Looking up at the computer and looking down at the mobile phone, you will feel dizzy, painful and numb, and you need to be alert in your neck!

"Looking up at the computer and looking down at the phone" has become the norm for workers. They are young, but their cervical spine is damaged. There are nearly 200 million people with cervical spondylosis in China, and the existence of cervical spondylosis has affected the normal life of most people. So, how should we judge whether we have cervical spondylosis? How to prevent and treat cervical spondylosis?

1. What is cervical spondylosis?

Cervical spondylosis is a disease based on degenerative pathological changes. It is mainly caused by long-term strain of the cervical spine, bone hyperplasia, or disc herniation, ligament thickening, which causes compression of the cervical spinal cord, nerve roots or vertebral arteries, resulting in a series of clinical syndromes of dysfunction. Simply put, it is the abnormal proliferation of bones or ligaments and other tissues of the cervical spine, the change of bone position, and the diseased bones or tissues compressing the blood vessels, nerves, and spinal cord around the cervical spine, leading to a series of symptoms. Common symptoms include neck and shoulder pain, numbness, inflexibility, dizziness, tinnitus, etc.

Cervical spondylosis can be divided into cervical type cervical spondylosis, nerve root type cervical spondylosis, spinal cord type cervical spondylosis and other types of cervical spondylosis. These types can be easily distinguished from the literal meaning:

(1) Cervical spondylosis: The main symptoms are limited neck movement, neck stiffness, neck pain, shoulder pain, etc. It is the earliest to appear, the easiest to treat, and the most common cervical spondylosis.

(2) Cervical radiculopathy: Due to factors such as intervertebral disc herniation, bone hyperplasia, and ligament thickening, unilateral or bilateral nerve roots are compressed, with symptoms such as a feeling of restraint in the neck and shoulders, restraint and pain in the upper arms, and numbness in the hands.

(3) Spinal cervical spondylosis: Most of them are caused by cervical disc herniation, osteophyte hyperplasia, ligament ossification, cervical spinal stenosis and other factors that squeeze the spinal cord alone or in combination, causing the spinal cord to gradually degenerate and be damaged, resulting in serious or even irreversible clinical symptoms and functional disorders. For example, lower limb weakness, unsteady walking, a feeling of walking on cotton, upper limb dysfunction, fine function disorder, and more serious urinary and bowel dysfunction. This is the most serious type of cervical spondylosis and is also the most easily overlooked type. Especially for the elderly, when symptoms of numbness in the hands and feet appear, they often go to the neurology department first, but ignore the cervical spine problem, which will eventually lead to missing the best time for treatment.

(4) Other types of cervical spondylosis: Symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, chest tightness, palpitations, sympathetic nerve/vagus nerve disorder, autonomic nervous system disorder, etc. may be symptoms of cervical spondylosis, but they may also be caused by other reasons and belong to the comprehensive category of symptoms.

2. What are the main causes of cervical spondylosis?

(1) Bad posture: For example, looking down at your phone for a long time or working at a desk can easily cause damage to the muscles and ligaments behind the neck, greatly accelerating the process of cervical degeneration.

(2) Wind, cold and damp: Cold air from air conditioning in summer blowing directly at the neck can cause the cervical spine to catch a cold.

(3) Improper sleeping position: If the pillow is too high, the cervical spine will bend forward; if it is too low, the cervical spine will be suspended in the air and unable to relax.

(4) Excessive physical exercise and excessive neck movement: Moderate physical exercise is good for health, but if it exceeds the range that the neck can bear, it will cause neck injury.

3. How to identify cervical spondylosis?

The most intuitive way to identify cervical spondylosis problems is to pay attention to your body's reactions. If we find that our necks are constantly painful and cannot be effectively relieved by lying down, applying heat or plasters, this may be a signal from our body. In addition, symptoms such as arm soreness, hand numbness, body dullness, poor mobility, dizziness, nausea, unsteady walking, and a feeling of walking on cotton are common physical reactions to cervical spondylosis and are important early warning signals for us to identify cervical spondylosis problems.

The main examination methods for cervical spondylosis are X-ray, CT, MRI, and transcranial Doppler ultrasound. There is no superiority or inferiority among the above five examination methods, and they complement each other. Different examination methods can reveal different conditions inside the body.

4. How to prevent cervical spondylosis?

Cervical spondylosis has a long course of disease, and the condition often recurs. When it occurs, the symptoms are severe, which will affect daily life and rest. Therefore, it is urgent to prevent cervical spondylosis! The following points can effectively prevent cervical spondylosis.

(1) Change bad habits: avoid lying in bed for long periods of time watching TV or reading; avoid working with your head down for long periods of time, and get up and move around after working at a desk for an hour; exercise actively, and perform slow neck flexion and extension and rotation exercises every morning and evening.

(2) Avoid neck trauma: fasten your seat belt when riding in a car and do not sleep in the car.

(3) Avoid getting your neck cold: Avoid letting the air conditioner blow directly onto your neck in the summer. Do not blow cold air directly onto your neck or rinse your head and neck with cold water after sweating.

(4) Choose a suitable pillow: Avoid high or low pillows. Choose a suitable pillow that is about the height of a fist when lying on your back and about the width of one shoulder when lying on your side.

5. How to treat cervical spondylosis?

The treatment of cervical spondylosis is divided into surgical treatment and non-surgical treatment. Regardless of the type of cervical spondylosis, the basic principle to follow is to first use non-surgical treatment, and then surgical treatment if it is ineffective.

(1) Non-surgical treatment: including acupuncture, traction, orthopedic braces, phototherapy, massage, etc. It should be noted that non-surgical treatment must be performed in a regular hospital under the guidance of a doctor.

(2) Surgical treatment: It mainly aims to relieve the pressure on the spinal cord and blood vessels caused by intervertebral disc herniation, osteophyte formation or ligament calcification, and to restore the stability of the cervical spine. The surgical methods are divided into anterior cervical surgery and posterior cervical surgery.

(The pictures in this article are from the Internet)

Reviewer: Hao Yang/Guo Shengnan

Typesetting: Li Shudong