What groups of people are at high risk of cervical spondylosis?
First of all, in terms of age
As we age, cervical discs, ligaments and bones will produce a series of degenerative pathological changes, so middle-aged and elderly people belong to the high-risk group of cervical spondylosis.
In terms of sleep habits
Long-term prone, pillow height discomfort and frequent pillow people are prone to cervical spondylosis, need to change the sleep posture, buy a more suitable pillow.
From the external factors of cervical spine development
Patients with a history of head and neck trauma are prone to cervical spondylosis, and these people need to pay more attention to the posture of the neck in daily life.
From the point of view of the cervical spine’s own factors
Patients with congenital deformities of the cervical spine, such as congenital spinal stenosis, congenital vertebral fusion, cervical scapula and hypertrophy of the transverse process of the 7th cervical vertebra, are prone to cervical spondylosis. In addition, inflammation of the pharynx can sometimes induce cervical spondylosis.
In terms of occupational characteristics
Although the work intensity of these occupations is not great, the long-term improper working posture causes strain on the posterior neck muscles, ligaments and other tissues, which will develop into bone and joint damage in the long run and eventually lead to cervical spondylosis. The incidence of cervical spondylosis among workers in these occupations is around 59.1%, so these people should pay special attention to the prevention and treatment of cervical spondylosis.
In the following, we will talk about how to take care of the cervical spine in daily life and prevent the occurrence of cervical spondylosis, mainly for these high-risk groups.
For people who work with computers for a long time, they often maintain the sitting posture shown below during the work process.
This poor sitting posture will make the spine under excessive load thus leading to the occurrence of cervical and lumbar spondylosis.
Then, we should first adjust the height ratio between the desk and chair, adjust the height to sit naturally, waist straight, shoulders naturally back, head can be slightly forward, to maintain the normal physiological curve of the head, neck and chest, computer screen should be flush with the line of sight or slightly higher than the line of sight, computer keyboard should be flush with the height of the arm at a natural 90 °, avoid excessive shrugging shoulders. Do “neck pillow, back, waist pad, elbow support”.
If you check yourself can not do the above points, then you may need to consider replacing the seat with a more appropriate height and backrest. For frequent users of laptops, you can buy a laptop stand and wireless keyboard, as in the figure below, in order to make their spine in a normal physiological position.
After adjusting the height of the desk and chair, we also need to pay attention to the neck and shoulders should be consciously every half hour to an hour to relax the rotation, the rotation should be gentle, slow, in order to achieve the maximum range of motion in this direction shall prevail; or line shoulder exercise, two shoulders slowly tighten 3-5 seconds, then both shoulders up to adhere to 3-5 seconds, repeat 6-8 times; can also use two desks, two hands propped up on the desktop, two feet in the air, head backward, adhere to 5 seconds, repeat 3-5 times.
Long-term driving personnel are also the same, should make the waist has a pad, neck has a support, try to avoid the high tension posture of the spine, and use the gap between traffic lights for the health care of the cervical spine.
In the daily work of good health care, we also need to strengthen the exercise of the neck muscles, which can prevent and delay the occurrence and development of cervical spondylosis, according to the survey, the neck muscles developed, the strength of the population, the chances of cervical spondylosis attack decreased by 80%, so the exercise of the neck muscles strong, for the maintenance of cervical spine bone, spinal canal stability has important significance.
The first step should be to do 3-4 times a week of whole body exercise, such as Pilates, swimming, kite flying, etc. ;
In the second step, some functional exercises can be done for the neck, as follows.
(1) Neck forward flexion and backward extension method: take a standing or sitting position, stand with your feet apart, shoulder width apart, cross your arms, breathe deeply, inhale so that the neck flexes forward as much as possible, with the lower jaw close to the upper edge of the sternal stalk, and exhale so that the neck extends back to the maximum. Repeat this 10-15 times.
(2) Lateral flexion of the neck: breathe deeply, inspiratory head as far to the left as possible, exhale head restore position, inspiratory head as far to the right as possible, exhale head restore position. Repeat this 10-15 times.
(3) neck stretching method: deep inhalation of the head and neck as far as possible to the right front, when exhaling the head and neck restore position, and then deep inhalation of the head and neck as far as possible to the left front, when exhaling the head and neck restore position. Repeat this 10-15 times.