Early symptoms of cervical spine tumor

Some elderly people always feel pain in their left shoulder, sometimes so painful that they can't even lift their arm, and the affected shoulder is also numb. They have been treated for cervical spondylosis, but there was no improvement after taking many medicines. Until they came to the spinal neurosurgery department of a hospital and had an MRI scan, they were diagnosed with cervical spine tumors. Cervical spine tumors are very rare, and their early symptoms are very similar to those of cervical spondylosis. If the above symptoms occur, you should go to the hospital for an MRI examination in time.

1. Classification of cervical spine tumors

Cervical spine tumors can be divided into chordoma, chondrosarcoma and other tumors located in the vertebrae and neurothecoma, vascular tumors and other tumors located in the spinal canal according to the location of the tumor.

2. Symptoms of cervical spine tumors

When a patient suffers from a cervical tumor and the cervical nerve roots are compressed and pulled due to the tumor, it will cause cervical nerve root pain. The patient's main symptoms are neck and shoulder pain and numbness and weakness in the arms. These symptoms are easily confused with cervical type and radiculopathy. Some cervical tumors can cause damage to the cervical spinal cord. The patient's main symptom is quadriplegia, which is similar to the symptoms of spinal cord cervical spondylosis. Therefore, clinically, there are many cases where cervical tumors are mistaken for cervical spondylosis based on simple symptoms, and cervical spondylosis is considered a chronic disease and is not treated urgently, causing patients to receive incorrect treatment or no treatment, thus delaying treatment.

3. Methods for distinguishing cervical tumors from cervical spondylosis

Cervical spondylosis often has a period of symptom relief, while tumors often have non-intermittent symptoms and the symptoms persist. If the cervical spine tumor is a metastasis of tumors in other parts of the body, it often has symptoms of the primary lesion. Patients with malignant tumors had poor physical constitution, while patients with cervical spondylosis showed no obvious changes. The movement disorders of cervical spondylotic myelopathy, such as slow walking, unstable gait, and dull expression, are obvious, while the sensory disorders are relatively mild; the movement and sensory disorders of cervical tumors are generally the same. There is no obvious difference between the two in early X-rays, but when the disease progresses to a certain extent, there will be different manifestations.

4. What to do if dizziness is caused by cervical spondylosis

1. Pay attention to your sleeping posture

You must maintain the correct sleeping posture when sleeping. Never sleep on your stomach. The pillow you use should not be too high or too hard. You can lie flat or on your side when sleeping.

2. Avoid injury

Do not lift heavy objects and do not brake suddenly while driving, as these may cause acute injury to the cervical spine.

3. Keep warm

Whether it is winter or summer, you must pay attention to keeping your neck warm and not let your neck be attacked by wind and cold. Especially when taking a bath in the early morning or at night, it is very important to ensure that the neck is not stimulated by wind and cold.

4. Neck Movement

In order to reduce the symptoms caused by cervical spondylosis, we can also exercise our neck regularly in our lives.