Cervical spondylosis is a clinical syndrome caused by degenerative degeneration of the cervical disc, hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the cervical spine, and neck injury, resulting in cervical spine osteophytes, or disc prolapse and ligament thickening, which stimulate or compress the cervical spinal cord, cervical nerves and blood vessels and produce a series of symptoms. It occurs mostly in middle-aged and elderly people, with a higher incidence in men than in women.
The common causes of cervical spondylosis are: long-term injury to local muscles, ligaments and joint capsule; trauma and congenital developmental abnormalities. Bad posture is a major cause of cervical spine injury. Long hours of low work, lying in bed watching TV, reading books, high pillows, long hours of computer operation, violent rotation of the neck or head, sleeping in a moving car, all these bad postures will make the neck muscles in a long-term fatigue state, prone to injury. In addition, congenital developmental abnormalities such as skull base depression, congenital fused spine, root canal stenosis, and small spinal canal are also important reasons for the occurrence of this disease.
Main symptoms
1. Head, neck, shoulder, back and arm pain, which can be radiated to the head, occipital region and upper limbs, with stiff neck and limited movement. Weakness of upper limbs, numbness of fingers, loss of sensation in the skin of limbs, weakness of hand grip and sometimes unconscious grip to the ground;
2, dizziness, dizziness, neck, shoulder and back pain; facial numbness or hemianesthesia, chill sensation, no sweating or excessive sweating, reduced pins and needles sensation; eye swelling and pain, dry eyes or tearing, blurred vision or color vision; tinnitus, deafness; tachycardia or bradycardia, arrhythmia, emotional instability, poor sleep, fear of disease and anxiety, etc.
3. More serious typical manifestations include weakness of lower limbs, unstable walking, numbness of both feet, a feeling of stepping on cotton when walking, and even loss of control of bowel movements and urination, sexual dysfunction, and even tetraplegia.
Diagnosis
1.Typical above-mentioned manifestations;
2.Imaging examination, including X-ray, CT, cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI);
3.Vertebrobasilar artery Doppler.
Treatment
1.Conservative treatment Oral drugs: relieve pain, local anti-inflammation, relax muscles, etc., but cannot treat cervical spondylosis at the root. For patients with limb weakness or numbness, neurotrophic drugs can also be used to assist rehabilitation and promote recovery of the compressed nerve. Traction method: Only suitable for patients with mild neurogenic cervical spondylosis; and it is prohibited to do traction in the acute period to prevent local inflammation and edema from aggravating. Physical therapy: Its effect is also weak and cannot be treated at the root. Chinese medicine: including acupuncture, massage, internal and external application of Chinese medicine can be localized to reduce inflammation and relieve pain, but massage requires high manual skill and requires experienced doctors to operate.
2. Surgery For particularly serious patients, such as the emergence of bilateral lower limb weakness, loss of control of urination and defecation, or even tetraplegia, surgery is required.
Prevention
1.Master the scientific means to prevent and treat the disease, pay attention to rest, combine work and rest, cooperate with doctors to reduce recurrence.
2.Strengthen the neck and shoulder muscle exercise, do forward flexion, backward extension and rotation of the head and upper limbs when you are free from work to relieve fatigue, strengthen muscle toughness and enhance the ability of the neck and shoulder to respond to sudden changes in the neck.
3, correct bad posture and habits, avoid high pillow sleep, when lying on your back, it is usually appropriate to pillow height 10 ~ 375px, placed behind the neck, when lying on your side, the pillow height and shoulder width in line. Do not shrug your head and shoulders, talk, read a book to look at the front. To keep the spine upright. The work should not last long at a time, more than 2 hours of continuous low work, will aggravate the intervertebral disc degeneration.
4, pay attention to the neck and shoulder to keep warm, avoid prolonged blowing air conditioning, electric fans, should try to reduce the time in the temperature is too low or cold and humid conditions of long-term low work, or cervical spondylosis induced neck and shoulder back pain symptoms to avoid head and neck weight, avoid excessive fatigue, do not doze off when sitting in the car.
5, early and thorough treatment of neck, shoulder and back soft tissue strain to prevent its development into cervical spondylosis.
6.Avoid contusions when working or walking, avoid head and neck injuries when braking sharply, and avoid falls.