We often see such patients in outpatient clinics, office workers in their 30s. He reports pain and discomfort in the neck and shoulders, occasionally accompanied by dizziness and eye swelling. The quality of sleep is poor on weekdays, and it is difficult to concentrate. In severe cases, it even affects daily work and life. When they went to the hospital, the test results were not positive. At most, X-rays show degenerative changes in the cervical spine. So when you meet people, you say you have a bad cervical spine and have “cervical spondylosis”. There is no better way than to rely on pain medication or creams when pain strikes. So is this considered “cervical spondylosis” or not? First of all, what we usually call cervical spondylosis in medicine is mainly divided into nerve root type and spinal cord type. As the name implies, these two types are caused by proliferation of surrounding tissues such as bone, ligament and fibrous tissue to compress the corresponding structures. The former mainly manifests as pain, weakness and numbness in the upper limbs. The latter is characterized by muscle spasms in the limbs, unstable walking, a feeling of stepping on cotton wool, and thoracic and lumbar girdle signs. Therefore, it can be seen that the symptoms of neck and shoulder pain are not obvious no matter which type it is. The diagnosis of cervical spondylosis can be clarified immediately in typical patients because of the corresponding manifestations of conventional auxiliary examinations such as CT and MRI. Generally speaking, patients with cervical spondylosis have an older age of onset (more common after the age of 40) and more obvious cervical degeneration, and some patients with the spinal cord type have more lower extremity symptoms. These lesions occur in the spinal cord or at the beginning of the cervical nerves, and those with severe compression need to be treated with decompression surgery in spinal surgery to relieve the symptoms and stop the progression of the disease. The cervical nerve exits the bony tissue of the cervical spine (medically known as the intervertebral foramen) and is compressed by the surrounding muscles, ligaments, and other soft tissues, resulting in symptoms, which we call extraforaminal cervical nerve entrapment. Because the nerve travels a much longer distance outside the foramen than inside it, the chances of cervical nerve entrapment are much greater outside the foramen than inside it. The incidence of this condition is significantly higher in clinical practice than in cervical spondylolisthesis. In our experience, about 30-40% of all patients with neck and shoulder pain have varying degrees of extraforaminal cervical nerve entrapment. However, the current awareness of this disease is poor, and even non-specialist physicians do not know much about it, and some patients travel to and from neurology, rehabilitation, orthopedics and pain medicine. Therefore, it is often not diagnosed correctly, and some patients are even diagnosed as “neurological disorder”, which leads to delayed treatment. In the above case, the patient was young in age and reported neck and shoulder pain with symptoms of head and face disease. There were no obvious abnormalities in the ancillary examinations. At this age, spinal degeneration is not usually symptomatic, and based on the main clinical manifestations and examination findings, it is highly likely that the patient had extraforaminal cervical nerve entrapment syndrome. The disease is most often caused by prolonged ambulation, driving, prolonged postural fixation of the neck or frequent neck activity. The incidence of this disease is higher in people with a history of cervical sprain. Acute neck trauma can also be triggered. Is there no cure for this condition? This disease is often not taken seriously in its early stages, and the symptoms of neck and shoulder pain vary in severity. Patients with severe cases are often misunderstood by people around them because they have been unsuccessful in seeking medical treatment. They themselves believe that there is no cure for “cervical spondylosis”. Pessimistic attitude towards disease recovery, and even lose confidence. This is precisely the best time for treatment. Once the disease progresses to a later stage, the nerve degeneration due to prolonged pressure and atrophy of the muscles it innervates will not only become more difficult to treat, but also the possibility of full recovery is greatly reduced. In conclusion, all neck and shoulder pain patients must be advised not to easily label themselves as “cervical spondylosis”. A large percentage of these patients are not cervical spondylosis, but rather patients with extraforaminal cervical nerve entrapment syndrome. If this group of patients can be seen in time, they can get the right advice and guidance from a medical professional as soon as possible. The disease is completely preventable and treatable. According to our actual treatment experience, most patients have different degrees of symptom relief after treatment. The results are especially good for early stage patients. After the treatment, most of the patients said goodbye to the torture of the disease and got rid of the misunderstanding of others. They are able to go back to work and life with a good mental state.