Cervical spondylosis triggers a series of clinical conditions in the blood vessels, nerves and tissues outside the cervical spine, which are called cervicogenic diseases.
People generally think that cervical spondylosis is nothing more than neck and back pain. It is not known that the cervical spine, which is borne by the skull and connected to the trunk, is an important part of the human nervous system, and is also a necessary route for cerebrospinal fluid circulation, so it is an accident-prone area of the human body. Once the disease occurs, it will certainly affect the blood vessels and nerves, resulting in all kinds of cervicogenic diseases, which can be described as a hair to move the whole body.
After middle age, cervical disc degeneration aggravates, which can cause adjacent nerves, blood vessels and spinal cord compression, resulting in intricate and variable symptoms, namely cervical spondylosis. In modern times, many young people and even teenagers suffer from cervical spondylosis due to various factors. The front activity of the cervical spine is centered on the 4-5 and 5-6 cervical vertebrae, and the posterior extension activity is centered on the 4-5 cervical vertebrae, and the stress on the lower cervical vertebrae in the cervical activity is large and concentrated, so clinically the degeneration of the 4-5, 5-6 and 6-7 cervical discs occurs earliest and most often. After acute or chronic injury to the disc, a repair reaction occurs and a hybrid herniation consisting of a bony bulge with destroyed disc tissue and the posterior longitudinal ligament may form. When it protrudes posteriorly, it compresses the nerve root and produces symptoms of nerve root compression and irritation; when it protrudes laterally, it compresses the vertebral artery or stimulates the sympathetic nerve and produces symptoms of insufficient blood supply to the vertebral artery or sympathetic nerve; when it protrudes posteriorly, it compresses the spinal cord and produces symptoms of spinal cord compression; when the protrusion lies between the above-mentioned different parts and compresses and stimulates different tissues at the same time, it can produce mixed symptoms. Therefore, clinically, cervical spondylosis is generally divided into five types: neurogenic, vertebral artery, sympathetic nerve, spinal cord and mixed type.
In addition, there are some other types that are not uncommon and have symptoms that seem to be “unrelated” or even confusing to cervical spondylosis, which often lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment.
Cervicogenic vertigo.
It is caused by insufficient blood supply to the vertebral artery due to cervical spondylosis, and is mostly triggered by changes in the patient’s posture and position. It is usually caused by the change of posture and position of the patient. During the attack, the patient feels spinning around and walking unsteadily, and if it is a little heavy, he cannot stand or even fall. It is often accompanied by clinical symptoms such as headache, nausea, vomiting, tinnitus, hearing loss, eye blurring, facial numbness, palpitations, head and neck afraid to turn, and neck pain with obvious pressure pain.
Cervicogenic visual impairment.
It is characterized by a clear relationship between visual impairment and neck posture. When the head is in a particular posture, visual impairment and general symptoms of cervical spondylosis are aggravated. Its etiology is related to plant nerve dysfunction and insufficient blood supply to the vertebral basilar artery. Ophthalmic examination is mostly abnormal, and treatment according to cervical spondylosis can yield good results.
Cervicogenic tics.
Mainly related to the atlantoaxial joint, if such symptoms appear, careful examination, found cervical spine lesions, that is, try to treat according to cervical spondylosis, the patient will miraculously recover in the short term.
Cervicogenic neurasthenia.
It is very common clinically and manifests as a series of neurasthenia symptoms such as headache, dizziness, palpitation, insomnia, dreaminess, memory loss and mental depression. While treated as neurasthenia, the treatment is ineffective for a long time. This is due to the compression or stimulation of the cervical sympathetic nerve or the concomitant vertebral basilar artery. Treatment according to cervical spondylosis can yield immediate results.
Cervicogenic cerebrovascular disease.
This is due to the compression of the vertebral basilar artery, resulting in insufficient blood supply to the brain. If this state is maintained for a long time, dizziness, numbness of the hands and feet, unstable walking, and even cerebral thrombosis and cerebral infarction will occur, and some patients will suffer from hemiplegia as a result. If cervical spondylosis is treated in time, it will not deteriorate into serious consequences such as stroke and hemiplegia.
Cervicogenic encephalopathy.
Patients suddenly faint and fall down with clarity, mostly accompanied by many symptoms such as headache, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, tinnitus, palpitation, shortness of breath, unstable blood pressure and memory loss. In contrast, brain CT and brain MRI examinations are not abnormal. This is due to the compression or irritation of the vertebral basilar artery when the neck is turned to a certain position, resulting in a temporary deficiency of blood supply to the brain, and the lesion is in the cervical spine.
Cervicogenic hypertension
It is caused by dysfunction of the vertebrobasilar artery due to derangement of blood supply and stimulation of sympathetic nerves in the neck. In addition to the general symptoms of cervical spondylosis, there is hypertension. Treatment of this condition with hypertension is ineffective, and when the symptoms of cervical spondylosis are controlled, the blood pressure decreases.
Cervicogenic angina.
If you suffer from “angina pectoris” and general medication does not work, you should think about whether it is due to cervical spondylosis. This is caused by damage to the cervical nerve roots that innervate the diaphragm and pericardium, or by stimulation of the sympathetic nerves of the heart. The patient may experience pain in the precordial region, and pressure on the pressure area near the cervical spine can induce pain. When the head is in a specific position and posture, the symptoms can be aggravated, and then alleviated after changing the position, and treatment according to cervical spondylosis can receive obvious results.
Cervicogenic breast pain.
It is mostly unilateral and is more common in middle-aged and elderly women with cervical spondylosis. It is due to changes in muscle strength, sensation and reflexes in the innervated segments of the damaged cervical nerve roots. Patients may have limited neck movement, pain and discomfort in the neck, occiput, shoulder, and arm; tenderness and pressure in the pectoralis major muscle in the breast area, while electrocardiograms, chest X-rays, and breast examinations are mostly normal.
Cervicogenic dysphagia.
This type of disease is due to rapid osteophyte growth of the lower cervical vertebrae and excessive bony redundancy, which compresses the esophagus immediately in front and causes inflammation, edema and stenosis. Clinically, it is very easy to misdiagnose as esophageal disease.
Cervicogenic gastritis.
Due to the stimulation or injury of sympathetic nerves, resulting in hyperfunction, through the cerebral cortex and thalamus reflexively cause gastrointestinal sympathetic nerve function excitement, there is excessive tension and diastolic weakness of the pyloric sphincter, so that the stomach and duodenum retrograde peristalsis, prompting bile reflux and irritation of the gastric mucosa, thus causing acute or chronic inflammation of the stomach.
Therefore, when some patients often have headache, toothache, trigeminal neuralgia, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, irritability or mental depression, visual and hearing impairment, abnormal taste and smell and skin sensation, cardiac arrhythmia, memory loss, asthma, urinary disorders, dysmenorrhea, constipation and other symptoms and long treatment is ineffective, it is worth checking the cervical spine, because the lesion is likely to be in the cervical spine.