There are many causes of vertigo, and cervicogenic vertigo is one of the common causes. The prominent feature is that the severity of vertigo is related to the position of “neck”, i.e. the symptoms of vertigo can be aggravated or alleviated by lowering, tilting or turning the head, which is typical of “vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis”. This is the main characteristic of typical “vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis”.
I. How many types of cervical spondylosis are there?
There are seven types of cervical spondylosis.
The first is the “cervical type”, which is mainly characterized by neck discomfort, mild pain and habitual pillowing;
The second is the “nerve root type”, which is characterized by neck pain and numbness and string pain in one or both upper limbs;
The third is the “vertebral artery type”, which is mainly characterized by positional vertigo;
The fourth is the sympathetic type, which is characterized by nausea, vomiting, panic, palpitations, and abnormal sweating;
The fifth is the “spinal cord type”, which is characterized by motor and sensory dysfunction of the extremities or both lower extremities;
Sixth is the “mixed type”, in which any two or more of the above five types of symptoms are seen together in one patient;
Seventh is the “special type”, which refers to the difficulty in eating due to the forward protrusion of the cervical disc that compresses the esophagus. Both spinal type and special type are rare.
Is cervical spondylosis a disease?
Cervical spondylosis is not a disease, but a syndrome that occurs when the cervical spine structure is abnormal due to degenerative changes in the cervical spine and important tissues in the neck, such as nerves, arteries, sympathetic nerves and spinal cord, are stimulated or compressed. One type of cervical spondylosis is not necessarily a cause, but one cause can have multiple indications of cervical spondylosis, such as neurogenic cervical spondylosis, which can be caused by changes in the physiological curvature of the nerve root canal to become a result of a change in the physiological curvature of the nerve root. Therefore, when treating cervical spondylosis, the cause must be identified and targeted in order to receive good results.
Third, can cervical spondylosis be diagnosed by looking at the film?
In outpatient clinics we often meet patients who say, “When did I get cervical spondylosis?” When asked how they learned they had cervical spondylosis, most patients say, “When did I have a CT or MRI and the doctor told me I had cervical spondylosis.
In fact, this is a big misunderstanding. Cervical spondylosis, like lumbar spondylosis, cannot be diagnosed by films (X-rays, CT films, MRI films) alone, and the patient must be examined in detail to see if there are symptoms related to nerve roots, vertebral arteries, sympathetic nerves, spinal cord, etc., and then to check whether these symptoms originate from changes in the cervical spine. In general, the main symptoms of each type of cervical spondylosis are related to the position of the “neck”, i.e., the symptoms are reduced or aggravated as the head is lowered, tilted, or turned. Without these symptoms and characteristics, cervical spondylosis cannot be diagnosed simply by the film, because there are many patients whose cervical spine shows structural changes on the film, but without any related symptoms, we can only say that there are degenerative changes in the cervical spine, but cannot be diagnosed as cervical spondylosis.
Fourth, can a beer bottle be used to treat cervical spondylosis?
In the outpatient clinic we often hear patients say that pillow beer bottles treat cervical spondylosis, we can only say that the person who says this idea is aware of it but does not know what it is. Objectively speaking, in a particular case, pillow beer bottle is a certain therapeutic effect, this particular case must have several conditions, the first condition is that the patient must be a person who is not tall, the second condition patient’s cause of disease is mainly the cervical spine physiological curvature straightening and no other serious cervical spine structural changes, the third condition patient is not the acute inflammatory period.
For cervical spondylosis, the specific therapeutic effect of the beer bottle is due to its curvature, which can play a certain role in correcting the straightening of the physiological curvature of the cervical spine under certain circumstances, thus having a certain therapeutic effect. The normal adult cervical spine length is generally 13-16 centimeters, and the circumference of the beer bottle is too small to have a small therapeutic effect on patients with a long cervical spine (tall), and it may also lead to muscle spasm in the neck due to excessive restriction of the cervical spine position.
And if the patient is accompanied by other structural changes in the cervical spine, or in the acute stage, then the pillow beer bottle not only has no therapeutic effect, but may also aggravate the condition. So whether you can pillow the bottle, must listen to the doctor.
Five, cervical spondylosis is not pillow right?
With the popularity of modern technology knowledge, people have a certain understanding of “high pillow with worry”, most people know that pillow high pillow is not good for the cervical spine, so some people are smart enough to think, that is, high pillow with worry, then I do not pillow is not better? This is also a wrong idea, because the physiological curvature of the cervical spine produces the appearance of depression, and the head of the back of the occipital and shoulder back vertex of the line between the two high points are not on a horizontal line, if lying down without a pillow, will aggravate the tendency to straighten the physiological curvature of the cervical spine, so that is a wrong idea and practice.
How to prevent the recurrence of cervical spondylosis?
Cervical spondylosis is a common disease prone to recurrence. To control its recurrence, the first thing is to find the causative cause, which is individualized in each patient, and effective treatment of the cause is the key to inhibit recurrence. Secondly, we have to analyze why this patient has cervical spondylosis, and the usual work habits and living habits need to be corrected. The third is to conduct cervical spine mobility training, and the training should pay attention to taking axial direction for training, and never circular rotation. The fourth is to carry out continuous muscle strength training around the neck. As long as the muscle strength around the neck is strong, the cervical spine can play a good protective role, the stability of the cervical spine is enhanced, and the chance of nerve, artery and sympathetic nerve being stimulated and compressed will be significantly reduced.
Seven, is pulling and compression therapy traction therapy?
No, it is a manual therapy in the state of traction. The difference with ordinary traction therapy is: 1. It is easier to widen the intervertebral space: when treating cervical spondylosis, the purpose of traction is to widen the intervertebral space, so that the position of the herniated disc can be changed and the compression on the nerve root can be released or reduced. The process of ordinary traction is slow, and the cervical muscles will produce protective spasm due to pain in the process of traction, thus increasing the difficulty of effectively widening the intervertebral space, while the traction distance is set in advance for compression therapy, and instant traction inhibits the production of protective muscle spasm and widens the intervertebral space to the maximum extent. 2. It is easier to produce displacement between the herniated object and the nerve root: ordinary traction is to extend the longitudinal force of the cervical spine, while compression therapy is to extend the longitudinal force of the cervical spine. The treatment of cervical spondylosis is usually done 1-2 times a week, for about 5 minutes each time, to relieve the symptoms without repeated pulling. can make the ligament elasticity become low drawback.