable for the supplementary treatment of cervical spondylosis patients, but also suitable for healthy people to prevent the occurrence of cervical spondylosis, which is a health care therapy worth promoting. Also after the clinical symptoms are controlled by the manipulation treatment, compared with the auxiliary therapy without the cushion pillow, the auxiliary therapy with the cushion pillow can not only effectively prevent the recurrence of cervical spondylosis, but also relieve the daily neck fatigue and greatly improve the quality of life of patients. Through the follow-up of patients with cervical spondylosis who had been treated for more than 3 years, about 65% of the patients gave feedback that the cervical spine effect was stable and there was no recurrence of serious symptoms, but there was occasional neck pain and discomfort when overexerting; for the follow-up of 2 years after treatment, about 78% of the patients gave feedback that the effect was stable and there was no recurrence of symptoms; for the follow-up of 1 year after treatment, about 86% of the patients gave feedback that the effect was stable and there was no recurrence of symptoms; for the follow-up of 0.5 years after treatment, about 86% of the patients gave feedback that the effect was stable and there was no recurrence of symptoms. At the follow-up of 0.5 years, about 92% of the patients gave stable feedback with no recurrence of symptoms.  This shows that the correct cervical pillow cushioning can improve the efficacy of cervical spondylosis manipulation treatment to varying degrees and can effectively prevent the occurrence of cervical spondylosis.