Many patients often come to the orthopedic clinic with cervical spine films and ask anxiously, “Doctor, please tell me, is my cervical spine disease serious, and will it develop into paralysis, causing incontinence, loss of daily living ability and the need for someone else to wait on them?” After reading the films, it was found that their cervical spine films did have different degrees of osteophytes, and the medical history was asked without any clinical symptoms such as pain and numbness, and the physical examination did not reveal any positive signs. This obviously does not meet the diagnostic criteria for cervical spondylosis. In fact, the X-ray film only reflects the changes in the structure of the bones and joints, and it is an auxiliary examination for the clinical diagnosis of cervical spondylosis, which can be diagnosed only when the X-ray examination matches the symptoms and signs of the clinical examination. At present, it is generally believed that those who simply have X-ray manifestations of cervical spine osteophytes without clinical manifestations cannot be diagnosed as cervical spondylosis. Cervical spondylosis can only be diagnosed after careful history taking and comprehensive physical examination combined with imaging, and cervical spondylosis cannot be diagnosed by an X-ray alone. In fact, if a cervical spine X-ray survey is conducted for people over 40 years old, almost everyone has cervical spine osteophytes of different degrees, and many people can show severe cervical spine osteophytes without any clinical symptoms. As we age, the cervical intervertebral discs degenerate to varying degrees, the annulus fibrosus becomes relaxed, the cervical vertebrae become unstable, and the annulus fibrosus pulls the periosteum at the edge of the vertebral body for a long time, resulting in subperiosteal microhemorrhages, hematomas and eventual calcification, which is commonly referred to as osteophytes or bone spurs. It should be said that its formation is a physiological degeneration of human tissues, and it appears as an attempt to increase the contact area between vertebrae to increase the stability of the vertebral joints. You cannot directly equate cervical spine osteophytes with cervical spondylosis. Moreover, only severe spinal cord type cervical spondylosis may cause high paraplegia or incomplete paralysis, and generally cervical spondylosis will not cause paralysis. As long as we correctly understand the essence of cervical spine osteophytes, adhere to functional exercise, combine work and rest, strictly prevent neck injury and avoid humid and cold environment, cervical spine osteophytes will not develop into cervical spondylosis.