With the change of modern lifestyle, the incidence of cervical spondylosis is also increasing as more and more people are using computers and playing with cell phones, and some studies have shown that the incidence of cervical spondylosis even exceeds that of diabetes, becoming an important disease affecting national health. This is also the reason why many units have increased the cervical spine X-ray examination, but the results are “cervical spine physiological curvature straightening”, so many people are very nervous, is this cervical spondylosis? Is there any help?” .
From a professional point of view, “cervical spine physiological curvature straightening” is a common degenerative change in the cervical spine, is the early manifestation of cervical spine disease and early warning signals, often functional cervical spine curvature is poor, it has two development results: if you pay attention to change bad habits, strengthen the neck exercise, it is possible to restore the cervical spine to normal; and if left unattended If left unattended, it may become a structural change, that is, it will be accompanied by osteophytes, bone spurs and other bony changes, to this extent basically can not be restored to normal through sports exercise, some will show the spinal cord, nerve compression and other serious cervical spondylosis performance.
So, how to exercise for patients with functional straightening of the physiological curvature of the cervical spine and cervical spondylosis? From the doctor’s point of view, exercise for cervical spondylosis is a double-edged sword, reasonable exercise and exercise can improve the symptoms of cervical spondylosis and slow down the progress of the disease; while inappropriate exercise or excessive exercise can sometimes cause aggravation of the symptoms of cervical spondylosis or even secondary injury. Therefore, the three most critical elements of exercise and exercise for cervical spondylosis patients: what type and degree of cervical spondylosis you have, what kind of exercise you choose, and try to avoid the misconceptions of exercise and exercise.
1. Under what circumstances can cervical spondylosis patients exercise?
First of all, cervical spondylosis is mainly divided into the relatively light and common cervical cervical spondylosis; the degree of serious neurogenic cervical spondylosis, spinal cord cervical spondylosis; and the atypical performance of vertebral artery cervical spondylosis, sympathetic cervical spondylosis. First of all, we need to clarify the type of cervical spondylosis before judging whether we can carry out sports exercise. Generally speaking, patients with cervical cervical spondylosis who have simple neck and shoulder pain can exercise, but exercise is absolutely prohibited in the following cases: a.
There are clear pathological changes (such as cervical disc herniation); b. There are symptoms of nerve compression (such as feeling pain and numbness in the arms and weakness in the legs); c. The acute attack period of cervical spondylosis; d. The symptoms worsen after exercise or new symptoms appear after waking up the next day. In the case of the above, you should seek medical treatment promptly and under the guidance of a doctor.
2. What kind of exercise is recommended for cervical spondylosis patients?
Recommended exercise 1: swimming (breaststroke is especially recommended)
Recommendation index: ★★★★★
Recommended reason: When swimming, the human cervical spine force is reduced compared to upright, and the action of raising the head for air is confronted with the usual head-down action, which helps exercise the neck muscles, while swimming is also beneficial to the whole body spine burden.
Tip: Do a good warm-up exercise before swimming to avoid the neck and shoulders cool.
Recommended exercise 2: cervical spine exercise
Recommendation index: ★★★★
Recommended reason: cervical spine exercise can be done by stretching the neck and shoulder muscles to counter bad posture, to relax the neck muscles and restore the role of the cervical curve, there is no venue and weather and other objective reasons for the restrictions, it is easier to adhere to.
Tips: When doing cervical spine exercises must be relaxed, the movement should be slow and consistent. And it is best to set a minimum amount of exercise per day, step by step.
With a set of simple office cervical spine exercises: 1.
1. Backward movement (chest straight, head towards the front, shoulders relaxed, hands naturally down, slowly up to see the ceiling, maintain 3-4 seconds, do not open the mouth in the backward process), mainly stretch the broad neck muscles and sternocleidomastoid muscle, relax the back of the neck muscles;
2. Lateral movement (chest straight, shoulders relaxed, hands natural down, eyes keep looking ahead, head turned to one side, turn 90 °, stop 3-4 seconds, back to neutral position, and then turn to the other side, lateral movement process need to keep the neck straight, chin do not sag) is mainly stretching the sternocleidomastoid muscle;
3. shrugging exercise (chest straight, shrugging, can be divided into upright shrugging and rotational shrugging, 5-10 seconds or so) is mainly to stretch the posterior cervical rhomboid and scapular lift muscles;
4. Lateral flexion exercise (chest straight, shoulders relaxed, hands behind the back, eyes keep looking ahead, ears to the shoulders, to the maximum angle to stop 3-4 seconds, lateral flexion exercise hands should always be placed on the back, do not shrug), mainly to stretch the scapulae, trapezius and from another angle to stretch the sternocleidomastoid muscle;
5. Low head exercise (chest straight, shoulders relaxed, hands natural down, chin to the sternum, the lowest position to stop 3-4 seconds, low head exercise process do not overextend) is mainly to stretch the back of the neck muscle group;
6. Behind the neck massage (chest straight, shoulders relaxed, with both hands fingertips massage the area shown above) is mainly to massage the area to help relieve muscle soreness in the back of the neck.
