The Harm of Cervical Spondylosis

Written by Cheng Bin
Orthopedics
Updated on September 17, 2024
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The harm caused by cervical spondylosis is quite significant. Typically, patients with cervical spondylosis will experience pain, discomfort, or stiffness in their necks. When the vertebral artery is compressed, patients might exhibit a range of clinical symptoms, including dizziness, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Furthermore, some patients may experience blurred vision, decreased hearing, numbness, weakness, and distension pain in either or both upper limbs. Some patients also suffer from symptoms like profuse sweating, loss of appetite, palpitations, instability while walking, and a sensation as if stepping on cotton, and in severe cases, they may experience abnormalities in urination and bowel movements.

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Written by Cheng Bin
Orthopedics
55sec home-news-image

How to treat cervical spondylosis?

The treatment plan primarily depends on the severity of the patient's cervical spondylosis. If the cervical spondylosis is very severe and there is significant compression on the spinal nerve roots, resulting in symptoms such as pain, numbness, and weakness in the legs, numbness and swelling pain in the arms, abnormal bladder and bowel functions, and evident spinal stenosis, then it is necessary to aggressively pursue surgical treatment. This usually involves the removal of the intervertebral disc, decompression and expansion of the spinal canal, and surgical treatment with intervertebral bone grafting and internal fixation. For cases where the disc herniation is not very large and the neck pain is not very severe, conservative treatment may be chosen. This includes measures like rest and protection, local heat application, and combining therapies such as acupuncture, electrotherapy, cupping, and traction.

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Written by Na Hong Wei
Orthopedics
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Causes of cervical spondylosis

The causes of cervical spondylosis are actually of two types. The first type is intrinsic causes, which refer to the degeneration of the cervical intervertebral disc, a physiological process. Starting from the age of 20, the cervical intervertebral disc begins to degenerate, varying from person to person; some degenerate faster, others slower. However, as one ages, the cervical discs also gradually deteriorate. The second cause is the pathological changes secondary to the degeneration of the cervical intervertebral discs. For instance, after the discs degenerate, it can lead to instability of the cervical spine, formation of osteophytes around it, calcification of ligaments, and instability of small joints, among others. Due to these reasons, it results in a series of pathological changes affecting nearby soft tissues, such as blood vessels, nerves, spinal cord, and sympathetic nerves. This is the definition of cervical spondylosis. Thus, the causes of cervical spondylosis boil down to two main points: first, the degeneration of the cervical intervertebral discs; second, due to this degeneration, it induces other pathological changes such as the formation of peripheral osteophytes, ligament calcification, joint instability, etc., ultimately compressing the surrounding soft tissues, leading to cervical spondylosis.

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Written by Li Jie
Orthopedics
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Symptoms of cervical spondylosis

Cervical spondylosis is a very common clinical disease, which is classified into different types, each with distinct symptomatic characteristics. Let's discuss them broadly. Local type cervical spondylosis primarily manifests with local cervical pain, neck stiffness, and restricted neck movement. Cervical radiculopathy mainly features symptoms such as upper limb sensory changes, numbness, radiating pain, or weakness in the extremities. Myelopathy type cervical spondylosis presents with symptoms like weakness in the limbs, unstable walking, urinary or fecal dysfunction, or even severe symptoms like paralysis of the limbs. Sympathetic and vertebral artery type cervical spondylosis mainly have symptoms including headache, dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, unclear vision, and excessive sweating, among others. There is also a special type called esophageal cervical spondylosis, where patients might experience symptoms like esophageal compression.

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Written by Li Jie
Orthopedics
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Cervical spondylosis cupping locations

We can roughly divide into two main categories. The first category is the Ashi points. What this means is using the pain point as the location for cupping. We can press the most painful part and use that as the center point for cupping; this is one method. The second method is the meridian acupoint method. We can perform a cupping treatment on the acupoints in the neck area, through which the treatment flows. For example, acupoints such as the Dazhui, Fengchi, and Fengmen in the neck area can all serve as the central points for cupping.

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Written by Qiu Xiang Zhong
Orthopedics
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Symptoms of cervical spondylosis

The cervical spine refers to the part of the spine located in the neck, consisting of seven vertebrae, intervertebral discs, and ligaments between the vertebrae. When cervical spondylosis occurs, it mainly causes pain in the head, neck, and shoulders, as well as numbness or pain in the arms and fingers. When the neck is stiff, the patient's movement is restricted, and neck and shoulder pain may also be accompanied by dizziness, nausea, vomiting, or even sudden collapse. Some patients may also experience a heavy feeling in the shoulders and back, weakness in the arms, numbness in the fingers, decreased skin sensation in the limbs, and weakness in gripping objects; other patients may also experience weakness in the lower limbs, a feeling of treading on cotton when walking, unsteady walking, or numbness in the feet.