What is the self-care method for cervical spondylosis?

  Cervical spondylosis, also known as cervical osteoarthropathy and cervical spine syndrome, is a syndrome resulting from the imbalance of dynamic and static balance of the neck caused by exogenous stimuli such as strain during the natural degeneration of the cervical intervertebral discs, exposure to wind, cold and dampness, throat infection, etc., resulting in the involvement of neck muscles, nerves, spinal cord and blood vessels. The common clinical symptoms of patients include dizziness, headache, tinnitus, ear closure, neck, shoulder, back and arm pain, blurred vision, numbness, swelling and pain in the upper and lower limbs, weakness, feeling of stepping on cotton in the lower limbs, discomfort in the tongue and throat, nausea, vomiting, panic, insomnia, sweating, and limited neck movement or ringing. The presence of cervical spondylosis is seriously affecting people’s daily life.  The cause and pathogenesis of cervical spondylosis are not yet clear, but it is generally believed that the occurrence of cervical spondylosis is closely related to poor posture, emotional stress, wind, cold and humidity, fatigue and trauma. The pathogenic factors of cervical spondylosis can be broadly categorized into five types: cervical disc degeneration, chronic strain, deformity combined with trauma, cervicopharyngeal infection and associated diseases. Cervical disc degeneration is the endogenous cause of the disease, which is essentially the degradation of the extracellular matrix of the intervertebral disc and the degradation of the matrix-cell adhesion function resulting in cellular regeneration. Chronic strain, trauma, cervicopharyngeal infections and associated diseases are the external causes of the development of cervical spondylosis, and deformity is the specific internal cause of cervical spondylosis. It is generally said that external causes act through internal causes, but internal causes cannot be separated from external causes, and the combined effect of internal and external causes leads to the occurrence of cervical spondylosis.  According to the criteria of the Second National Symposium on Cervical Spondylosis in 1992, cervical spondylosis can be divided into seven types, such as cervical (soft tissue cervical), neurogenic, asymptomatic, spinal, vertebral artery, sympathetic, and mixed, according to the symptoms or comprehensive characteristics of patients. The 2001 edition of the Chinese medicine textbook, on the other hand, often divides it into five types: neurogenic, spinal cord, vertebral artery, sympathetic nerve, and mixed type.  For the prevention and health care of cervical spondylosis, Jiangmen famous Chinese medicine teacher Yu Bo Liang has his own unique method through the summary of clinical practice experience, and called it “goose neck exercise”. The practice is to imitate the movement of the neck of the goose, using the jaw to make circles on the sagittal plane, first from back to front several times, and then from front to back several times, using the movement of the jaw to drive the movement of the neck muscles and joints. At the beginning of the moment to do about 15 times each, with the extension of the exercise time, you can gradually increase the number of circles. The characteristic of this method is that the head is always kept in the center line of the body, there is no left and right rotation and lateral flexion movement. All the movements of the gooseneck movement are within the normal range of movement of the neck, which can reduce the accidents caused by exercise, and is conducive to enhancing the strength of the neck muscles and improving the local blood supply, so as to prevent cervical spondylosis.  The method is easy to operate, the action amplitude is not large, and it is suitable for patients of all ages. However, patients who already have a change in the physiological curvature of the cervical spine or a dysfunction of the small joints of the cervical spine should be corrected by manipulation before doing exercises. When exercising, you should pay attention to the amount of exercise, not to be rushed. Because the causes of cervical spondylosis are many, is the result of the interaction of a variety of complex internal and external factors, so to effectively prevent the occurrence of cervical spondylosis is best combined with some other means of health care such as cervical spine self-massage, acupuncture, massage, neck physiotherapy, etc.. For long-term ambulatory work and computer workers, do a few goose neck exercises every hour or so, not only can effectively relieve neck muscle fatigue, but also help improve blood supply to the brain and improve work efficiency.