Stomach discomfort is caused by cervical spondylosis

Sometimes I feel stomach discomfort, but after examination I find that I don’t have ulcers or gastritis, and stomach medicine is not effective. At this point we have to consider another possibility: cervical stomach syndrome.

The so-called cervical stomach syndrome means that the cervical bone spurs stimulate the visceral nerves, which in turn causes stomach discomfort symptoms. Under normal circumstances, after people eat, the information is transmitted to the brain through the visceral nerves. After processing, the brain sends the command to the stomach through the visceral nerves, causing the stomach glands to secrete gastric acid and promote food digestion.

If bone hyperplasia occurs in the cervical spine, the bone spurs will cause adverse stimulation to the visceral nerves distributed around the cervical spine. When the generated signals are transmitted to the brain, the brain will mistakenly believe that they are transmitted from the stomach, and reflexively issue commands to promote gastric acid secretion, resulting in symptoms similar to ulcer disease, such as increased appetite, burning heartburn, acid reflux and belching, pain when hungry, and relief after eating.

In addition, the visceral nerves have an opposite function, inhibiting gastrointestinal secretion and motility. If this visceral nerve is stimulated by the cervical bone spur, the brain will issue orders to reduce gastric acid secretion and inhibit gastrointestinal motility, resulting in a series of symptoms such as loss of appetite, abdominal distension, belching, upper abdominal pain, and even nausea and vomiting.

Cervical-gastric syndrome is often accompanied by other symptoms of visceral nervous system disorders. If the patient has stomach discomfort but no problems with the digestive system, he or she can go to the orthopedics department to check whether there is obvious hyperplasia of the cervical spine. Once the diagnosis is confirmed and the cervical spondylosis is treated and relieved as prescribed by the doctor, the stomach discomfort symptoms will naturally disappear.