Olympic champions also suffer from cervical pain? Talk about cervical spondylosis, which is becoming more and more common among young people

Engaging in sports is a very dangerous thing, and many athletes have retired due to cervical spine diseases. At the Rio Olympics, the famous athlete Chen Ruolin and her partner Liu Huixia won the women's double 10-meter diving platform championship, creating international swimming history of participating in the 10-meter diving competition at the Olympics for three consecutive times and winning the championship. But an important reason that prevented Chen Ruolin from participating in the single 10-meter diving competition in her third Olympic Games was her injury and condition. At the Rio Olympics, Chen Ruolin, who walked off the diving platform, had bandages on almost all parts of her body that were not covered by a swimsuit except her face. These were injuries that Chen Ruolin had accumulated over many years of diving career, and it was these injuries that made her finally choose to retire.

Cervical spondylosis is a common disease. With the development of the Internet, more and more people are looking down at their phones and working at desks for long periods of time. Many people feel pain in their cervical spine and even develop spinal diseases. But how can we prevent cervical spondylosis? What should we do if we have cervical spondylosis? Let's continue reading.

Why does sitting for a long time cause cervical pain?

This is usually caused by your poor sitting posture. When we sit at our desks, we naturally stretch our heads forward, which can lead to muscle imbalance. As the body tries to adapt and find effective ways to lift the head, some muscles are stretched and weak (deep cervical flexors, erector spinae, lower trapezius), while others become tense and shortened (suboccipital muscles, pectoralis major, levator scapulae). Long-term fatigue of the neck and shoulder muscles will destroy the balance and coordination of the neck and shoulder muscles, causing the neck muscles to continue to contract statically for a long time, reducing the stability of the cervical joints, accelerating cervical degeneration, and greatly increasing the risk of cervical spondylosis.

The most common cervical spondylosis is neck muscle strain and cervical disc herniation. The former is mainly manifested by soreness and stiffness of the neck and back muscles. The pain will worsen if these areas are pressed hard. This situation is not very serious. The most feared thing is that severe cervical disc herniation will compress the nerves and cause numbness and weakness in the limbs, or even paraplegia.

After reading this, have you ever felt any inner reflection? Let’s continue to look at how to prevent and treat cervical spondylosis!

The key to preventing cervical spondylosis is to have a correct posture and do more neck exercises. Whenever you work at a desk for too long, you should raise your head and move your neck and shoulders for a few minutes before continuing to work. Avoid the bad habit of sleeping with your head high and your pillow should not be too high or too low. Generally speaking, a pillow height of 10 to 15 cm is appropriate. When sleeping in a car, find a good fulcrum to lean on to avoid "falling to one side or the other".

When we work at a desk for too long, we can also do some cervical spine exercises:

② Bury your head: Bury your head as much as possible, with your chin close to your chest;

②Left tilt: let the head touch the left shoulder;

③ Right deviation: let the head touch the right shoulder;

④ Left rotation: rotate the head and look to the left and back; ⑤ Right rotation: rotate the head and look to the right and back.

The above methods are only suitable for healthy people or those who only suffer from cervical fatigue. For patients with cervical spondylosis, the cervical spine may be more fragile. Excessive exercise during the illness will accelerate the aging of the cervical intervertebral disc, and the hypertrophic bone will stimulate blood vessels and nerves, thereby aggravating the condition.

The treatment of cervical spondylosis is divided into surgical and non-surgical methods. Most cervical spondylosis can be relieved by conservative treatment, using non-surgical methods such as physical therapy and massage to relieve symptoms. Traditional exercise therapy mainly includes Daoyin, Wuqinxi, Tai Chi, Ba Duan Jin, Yi Jin Jing, Qigong and other exercises. Modern exercise therapy uses resistance functional training combined with massage and other methods to treat cervical spondylosis. Mild patients can go to the acupuncture or rehabilitation department of the local hospital for treatment, but for some more serious cervical spondylosis that is not well treated, surgical treatment may be required.

References:

[1] . Editorial Group of the Cervical Spondylosis Professional Committee of the Chinese Rehabilitation Medicine Association, Guidelines for Diagnosis, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Cervical Spondylosis (2010 Edition) [M]. Beijing. Cervical Spondylosis Professional Committee of the Chinese Rehabilitation Medicine Association, 2010.

[2] Huang Tao, Zhang Fang, Li Xiucheng. Characteristics and preventive measures of cervical spondylosis in young desk workers[J]. Modern Preventive Medicine, 2013, (7): 1362-1363,1369

[3] Practical Pain Science Chapter 32 Section 1 Cervical Spondylosis[M], 2013, People's Medical Publishing House.