Each of the above actions to 5-10 times as a group, the total time to 5-10 minutes is appropriate.
Recommended exercise 3: kite flying
Recommendation index: ★★★★★
Reason: When flying a kite, the head raising action mainly stretches the broad neck muscles and sternocleidomastoid muscles and relaxes the muscles at the back of the neck, which can relieve the muscle pain caused by the usual head-down action.
Tips: Pay attention to the surrounding conditions when flying a kite, prepare for warm-up, and pay attention to the warmth of the neck and shoulders.
Recommended exercise 4: Little Swallow Fly
Recommendation index: ★★★
Reason: The standard flying movement can strengthen the exercise of neck muscles and the exercise of waist and back muscles.
Tips: But the small swallow fly can only exercise the neck back posture, and the general public is difficult to standardize the completion, only as a cervical spondylosis auxiliary exercise methods.
Recommended exercise 5: yoga
Recommended index: ★
Reason: A reasonable yoga posture can effectively relieve neck muscle tension, reduce joint pressure and relieve neck fatigue. But because yoga learning and exercise need professional guidance, incorrect posture is likely to be counterproductive.
Tips: It is best to contact yoga under professional guidance, rather than watching videos to practice on their own, and if symptoms worsen during exercise, you need to stop immediately and consult a professional doctor.
3. cervical spondylosis patients may encounter problems in the process of exercise?
(1) Is running exercise suitable for cervical spondylosis?
Many patients ask me, “Dr. Sun, is running effective for cervical spondylosis?” My personal experience is that running has little effect on the prevention and improvement of cervical spondylosis, and since many patients with cervical spondylosis have symptoms of dizziness, it is best to avoid running exercise during the onset of symptoms to avoid secondary injuries such as falls.
Many patients ask me, “Dr. Sun, is there any benefit for me to run for this cervical spondylosis?”
(2) Can I still exercise if my neck always rings?
Very often, not only patients with cervical spondylosis, but also normal people often have a “click” in their neck when they exercise. Generally speaking, most cases of “clicking” in the neck are cervical spine physiological ringing, the sound is usually clear and there are no clinical symptoms, the reason for this ringing is mainly a. small joint activities of the cervical spine, b. muscle and ligament ringing, this ringing does not require special treatment, and often team sports do not have too much This kind of ringing does not require special treatment and often does not affect team sports too much. However, if there is pain or numbness on one side when ringing, or if the ringing is not crisp, you should seek medical attention.
(3) Do you feel a tendon pulling the back of your head when you exercise?
Many patients with cervical spondylosis feel a tendon pulling on the back of the head when they exercise their necks, which is particularly painful. Patients should pay attention to slow and relaxed movements when exercising, and not to be too hasty.
(4) Are there any precautions for cervical spondylosis patients to take when doing exercise?
Cervical spondylosis patients should not exercise too much, when doing cervical spine exercises need to be slow, relaxed, remember to be too hasty, to combine work and rest, after 1-2 hours of work should take the initiative to do a set of cervical spine exercises, cervical spondylosis patients rehabilitation exercise is important to adhere to, and need to follow the principle of gradual progress, do not rush to achieve, so as not to cause more serious injury.
The last thing I want to say is that exercise for cervical spondylosis patients can relieve the symptoms, and long-term adherence to the words can also change the functional cervical spine physiological curvature straightening, and cervical exercise for all people, we can usually exercise more exercise to prevent the occurrence of cervical spondylosis. Of course, it is not enough to alleviate cervical spondylosis just by exercising, but you should also adjust the correct work posture, choose a suitable pillow, avoid cold neck and shoulder and so on the overall conditioning of lifestyle.
To protect the cervical spine, start with scientific exercise and reasonable life.