What are the inducing factors of cervical degenerative changes

Poor sleeping posture, bad entertainment habits, and bad working posture can all cause degenerative changes in the cervical spine. Therefore, for the sake of your own health, you must pay attention to developing good and healthy living habits in your daily life.

1. Bad sleeping posture, mainly due to a pillow that is too high, causes imbalance of the neck muscles and joints, accelerates the degenerative process of the cervical spine, and thus induces cervical spondylitis.

2. Bad entertainment habits, such as playing with mobile phones for a long time, watching TV for a long time, overload the muscles and ligaments of the neck, cause strain, and accelerate the degeneration of the cervical spine.

3. People with poor working posture, such as computer users. When the neck is flexed, the pressure on the cervical intervertebral disc is much higher than in the normal position, which can easily accelerate the degeneration of the cervical intervertebral disc and strain of the soft tissue of the neck.

4 syndromes are often misdiagnosed

"This disease is a problem for 'tall people', and there is a reason for it. For example, in clinical practice, it is common to see slim and tall women who are prone to cervical spondylosis. The cervical vertebrae of these women are relatively long, and they bear greater gravity when they lower their heads, which makes them more susceptible to the disease," said Zhou Jianbin.

Cervical spondylosis can be divided into four types according to clinical symptoms, namely, nerve root type, spinal cord type, vertebral artery type, and sympathetic nerve type. These four syndromes are relatively common, but if you are not careful to distinguish them, they are often misdiagnosed, and you cannot seek medical treatment in time, which delays the disease.

The radiculopathy type is manifested by pain or soreness, distension, tingling or burning pain in the neck, shoulders, and back, and limited neck movement. The upper limbs may feel heaviness, weakness, numbness, decreased grip strength, and muscle atrophy. This syndrome is easily confused with diseases such as frozen shoulder.

The vertebral artery type is manifested by dizziness, headache, nausea and vomiting, tinnitus, etc., which are mostly temporary or occur when the cervical spine is in a certain posture. When the head leaves that position, the symptoms disappear or improve significantly. This syndrome is easily confused with diseases such as vertigo.

The sympathetic nervous system type is manifested by palpitations, pharyngeal obstruction, chest tightness and shortness of breath, increased blood pressure, and excessive sweating (limited to one limb, head, neck, hands, feet, distal limbs, or occurring on half of the body). This type of cervical spondylosis can easily be confused with diseases such as heart disease.

The spinal cord type is manifested by numbness of the upper and lower limbs, muscle weakness, unstable gait and easy falls, and even difficulty urinating, dysuria, weak bowel movements, constipation, and paralysis of the limbs. This type of cervical spondylosis is easily confused with urinary system diseases.