Modern people, especially city dwellers, quite often hear a crunch in the neck with a sharp turn of the head, feel temporary numbness in the fingers, heaviness in the back of the head, headaches, discomfort in the collar region (neck, shoulders). Many do not think about the causes of such sensations or attribute them to ordinary fatigue. However, these may be symptoms of a complex disease that the cervical vertebrae thus signal to you.
The human spine is made up of vertebrae, which are connected by disks. Compared to the rest of the spine, our neck is the most mobile, because we are able to turn our heads at a greater angle than the body. Therefore, the cervical vertebrae are more vulnerable to movement. A great burden is also assigned to them, because the neck supports the head in an upright position. And if in the rest of the spine in the vertebrae there passes the canal of the spinal cord, transmitting impulses (orders of our brain) to other parts of the body, then the vertebral artery, which is responsible for the blood supply to the brain, and nerve trunks that give sensitivity to our hands, also run to the cervical vertebrae, legs, neck.
In people who often feel unpleasant numbness in the shoulders and neck, tingling in the fingers, tinnitus, darkening of the eyes, dizziness, there are hidden processes leading to deformation of the cervical spine. In the discs that hold the cervical vertebrae together, protrusion or hernia of the disc, bone growths can form, which will compress or irritate the nerve endings, thereby causing unpleasant sensations, and later pain. As a result of a weakened supply of blood to the brain (and, accordingly, oxygen), a person often experiences headaches, migraines, chronic fatigue, dizziness, and drowsiness.
All of the above are symptoms of a disease called osteochondrosis of the cervical vertebra. This is a very common disease, gaining rapid pace in connection with the emergence of professions that require prolonged sitting at the monitor or in other tense frozen poses. Osteochondrosis affects computer scientists, truckers, people who lead not very mobile lives.
At first, this can manifest itself in light short-term dizziness and fatigue, but as the vertebral artery is squeezed , the disease gains momentum: pressure surges begin, hypertension, vegetative-vascular dystonia develop, heart problems occur, up to loss of consciousness. The cervical vertebrae wear out, which leads to spasms of the vessels of the cervical spine, and in some cases to their crushing. With age, the picture is aggravated by senile narrowing of the lumen inside the vertebral arteries as a result of atherosclerotic processes. If you start the disease, then the changes in the cervical vertebrae become irreversible. Do not think that osteochondrosis is a senile disease: now more and more young people 15-20 years old complain of back and neck pain, 30% of headaches are actually caused by insufficient supply of blood to the brain as a result of compression of the intervertebral arteries.
Therefore, to prevent osteochondrosis of the cervical vertebrae, special attention must be paid to the prevention of the disease. If you are forced to spend a lot of time in a motionless and tense pose, do a small exercise every hour: tilt your head several times, then in one direction, then in the other, then up, then down, make circular movements with your head; move your shoulders and make hand movements. It is necessary to think about gradually getting rid of bad habits - for example, smoking only contributes to the narrowing of blood vessels. Watch your figure - obesity and overweight only add fuel to the fire. The development of osteochondrosis can also contribute to metabolic disorders. Pay attention to healthy sleep: a high pillow, too soft mattress do not allow the body to give a strictly horizontal position, necessary for resting the neck.