Preventive care for cervical spondylosis

  Cervical spondylosis is one of the common and prevalent diseases in middle-aged and elderly people, and its incidence increases with age.  Cervical spondylosis, also known as cervical spine syndrome, is a general term for cervical osteoarthritis, proliferative cervicitis, cervical nerve root syndrome, and cervical disc prolapse. It is a clinical syndrome based on degenerative pathological changes, mainly due to long-term strain, osteophyte or disc prolapse, and ligament thickening in the cervical spine, resulting in pressure on the cervical spine crestal medulla, nerve root or vertebral artery, and a series of dysfunction.  Cervical spondylosis occurs mostly in middle-aged and elderly people, with a higher incidence in men than in women. The symptoms are diverse and complex, with most patients starting with mild symptoms and gradually worsening in later years.  According to the pathological typology as follows: 1, nerve root type: degenerative changes of the cervical disc or stimulation of osteophytes compress the crestal nerve root, causing sensory and motor dysfunction of the upper limb, often manifesting as motor impairment or sensory numbness of one upper limb segment.  2, crestal medullary type: cervical disc herniation, ligamentous hypertrophy ossification or other causes of cervical spinal stenosis. Cervical disc herniation illustration, crestal medullary compression and ischemia, causing crestal medullary conduction dysfunction. Some start with the onset of the disease in the upper limbs and progress to the lower limbs; some start with the onset of the disease in the lower limbs and progress to the upper limbs. The main manifestations are unstable walking, numbness of the limbs, and difficulty in urination and defecation.  3, vertebral artery type: Due to the stimulation of degenerative changes of the hook vertebral joint, compression of the vertebral artery, resulting in inadequate blood supply to the vertebral basilar artery, often accompanied by dizziness, black haze and other symptoms, related to the rotation of the neck.  4. Sympathetic nerve type: stimulation of degenerative changes of cervical discs, compression of sympathetic nerve fibers in the neck, causing a series of reflex symptoms, is clinically rare, and is often mixed with cardiovascular disease, endocrine disease, etc., which is difficult to distinguish.  5, other types: refers to the esophageal compression type, swallowing with foreign body sensation, clinically very rare. There are also some people with heavy symptoms, mainly one type combined with several other types together, called mixed cervical spondylosis. Most of them start lightly and are not taken seriously, and most of them can recover on their own, sometimes light and sometimes heavy, and only when the symptoms continue to worsen and cannot be reversed and affect work and life do they attract attention.  Cervical spondylosis is usually diagnosed based on clinical symptoms and signs, combined with cervical spine X-ray, CT and magnetic resonance imaging. In special cases, electromyography and vertebrobasilar artery Doppler are examined. It is often difficult to differentiate vertebral artery cervical spondylosis from sympathetic cervical spondylosis.  Treatment for cervical spondylosis can be divided into two categories: non-surgical treatment and surgical treatment. Non-surgical treatment is used in most cases, and only a few cases require surgical treatment. For patients with a clear diagnosis of cervical spondylosis, serious symptoms of nerve root compression and no significant improvement in symptoms after conservative treatment, surgical treatment should be adopted; for patients with cremasteric cervical spondylosis, i.e. patients whose main manifestation is walking weakness and unstable walking of both lower limbs, surgical treatment should be implemented as early as possible. In patients with vertebral artery and sympathetic nerve excitation type, the effect of surgery is less definite.  Non-surgical treatment is preferred to pharmacological treatment (diclofenac sodium, methylcobalamin, Mazeline, cervical pain granules, etc.), and auxiliary physiotherapy and functional exercise, and traction treatment should be chosen carefully.  Surgical treatment is divided into three categories: anterior cervical, posterior cervical and combined anterior and posterior. Anterior cervical discectomy and internal fixation with bone graft fusion are commonly used. For cases with appropriate selection of indications, the surgical results are better.  Cervical spondylosis patients daily life precautions: 1, pay attention to rest, combined with work and rest. It is not advisable to work for a long time at a time, change the head and neck position regularly, lift the head and gently move the neck in all directions to avoid the cervical spine being in a bent state for a long time.  2. Reduce the workload appropriately. Those with heavy symptoms and frequent attacks should stop working and take absolute rest, preferably in bed. This helps to improve the treatment effect and promote the early recovery of the body.  3, avoid prolonged blowing air conditioning, electric fans. Cold and humidity tend to aggravate the symptoms of cervical spondylosis.  4.Avoid participating in heavy physical labor, extracting heavy objects, etc. Pay attention to the protection of the neck to prevent its injury.