What is Cervical Spondylitis?
Causes of Cervical Spondylitis
As people age, the structures that make up the backbone and neck gradually develop wear and tear. These causes includes:
Bone Spurs: Bony overgrowths are the result of the body trying to grow extra bone for making the spine stronger. However, the extra bone can press on delicate nerve areas of the spine, such as the spinal cord and spinal nerves which results in pain.
Dehydrated Discs: Spinal bones have discs between them, which are thick, padlike cushions between vertebrae that absorb the shock of lifting, twisting, and other activities. The gel-like material inside these discs can dry out with ageing. This causes your spinal bones to rub together more, which can be painful.
Cervical Spondylosis Treatment
Herniated Disks: Spinal discs can develop cracks due to which leakage of the internal cushioning fluid can take place. This material can press the spinal cord and nerves roots, resulting in symptoms such as numbness of the arm and pain that radiates down an arm.
Stiff Ligaments: Ligaments play an important role for the body. The cords that connect your spinal bones to each other can become even stiffer over time with age, which affects your neck movement and makes the neck less flexible.
Occupational Factor : Some occupations or hobbies involve repetitive movements of the neck and heavy weight lifting. Sedentary lifestyle is common these days. This is responsible for putting extra pressure on the spine,and resulting in early wear and tear of the bones of the neck.
Causes of Cervical Spondylitis
Commonly cervical spondylosis begins with no symptoms at all, gradually symptoms start developing such as stiffness in neck and pain in neck. Sometimes, cervical spondylosis may result in a narrowing of the space needed by the spinal cord and the nerve roots that originate at the spinal cord and pass from the spine to the rest of your body. If the spinal cord or nerve roots pinched, you may experience:
Tingling Sensation, numbness and a feeling of weakness in the neck which travels to arms, hands, legs or feet.
- Lack of coordination of muscles and bones and difficulty in walking.
- Loss of bladder control or bowel control.
- Headaches.
- A feeling of grinding when you move your neck.
- Stiffness in the neck.
- Trouble maintaining your balance.
Ayurvedic Management for Cervical Spondylitis
According to Ayurveda, the symptoms of cervical spondylosis are due to Vata Dosha. Whereas, there are several cervical spondylosis treatments in Ayurveda that have treated the condition naturally.
Ayurveda uses medicines and Panchakarma therapies like Basti and medicated enema that can improve the symptoms of cervical spondylosis. These procedures may run depending on how well the individual body responds to the treatment.
Ayurveda helps in bringing harmony and balance of the doshas in the human body. Imbalance in the vata is considered as the main cause of any kind of irregularity in the body’s vital functions affecting the daily routines.