Do yourself a favour, get your cervical spondylitis treated with physiotherapy now

It has been bothering you from a long long time. That nagging pain at the back of your head or just at the base of your neck is causing you lot of discomfort. Time has come for you to address it before it becomes something bigger.

Though cervical spondylitis is a degenerative condition of cervical spine found almost globally in adults above 50 years of age but it can also happen to people of any age due to continuous use of screens keeping the neck in one position for a longer period of time.

Our body has 33 vertebrae and between two vertebra there is a disc which provides cushioning effect to the spine. The degeneration of disc results in reduction of disc space and peripheral osteophyte formation. The osteophytes formed impinges on the nerve roots and causes radicular pain in the upper limb.

Cervical spondylitis is usually characterized by pain and stiffness in the neck, radiating pain in the upper limb and giddiness or vertigo. At times the pain is so severe that one is not able to move his neck. Hence cervical collar is advised to such person to keep the neck stable. At times a hump is also seen at C6 cervical spine. The neck and the shoulder muscles become so tender that even a mild touch or movement of the neck causes tingling sensation and severe pain in the neck region and in the upper limb.

Physiotherapy plays a vital role in the treatment of cervical spondylitis.

1)- Rest- At times rest can bring down the cervical pain and give relief to the patient.

2) hot fomentation or cold pack- they both work using the same principle of increasing blood flow at the site of the application. Since blood contains natural healers and analgesics so application of hot and cold packs gives a lot of relief to the patient.

3) Traction- the stiffness of the neck muscles goes away with intermittent traction which can be given manually or by a traction machine.

4) transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and ultrasonic therapy given to the patient brings a lot of relief in the pain.

5) stretching and strengthening of neck muscles and shoulder muscles also helps in stabilizing the cervical spine and hence reduction of pain.