Sukhayu Ayurveda & Panchakarma Center
"Health Cannot be Bought So Earn It"
Home      Causes of Cervical Spondylosis

With age; the discs between vertebrae begin to dry and shrink, slip, or collapse, causing the spaces between bone and disc to narrow or collapse. This places increasing pressure on the facets of the bone, which in turn also begin to deteriorate. Cartilage on bone ends may also wear away, eventually resulting in bone rubbing against bone.  

To replace support lost from the cartilage, bones often develop new growth called osteophytes or bone spurs. It's the body’s way of attempting to increase the surface area and stabilize the hyper mobile vertebral joint. Generally not successful in this mission, the bone spurs can become painful as they put pressure on spinal nerves and in some cases the spinal cord. This pressure often produces weakness, numbness and/or incontinence of either the bowels or the bladder.

 

Cervical spondylosis is not life threatening, but in some cases it can lead to nerve damage that can be debilitating. 

 
Risk Factors of Cervical Spondylosis:

Cervical spondylosis is more common in people who have had neck injuries. Such trauma might include work and recreational-related stress, for example:

  • Advanced age
  • Past injury to the neck
  • Past spinal surgery
  • Carrying axial loads on your head
  • Professional dancing
  • Professional gymnastics
  • A congenitally narrow spinal canal increases the risk of developing cervical spondylosis with myelopathy. With a narrow spinal canal, the spinal cord has less space to fit inside the column of bone it occupies. Spinal canals also narrow as a result of the age-related changes of thickening of spinal ligaments and bone. This type of narrowing has the same effect as congenital narrowing.
  • Smoking contributes to degenerative disk disease, and is therefore a risk factor.
  • History of trauma (hits and blows) to the forehead predisposes one to cervical spondylosis.
 

Causes of Cervical:

  • Injury: Cervical spondylosis can be caused by previous injury, repeated fractures or dislocations of the joints of neck. These cause abnormal tear of joints, ligaments and the structures surrounding the joints.
    •  
  • Bad posture: Incorrect posture adapted by habit or due to poor skeletal set up in the neck predisposes abnormal tear of the neck joints.

What is bad posture that can cause cervical spondylosis?

  • The head is held forwards from normal position.
  • The shoulders are held up and forward.
  • The chest is bent and rounded.
  • The pelvic area is tilted backwards.
  • The hips, knees and ankles are bent. 
 
  • Occupational strain: The physical discomfort, which arises through an occupation, is occupational stress. The physical strain, intensity of work and duration of working hours all constitutes the occupational strain.
  • Life style: The various styles of activity adapted in daily life can cause strain or tear of the structures of the neck and lead to cervical spondylosis. An example is awkward positions adapted while sleeping.
  • Body type: Body type also predisposes cervical spondylosis
    • Thick necks with hump at the back
    • Long backs 
These body types are more prone to cause strain or tear of the neck tissues.