Cervical spine disorders are illnesses that affect the

cervical spine In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In sau ...

, which is made up of the upper first seven

vertebrae The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...

, encasing and shielding the

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

. This fragment of the spine starts from the region above the shoulder blades and ends by supporting and connecting the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

. The cervical spine contains many different anatomic compositions, including

muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscl ...

bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

ligament A ligament is the fibrous connective tissue that connects bones to other bones. It is also known as ''articular ligament'', ''articular larua'', ''fibrous ligament'', or ''true ligament''. Other ligaments in the body include the: * Peritoneal li ...

s, and

joint A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw ...

s. All of these structures have nerve endings that can detect painful problems when they occur. Such nerves supply muscular control and sensations to the skull and arms while correspondingly providing our bodies with flexibility and motion. However, if the cervical spine is injured it can cause many minor or traumatic problems, and although these injuries vary specifically they are more commonly known as "cervical spine disorders" as a whole.

Symptoms

It is through upper frontal chest discomfort (also known as cervical angina) and

scapula The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on eithe ...

r pains which signs of cervical spine disorders are shown. In 1937 a man named Oille was the first to state that these chest pains originated from the cervical nerve root. This new outlook helped shed light on exactly what signs indicated the beginning of these ailments for those with cervical spine disorders. It is now recognized that these patients feel pain, numbness, discomfort, and weakness along with

neurological Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

symptoms. *Numbness Numbness occurs when one develops a "pinched" nerve not allowing for the flow of electrical charges, which may result in the death of the nerve fiber.Cervical spine disorder. "Medtronic". Retrieved from http://wwwp.medtronic.com/Newsroom/LinkedItemDetails.do?itemId=1169645895363&itemType=backgrounder&lang=en_IN *Weakness An individual becomes weak due to the compression of nerves encompassing cervical spine disorders, thus resulting in the inability to move or use arms. Those with such symptoms should seek medical treatment as soon as possible.

Complications

If not treated right away, there are many consequences and pains various cervical spine disorders can cause. Gray808

*Neck pains Pains in the neck area tend to be tenacious and persistent and most muscles in the cervical spinal region tighten causing for discomfort. *Headaches Headaches are further triggered through the stiffness of neck muscles, which pull at their attachment to the skull. These headaches are recurrent in nature and start from the base of the skull and emanate upwards; they can be painful or mild. *Arm pains Muscular spasms within the arm are further common symptoms in which such spasms are seen right above the collarbones and pressure is placed on the

Brachial plexus The brachial plexus is a network () of nerves formed by the anterior rami of the lower four cervical nerves and first thoracic nerve ( C5, C6, C7, C8, and T1). This plexus extends from the spinal cord, through the cervicoaxillary canal in th ...

causing arms to feel heavy and ache. *Difficulty walking Hardships arise with cervical spinal injuries when issues with walking, balancing, and posture are affected all due to the spinal cord being compressed resulting in

Myelopathy Myelopathy describes any neurologic deficit related to the spinal cord. The most common form of myelopathy in humans, '' cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM)'', also called ''degenerative cervical myelopathy'', results from narrowing of the spina ...

. *Those with extremely severe outcomes may result in: Impairment

Cause

There are several conditions and syndromes that can affect the cervical spine and they all vary due to the difference in place and type of injury. *Rheumatoid arthritis Those affected with

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are involv ...

in their cervical spine are known to have neurological deficits. It results in

occipital The occipital bone () is a cranial dermal bone and the main bone of the occiput (back and lower part of the skull). It is trapezoidal in shape and curved on itself like a shallow dish. The occipital bone overlies the occipital lobes of the cereb ...

pain and

myelopathy Myelopathy describes any neurologic deficit related to the spinal cord. The most common form of myelopathy in humans, '' cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM)'', also called ''degenerative cervical myelopathy'', results from narrowing of the spina ...

. *Occipito-cervical junction This disorder may result from rheumatoid arthritis, causing the hypermobility of the connection between the neck and head, resulting in paralysis or pain. *Cerebrovascular disease

Cerebrovascular disease Cerebrovascular disease includes a variety of medical conditions that affect the blood vessels of the brain and the cerebral circulation. Arteries supplying oxygen and nutrients to the brain are often damaged or deformed in these disorders. The ...

is a type of cervical spine disorder that can cause

tetraplegia Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or t ...

. *Subaxial cervical spineDegenerative spine disorders. Retrieved from http://neurosurgery.ucsf.edu/index.php/spine_disorders_cervical.html *Atlanto-axial joint

Age factors

*The elderly Because of such symptoms, people often mistake cervical spine disorder indicators for coronary artery disease, and although individuals of any age can develop spine threatening injuries, the people that are affected by it the most are the elderly. This is because as one ages spinal discs that absorb any type of shock wear out increasing elders' chances of developing degenerative alterations in their cervical spine. *The young Patients younger than eight years old with cervical spinal cord casualties have an increased chance of dying while those older than eight years have similar effects as adults. They are usually immobilized from the shoulder up until consciousness is regained and symptoms are gone.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis process might include a physician who tests that the movement, strength, and sensation of the arms and legs are normal. The spine is examined for its range of motion and any pain that may arise from movement. Blood work might be utilized in addition to radiographic imaging in order to identify spinal cord diseases. Basic imaging techniques, which includes x-ray imaging, can reveal degenerative changes of the spine, while more advanced imaging techniques, such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can allow visualization of more detailed anatomical structures, including that of the associated nerves and muscles. The most detailed and specific testing is

electrodiagnostic Electrodiagnosis (EDX) is a method of medical diagnosis that obtains information about diseases by passively recording the electrical activity of body parts (that is, their natural electrophysiology) or by measuring their response to external elect ...

, which helps to uncover whether the appropriate electrical signals are being sent to each muscle from the correlate nerves. This aids in localizing a problem's source. There are risks to be considered with any diagnostic testing. For example, in the case of CT imaging, there is obvious benefit over x-ray in that a more thorough picture of the anatomy is exposed, but there is a trade-off in that CT has around a 10-fold increased radiation exposure; alternatively, while MRI provides highly detailed imaging of the anatomy with the benefit of no radiation exposure to the patient, the high cost of this test must be taken into account.

Treatments

If one's symptoms are mild, treatments like

Massage Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In Eu ...

Exercise Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic ...

, and

Stress management Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning. Stress produces num ...

will suffice in reducing pain and pressure, but those with more severe symptoms are told to undergo unique therapies based on their exact situation. These patients most likely will have their postures and spine alignment fixed, and/or treatments like

electrical stimulation Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a technique that uses low-energy electrical pulses to artificially generate body movements in individuals who have been paralyzed due to injury to the central nervous system. More specifically, FES can ...

may be used to help in reducing pain and aid in flexibility. Medicine, epidural injections and surgeries are also implemented to treat such a disorder.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cervical Spine Disorder Musculoskeletal disorders