The cervical vertebra consists of seven bones, which connect the head and the body and support the weight of the head. Its importance is self-evident. There are many muscles and ligaments attached to the cervical spine, through which blood vessels pass and nerves extend, which plays an important role in maintaining physiological functions.
Cervical spondylosis is caused by abnormal cervical structure. Between each cervical vertebra, there are intervertebral discs and ligaments to help reduce friction. With the increase of age, the water in the intervertebral disc will gradually disappear, and the wrong posture will also lead to greater cervical pressure and slowly wear the intervertebral disc. Once there is too much wear, the friction between the cervical vertebrae will increase, the bone will proliferate, and "bone spurs" will grow, which will compress the arteries and nerves of the cervical vertebrae.
When there is a problem with the cervical spine, the blood vessels and nerves are compressed, which not only causes neck pain, but also may lead to various diseases that even seem unrelated to the cervical spine. For example:
Abnormal vision: blurred vision, eye pain, photophobia and tears.
Abnormal hearing: If the vertebral artery is compressed and the blood flow to the ear is insufficient, tinnitus and hard of hearing will occur.
Foreign body sensation in throat: discomfort during swallowing may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, gastroesophageal reflux and other symptoms.
Frequent and repeated stiff neck: the cervical vertebra structure is unstable, and the sleeping position is slightly uncomfortable, which may be stiff neck.
Stiffness of shoulder and neck: Stiffness of the back neck, limited movement, soreness, fatigue, and frequent noises when turning the neck.
Hand pain: usually the pain extends from the shoulder and neck, and can reach the fingers in severe cases.
Headache: Patients often feel headache extending from their shoulders, which usually indicates the clear range of headache.
Dizziness: Vertebral artery is compressed, resulting in insufficient blood supply to the head, which can lead to dizziness, and severe cases are accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
Sympathetic symptoms: If the sympathetic nerve is compressed, it may cause chest pain, abnormal heartbeat, cold sweat and other symptoms.
Cervical aging is a natural phenomenon, but cervical spondylosis is getting younger and younger. Bad standing posture, sitting posture, or sports injury will accelerate cervical aging and lead to cervical spondylosis.
You can do a little experiment. When you stand, hold a bottle full of water above your head, straighten your arm and stick it to your ear, and feel the weight on your arm at this time. Then rotate your arm forward 45 degrees, and you will feel that your arm bears more weight than before.
By the same token, whether walking or riding a bike, modern people are used to staring down at their mobile phones, or sticking their necks out at work to see the computer screen clearly. These postures, just like the small experiment just now, make the cervical vertebra stretch forward unconsciously and bear more pressure, which will cause cervical vertebra strain for a long time.
Poor diet and work and rest will also aggravate cervical spondylosis. For example, lack of sleep can easily lead to muscle stiffness, which will also increase the body's feeling of pain and aggravate the symptoms of cervical spondylosis. If you drink too many caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea and cola, your blood vessels will contract, resulting in insufficient blood flow to your muscles, making your shoulders and neck more stiff and your hands more numb.
Usually, you can rub some acupoints at home to relax the shoulder and neck muscles and relieve cervical spondylosis.
The method is to massage the acupoints once in the morning and evening for about 2 to 3 minutes each time, with the intensity of "feeling a little sore" as the degree, and it is not necessary to press the degree of pain. If you want to get better results, you can apply hot compress, or wash your shoulders and neck with hot water at an appropriate temperature when taking a bath, or you can ask Chinese medicine acupuncture.
● Zhongzhu Point and Houxi Point
The "zhongzhu point" is located on the back of the hand. With the index finger of one hand, it is sandwiched between the finger root of the little finger and the finger root of the ring finger of the other hand, and gently pushed in the direction of the arm, crossing the depression behind the metacarpophalangeal joint, which is the zhongzhu point. If you press it, you will feel sore.
Taking "Houxi point" is the place where the end of the emotional line of the palm and the lower side of the little finger protrude like a crater after the hand gently clenches the fist. After the palm of your hand is opened, you will find a depression when you press it in the same place. If you press it hard, you will feel sore.
Zhongzhu point and Houxi point are obviously acupuncture points on the hand. How can you treat shoulder and neck pain? In fact, this is the effect of "remote acupoint selection" in traditional Chinese medicine. Zhongzhu and Houxi belong to the triple energizer meridian of hand shaoyang and the small intestine meridian of hand taiyang respectively. Because these two meridians extend from the back of the hand to the shoulder and neck, massaging these two acupoints can relieve the stiffness of the shoulder and neck.
