The cervical region is made up of seven vertebrae and is located between the head and thoracic region. It is estimated that we move the cervical region about 600 times an hour at least, since it is responsible for moving the head when we do all our daily activities.
The main pathologies include:
- Cervicalgia: Also called neck pain, it is almost always caused by degenerative changes.
- Brachialgia: arm pain.
- Cervicobrachialgia: pain in cervical spine and arm.
- Cervical myelopathy: the spinal canal narrows, causing a spinal cord compression. It is caused by degenerative changes, not by trauma or tumours. It is a slow but inexorable process that must be diagnosed by neurological examinations, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), computerized axial tomography (CAT) and Echo doppler.
The treatment of neck pain should be medical (analgesia, muscle relaxants) and rehabilitational (the surgical collar used for too long can cause muscle atrophy). In severe cases, surgical treatment is intended to relieve pressure in the narrowed (compressed) area and stabilize it.
