May 19, 2018 CCTV Newsroom reported: April 6, 2017 Shanghai 27-year-old Xiao Zhang felt uncomfortable shoulder and neck to a bathroom bath in Changning District, let the masseur help massage the cervical spine, the masseur gently wrench the neck from left to right, not long Xiao Zhang felt a little dizzy uncomfortable was immediately sent to the hospital, the next day Xiao Zhang died due to ineffective resuscitation. The identification report provided by the judiciary found that Zhang was because of the neck massage after the atlantoaxial joint subluxation led to the right carotid artery, basilar artery and right cerebellar artery thrombosis, which eventually led to the death of central nervous system dysfunction …… do a simple neck massage can kill? Our cervical spine is mainly composed of a section of vertebrae and a soft cushion (intervertebral disc) that connects each vertebrae. It is a very important part of the human spine that supports the head and connects the trunk of the body below. The soft cushion of the cervical spine in our daily life, such as head down, head up, head turn, head twist, including talking, has to bear the load in all directions, and over time the soft cushion of the cervical spine will have different degrees of strain, and if the corresponding tissues and structures around the cervical spine (that is, nerves, spinal cord, blood vessels) are involved, it will cause pain in the neck and back, weakness in the upper limbs, numbness in the fingers, weakness in the lower limbs, difficulty in walking, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and even vision loss. Nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, tachycardia and difficulty in swallowing are some of the symptoms and signs of cervical spondylosis, also known as cervical spine syndrome. From a medical professional point of view, cervical spondylosis is divided into the following basic types according to the degree of involvement, tissue structure, clinical symptoms and signs: 1. Cervical cervical spondylosis: abnormal sensations such as head, neck and shoulder pain, accompanied by corresponding pressure points, cervical straightness, poor movement; cervical spine shows curvature changes or intervertebral joint instability on X-rays. 2.Nerve root type cervical spondylosis: nerve root compression, cervical back straightening, restricted activities, shoulder pain and heaviness, and numbness of fingers. This is the most common type with the highest incidence, accounting for about 60% to 70% of the incidence of cervical spondylosis. 3. Spinal cord type cervical spondylosis: trembling and numbness of the upper limbs, difficulty in holding things, weakness of the legs in severe cases, difficulty in walking with feet like stepping on cotton, and even paralysis. Although the number of patients with this type of cervical spondylosis is about 10% to 15%, this type of cervical spondylosis has the highest hazard rate and the highest disability rate because of the dysfunction of the spinal cord. 4.Vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis: headache, dizziness, tinnitus, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, and susceptibility to sudden collapse. 5.Sympathetic cervical spondylosis: head and occipital pain, dullness, dizziness, migraine, panic, chest tightness, and cold limbs. 6.Esophageal compression type cervical spondylosis: difficulty in swallowing (confirmed by barium examination of esophagus). 7.Mixed cervical spondylosis: containing two or more types of cervical spondylosis symptoms above. With such a complex cervical spondylosis performance typing, the potential risks in simple neck compression are still quite high if the patient chooses an improper treatment site and the method taken by the practitioner! How do I treat a suspected case of cervical spondylosis? Most cervical spondylosis is caused by head down. Therefore, it is important to reduce head down, try to lie on your back, lie on your side less, and not to rest prone so that the cervical spine can reduce the weight. When it comes to supine rest, pillows are the main tool to maintain the normal position of the head and neck. This “normal” position is to maintain the physiological curve of the head and neck section itself. This physiological curve not only ensures the external muscular balance of the cervical spine, but also maintains the physiological anatomical state of the spinal canal. Therefore an ideal pillow should be in line with the requirements of the cervical spine physiological curvature, soft texture, good breathability, should not be too high or too low, to maintain the human physiological curve is better. Generally speaking, the pillow height to the central pillow under pressure state 8 to 10 cm, or according to the formula “shoulder width – head width ÷ 2” results, and the pillow ends should be higher than the central about 10 cm is appropriate. Because when lying on the side, the shoulders under the pad, will make the cervical spine bending, increase the height of the pillow ends can eliminate this adverse effect. Usually you can do exercises such as tai chi, swimming, kite flying, badminton and so on. If the symptoms are more obvious, it is recommended to go to the local public (regular) hospital to see a qualified doctor. The doctor will give scientific, reasonable, safe and effective treatment including acupuncture, massage, traction, conservative methods such as Chinese and Western medicines or surgery according to the specific conditions of the patient after doing a specialist examination. Cervical spine massage is a treatment method to prevent cervical spondylosis or promote the rehabilitation of cervical spine by using appropriate massage techniques to stimulate specific parts of the human body to unblock meridians and channels and run qi and blood. In the conservative treatment of cervical spondylosis, cervical spine massage is a very important treatment method.’ But the following 8 kinds of people must not do cervical spine massage! 1, cervical fracture, dislocation and serious deformity of the cervical spine, developmental deformity of the circumflex spine. 2, severe hypertension, arteriosclerosis and have serious heart disease, senile osteoporosis. For the elderly, especially patients with hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart disease and other patients should be contraindicated to do forceful rotation of the head and neck movements. Domestic and foreign literature has reported cases of stroke, vertebral artery pseudo-infarct aneurysm and internal carotid artery occlusion caused by pulling, rotating and other techniques on the neck. 3.Severe osteophytes in the cervical spine or the formation of bone bridges between vertebrae. 4.Severe stenosis of the cervical spinal canal and significant stenosis of the intervertebral foramen. 5, patients with cervical vertebrae with tuberculosis, tumors and other diseases. 6, acute and chronic inflammation of the neck, adhesive arachnoiditis or spinal cord degeneration. 7.Purulent infections such as septic spondylitis, epidural abscess, septic shoulder arthritis, cervical and shoulder fossa tissue inflammation, abscesses and skin canker sores, boils, folliculitis, etc. 8, suffering from inflammation of the nasopharynx, upper respiratory tract infection is absolutely prohibited to do neck flexion and extension or rotation of massage techniques. Because of the inflammation of the above parts, the cervical joint capsule adjacent to the nasopharynx can also occur edema and make the ligamentous joint capsule relaxation. The bony structure of the cervical spine joint protrusion itself is not stable enough, so it is easy for cervical subluxation or total subluxation to occur under a large passive external force, resulting in paraplegia or death of the patient after the edema of the spinal cord or even the medulla oblongata caused by trauma. Therefore, for the so-called wind patients who have fallen into the pillow, the neck must not do a large rotation or flexion and extension of the massage treatment techniques.