The ancient book "Xuan Tong Yao Zhifu" records: "If the heart is between the ridges, the needle stands in the middle. My head hurts, so I plan to settle in Houxi. " Behind the intercostal center, it refers to the muscles around the scapula. If there is stiffness, you can acupuncture Zhongzhu point, which has a very good relief effect. If you have a headache or neck muscle pain, you can acupuncture Houxi point.
Fengchi point is located at the back of the neck, below the skull. Touch the earlobe first, and touch it inward along the horizontal line as high as the earlobe. After stepping over a bone, you will feel the depression near the skull. Press it to the Fengchi point.
Before massage, sit up straight, then raise your hand and bend your elbow, so that the shoulders, forearms and the midline of the spine form two right triangles, then press Fengchi point with your thumb and put the other four fingers lightly on your head. Fengchi point is the intersection of neck muscles. More pressing can relax the neck muscles and relieve cervical spondylosis.
Cervical spondylosis is mostly caused by incorrect posture. Maintaining a good posture is helpful to relieve the pressure on the spine and improve spinal diseases. For example, before looking at the mobile phone, you can close your chin first, then lower your head, and at the same time raise your mobile phone a little to keep your cervical spine as upright as possible.
Sitting in a chair at ordinary times, try to straighten your waist and close your chin slightly. If you do this action, you will find that the muscles in the neck become softer, which means that the strength on the neck becomes smaller and the breathing becomes smoother. If you usually feel a patient with a foreign body in the nasopharynx, doing this action will also alleviate it.
1. Reverse lacing
Most people's habitual action is that the upper body bends forward like a shrimp, so the chest and abdomen muscles contract more for a long time, while the back muscles contract less, which leads to long-term muscle imbalance and makes the shoulders and necks more sore. Dr. Zhu Yali believes that doing more reverse stretching exercise can relieve cervical spondylosis.
① Raise your hands horizontally, stretch backward, and take a deep breath at the same time, and then relax after staying for 5 to 6 seconds.
② Stand up straight, put your hands behind your back, palms down, fingers crossed, take a deep breath, stretch your hands backwards, and at the same time stretch your chin upward (not simply lift up, but stretch your neck like breathing when you surface). Stay for 5 to 6 seconds, and then relax.
Stretch the neck muscles
When you are sitting in a chair, push your chin back horizontally with one hand, put your palm on your head with the other hand, and gently pull your head forward. At this time, you will feel the neck muscles tighten slightly for about fifteen seconds.
② The left hand extends from the top of the head to the right side of the head, and the middle finger is above the right ear. Then, gently pull the head to the left, tighten the muscles on the right side of the neck for about fifteen seconds, and then change sides.
(3) Take a break and repeat 2 to 3 times.
In regular medical institutions, "traction therapy" is usually used to relieve cervical spondylosis. The purpose is to widen the distance between cervical vertebrae, so that "bone spurs" are not easy to compress nerves, so the symptoms can be alleviated. The strength of traction must be well controlled. Traction treatment of cervical vertebra generally starts from one seventh of body weight and gradually increases strength, and the maximum strength can reach one quarter of body weight.
If the symptoms cannot be improved by using more than one quarter of the traction rail weight, other treatment methods must be considered, and blindly increasing the strength may be counterproductive.
There is a video circulating on the Internet in which a woman drags her cervical vertebra by hanging herself, claiming that hanging her cervical vertebra every day can cure her various diseases. The woman in the film is suspended in mid-air, pulling the cervical spine with her whole body weight, with more force than usual, which may cause hyoid pain, dizziness or other side effects if she is not careful. In fact, there is really no need to take such a risk. Modern hospitals or rehabilitation clinics have professional instruments to deal with them. If there are related problems, it is more secure to give them to professional doctors and physiotherapists.
Once suffering from cervical spondylosis, it is really distressing. Take care of yourself at ordinary times, it is better to get sick and seek medical advice. As the saying goes: "There is a standing phase when standing, and a sitting phase when sitting." Very reasonable. Correct standing and sitting posture can not only meet the etiquette requirements, but also keep your cervical spine healthy and reduce pain.