Four stages of spinal degeneration

  There are many people who say, “My neck pain is so painful that I want to die.” Some people even die suddenly before the symptoms arrive. If spinal disease is the bottleneck of longevity, then cervical spondylosis is the bottleneck of bottlenecks. As the saying goes, it is not a day’s cold to freeze three feet, and cervical spondylosis does not arise in one or two days; it has a developmental process.  Generally speaking, we divide the degenerative joint disease into four stages: the first stage, there is inflammation between the joints, pain, stiffness, but there is no substantial change; the second stage, the initial bone spur proliferation began, the disc has a little thinning, the joint fluid is relatively stiff; the third stage, the bone spur further growth but not yet to a piece, not yet “bridge In the third stage, the bone spur grows further but not yet into a piece, before “bridging”, then the disc becomes very thin, but still exists, the joint is more rigid, the nerve foramen is getting smaller and smaller, and even the nerve roots may be compressed. If these nerve roots are compressed there is a possibility of numbness in the hands and feet, unstable blood pressure, high and low, and even abnormal heart function.  By the fourth stage, the two vertebrae will have grown completely into one piece and “bypassed”. The joint is also feeing off, and the intervertebral disc disappears completely.  The details are as follows: In the first stage, there is sterile inflammation between the vertebrae and the patient will experience soreness and pain. This stage has permanent changes such as bone spurs and disc degeneration in the morning, and there is less chance of nerve root compression, which usually begins before the age of 25.  In the second stage, there is a small amount of degeneration of the intervertebral discs, bone spurs begin to appear in small amounts, the patient will have stiff joints, occasionally dizziness, headache, numbness of the hands and feet; neck pain and pillow is a common occurrence; in the morning after waking up there will be a feeling of joint inflexibility, which needs to be relieved after a certain amount of activity; sitting for a long time will be back pain; doing computer work is easy to fatigue, upper back pain, the beginning of spinal correlation disease. This segment occurs at the age of 25~45.  In the third stage, the intervertebral disc is thinner, but not yet “disappeared”; the bone spur is longer, but not yet “bridged”. The symptoms described above are more severe and change from intermittent to continuous attacks. In particular, various spinal-related diseases are more frequent and frequent. The age range is 45-65 years.  In the fourth stage, more than one intervertebral disc disappears completely, the bone spurs begin to bridge, and various symptoms linger and are more severe. As the disc thins, the nerve root becomes more and more likely to be compressed, and by the time the disc is completely gone, if that spine is affected by the nerve root, the spine cannot be reset and surgery is the only option. If the nerve is not yet compressed, then the spine will not be compressed. However, the previous or next disc in the spine will degenerate at a faster rate and more nerve roots will be disturbed. This interruption usually occurs over the age of 65 and has the greatest impact on health and longevity.