What to do if you have cervical discomfort? Please save this teacher's occupational disease prevention and treatment tips

September 10, 2020 is the 36th Teachers' Day in China. Cervical spondylosis is one of the common diseases among teachers. On the occasion of Teachers' Day, Liu Yang, a doctor in the massage and physiotherapy department of the Oriental Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, prepared a "massage gift" for teachers.

Self-diagnosis of cervical spondylosis

To determine whether you have cervical spondylosis, do a simple self-test first:

1. Feeling cold in the neck and back, neck pain, feeling particularly cold in the neck or back, feeling tight or even stiff;

2. When the neck hurts, there is also pain or numbness in the arms or fingers;

3. Close your eyes and slowly rotate your head left and right, and you may experience cervical pain, dizziness or migraine;

4. Frequent neck pain, weakness in upper or lower limbs, clenching fists and then fully extending them, and cannot be done 20 times in 10 seconds;

5. Bowing your head for a long time may cause dizziness, nausea, and spinning vision;

6. It has very high requirements for pillows and sleeping environment, and it is easy to get a stiff neck if you are not careful.

If you occasionally experience the above symptoms, be careful, cervical spondylosis is quietly approaching you.

If you often experience the above symptoms, or if you have two or three of the above symptoms, you are likely to have cervical spondylosis and need to go to a regular hospital for examination and treatment. In addition to a physical examination of the neck, you should also take an X-ray of the cervical spine and, if necessary, a CT or MRI examination to confirm the diagnosis. The discomfort caused by these cervical vertebrae is mostly related to the long-term bowing posture.

Three ways to relieve cervical discomfort

1. Gently hold the neck and shoulders

Use your thumb and four fingers to gently massage the neck muscles from top to bottom, releasing them for about 2 minutes.

Note: Press around the painful point first and then the painful point. Move gently until it hurts slightly.

2. Press the Jianjing point

First, use the thumb and four fingers of the affected side to pinch the shoulder well of the healthy side, gradually increase the force until you feel soreness and swelling, then keep it still and slowly rotate the cervical spine left and right;

Then use the thumb and four fingers of the healthy side to pinch the shoulder well of the affected side, gradually increase the force until you feel soreness and swelling, then keep still, slowly rotate the cervical spine left and right, and gradually increase the amplitude of the affected side. Each side for about 2 minutes.

3. Press Shousanli

Use the tip of your thumb to press the Shousanli acupoint until the area becomes sore and swollen, and keep the pressure constant. Then lower your head, raise it, turn your head left and right, and gradually increase the range of motion. Do each side for about 1 minute.

Keep practicing the three movements above, and use your break time every day to do some exercises for your cervical spine.