Cervical spondylosis has become a widespread condition, affecting increasingly younger individuals. Therefore, everyone should remain vigilant about this condition and familiarize themselves with its symptoms to enable timely detection if it occurs. So, where do the primary symptoms of cervical spondylosis manifest?
Symptom 1: Sudden Falls
Patients with cervical spondylosis may experience sudden weakness in their lower limbs and fall when rotating their neck.However, during an episode, the patient remains conscious and can often get up and even walk within a short time. Symptom 2: Hypertension Cervical spondylosis can cause elevated or lowered blood pressure, though the former is more common—known as cervical hypertension. This is linked to bone spurs stimulating the sympathetic nerves. Patients often experience typical symptoms like neck pain, stiffness, and numbness in the upper limbs.
Cervical Spondylosis Symptom 3: Visual Impairment
Cervical spondylosis may also manifest as decreased vision, intermittent blurred vision, swelling and pain in one or both eyes, photophobia, tearing, and narrowed visual fields. This visual impairment is associated with autonomic nerve dysfunction caused by cervical spondylosis.
Cervical Spondylosis Symptom 4: Dysphagia
Some elderly individuals initially experience throat itching or a foreign body sensation, followed by intermittent dysphagia that fluctuates in severity. Patients may be suspected of esophageal cancer, but gastroscopy reveals normal findings. Subsequent CT scans confirm cervical spondylosis.
Cervical Spondylosis Symptom 5: Vertigo
Vertigo is a common symptom in patients with vertebral artery-type cervical spondylosis. Changing body position through neck extension or rotation can trigger vertigo episodes.Vertigo caused by ischemic lesions in the vestibular nuclei typically lasts briefly, resolving within seconds to minutes. During episodes, patients may experience mild absence seizures and ataxia, manifesting as unsteady gait or leaning to one side. Some patients feel nauseous. During acute attacks, patients may be unable to lift their heads. A minority may also experience symptoms like double vision, nystagmus, tinnitus, or hearing loss.
Preventing Cervical Spondylosis
1. Maintain proper sitting posture by sitting upright with a straight back and neck. Avoid sleeping face-down. Pillows should not be excessively high, hard, or flat. Opt for a medium-height pillow with appropriate firmness—typically one fist-height for supine sleepers and one and a half fist-heights for side sleepers.Prefer pillows filled with kapok or buckwheat hulls, ensuring adequate filling to maintain firmness and elasticity. Excessively soft pillows may cause neck muscle fatigue and injury. Back sleepers should use a small pillow under the neck to preserve the natural cervical curve. Side sleepers should position the pillow to fill the space between the face and shoulder to reduce neck strain.
2. Avoid and minimize acute injuries, such as lifting heavy objects or sudden braking that can cause neck trauma.
3. Protect against wind, cold, and dampness. Avoid bathing late at night or in the early morning, and prevent exposure to cold drafts. Especially avoid direct air conditioning cold air blowing on the neck and shoulder muscles; ensure warmth and cold protection.Cold and dampness can constrict local blood vessels in the neck, slowing blood flow and impairing tissue metabolism and waste removal. Dampness also hinders skin evaporation.
4. Correct poor posture to reduce neck muscle strain. After every hour of looking down or up, perform neck exercises to relieve muscle tension. Exercise at least 4 times per week, with each session lasting no less than 25 minutes.