In the modern world, the resonance of cervical spondylosis is difficult to overestimate.Osteoarthritis in the cervical region is much more common than in other vertebral regions.Almost everyone over the age of twenty-five has this disease, to one degree or another.
Cervical osteochondrosis develops mainly due to a sedentary lifestyle, which is especially facilitated by the historical transition of a person from manual labor to mental work, which, although to a moderate degree, is accompanied by performing work in a sitting position.
Cervical spondylosis is a degenerative-dystrophic disease of the cervical spine, leading to damage to the intervertebral discs, commonly found in degenerative joint disease.Since this part of the spine is by nature quite mobile but also susceptible to damage due to poorly developed muscle corsets, any negative impact on the neck or back has a negative impact primarily on the cervical spine.Due to the fact that degenerations often develop in the most mobile areas of the vertebrae, in the neck region the nerve endings at the C5...C7 level are most often affected.
Because the symptoms of cervical spondylosis are so contradictory, they cannot always be considered just symptoms of the disease, which often leads to seeking help from specialists in other fields of medicine.Let's look at them in a little more detail.
Cervical osteonecrosis and its symptoms
Since the cervical spine is quite compact compared to its other parts, even a small tension in the neck muscles or displacement of the cervical vertebrae can cause compression or compression of the nerve roots, which can also affect the vessels located in this part.Well, osteoporosis - bone growth, which in folk treatment is called "salt deposition" and is formed during the development of cervical spondylosis, which, as a result, only worsens the course of the disease.
The clinical manifestations of cervical spondylosis, that is, its symptoms, can be divided into reflex symptoms and radicular symptoms of cervical spondylosis.
Reflex symptoms of cervical spondylosis
Reflex symptoms of cervical spondylosis include the so-called "back pain", which is manifested by the appearance of acute pain in the neck that increases markedly with any movement.For this reason, patients often assume the most comfortable, forced head position.Additionally, the typical “clicking” phenomenon is likely to occur when turning or other head movements.
When cervical cartilage degeneration occurs, patients often have compression headaches that spread to the eyeballs or temporal part of the head.Additionally, sometimes visual perception can decrease, as if “everything is floating before your eyes.”
Vertebral artery syndrome can also develop when its nerve plexus is irritated, which often causes patients to be misdiagnosed as having a cerebral circulatory disorder due to vertigo.This symptom of cervical spondylosis can be manifested by sudden movements of the head and is complicated by nausea and possible vomiting.
In addition to the above symptoms, reflex symptoms of cervical spondylosis include cardiac syndrome, in which sensations similar to angina occur.But this symptom of osteoarthritis is often combined with a set of other signs of this disease, so it usually does not cause difficulty in accurate diagnosis.
Root symptoms of cervical spondylosis
Radial symptoms of cervical spondylosis, as a rule, appear due to compression of spinal nerve endings - roots.In this case, sensory disorders affecting motor function depend entirely on which specific nerve roots are damaged, namely:
- C1 – reduced sensitivity in the occipital region;
- C2 – pain appears in the parietal or occipital region of the head;
- C3 – decreased sensitivity and the appearance of pain in the neck area, where the spinal roots are damaged, there may be impaired speech function due to loss of tongue sensitivity and the ability to control it;
- C4 – the appearance of pain and decreased sensitivity in the scapulohumeral back, as well as pain in the heart and liver, while there is a decrease in muscle tone in the neck and possible respiratory disorders of respiratory function;
- C5 – reduces sensitivity and pain on the outer surface of the shoulder;
- C6 – pain radiating from the cervical spine to the shoulder blades, the outer surface of the humerus, the forearm and further from the wrist to the thumb;
- C7 – pain similar to C6, but radiating from the scapula to the posterior surface of the humerus, and further from the forearm to 2.4 fingers of the hand, with reduced sensitivity in the painful area;
- C8 – reduces sensitivity and pain from the neck to the shoulder, then from the forearm to the little finger.
Cervical spondylosis and treatment
Cervical spondylosis is a quite complex and extremely uncomfortable disease, treatment requires systematicity, time and stages.Treatment of cervical spondylosis is mainly aimed at completely preventing the painful symptoms of cervical spondylosis and eliminating inflammation in the neck area affected by the disease.
Patients treated for cervical spondylosis are treated with classical analgesics.Although recently, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that effectively relieve pain and reduce inflammatory activity have also become widely available in the treatment of cervical spine osteoarthritis.
Among other things, in the treatment of cervical spondylosis, cartilage protectants are also used, which slow down the process of destruction of cartilage tissue and, according to many experts, also contribute to their regeneration.In addition, patients are prescribed vitamin B, which helps improve metabolic processes in the patient's body.
However, the external use of gels or ointments to treat cervical spondylosis is not effective, but makes sense because in the process of rubbing them into the skin, an additional massage of the cervical spine is performed.
Physiotherapeutic procedures are additionally combined with traditional drug treatment for cervical spondylosis and, in particular, the use of magnetic therapy through special therapeutic devices is especially effective.In addition to the above methods, also used are massage therapy, physiotherapy and manual therapy.However, in particularly severe cases, surgical intervention may be necessary.
Preventing cervical spondylosis
Preventing cervical spondylosis itself is not difficult.Recommendation:
- maintain an active and healthy lifestyle,
- play sports, or at least do morning exercises,
- competent organization of the workplace,
- comply with work and rest schedules,
- when working for long periods of time in a sitting position - during working hours, warm up several times and ensure correct posture and head position when performing work.
It is also important to choose a comfortable pillow and mattress for sleeping.But for those who already suffer from this disease, the daily use of specialized orthopedic products for comfortable sleep is extremely recommended.