Ease neck pain and stiffness (cervical spondylosis). It’s easy!

Cervical spondylosis (also known as neck arthritis)

is a general term for age-related wear and tear affecting the spinal disks in your neck. As the disks dehydrate and shrink, signs of osteoarthritis develop, including bony projections along the edges of neck bones (bone spurs). Cervical spondylosis most often causes neck pain and stiffness. This condition is very common and it worsens with age. It usually affects people in their 40s and over, however, patients with cervical spondylosis in their 20’s and 30’s are frequent nowadays, too. Why does it happen? The reasons are simple:

• Sitting in front of computer for a long periods of time
• Stress
• Lack of knowledge of how to regulate and balance the symptoms when they start to appear

When keeping the same posture for a long period of time we lean forward causing the cervical vertebra to strain. It suppress the middle line of the back, from top of the head to the end of coccyx bone (the Du meridian 督脉). Du meridian is the governor of the Yang energy and spirit. When it is suppressed it affects the whole Yang of the body, which over the time causes the whole spine to be prone to be curved and spirit to be declined. Therefore the human spirit is not consumed by the mental labor, but by the wrong posture!

How to tell if cervical vertebrae are healthy or not?

There are various signals from the body in the daily life, which correspond with different types of cervical spine problems:

• When you are sitting with your head down for a long time while reading, writing or studying at your desk, you feel dizzy. This could be the sign of the vertebral artery type of cervical spondylosis.
• Unexplained neck pain, stiffness in the shoulders & numbness in the arms, could signal the nerve root cervical vertebra sickness.
• Weakness, heaviness and/or numbness in the hands and arms, loss of balance and coordination, and neck pain can all result from cervical spondylotic myelopathy disease.
• Following symptoms are associated with the sympathetic cervical spondylosis: frequent dizziness, vertigo, numbness in the hands (also often shoulder and arm pain), tachycardia, tinnitus, chest pain, as well as migraine headaches or visual disturbances.

These series of problems are all caused by the poor posture. The good news is – one acupuncture point SI 3 (后溪 hou xi) can solve them all!

SI 3 (后溪 hou xi) location:

When a loose fist is made, this point is close to the head of the 5th metacarpal bone on the ulnar side at the junction of the red & white skin. This is a meeting point of eight extraordinary meridians, and through Du meridian, it can clear the heart fire, strengthen Yang energy, regulate cervical vertebra, benefit the eyes and straighten the spine. If you experience any of the symptoms described above this point will help to release the issues. It’s very simple to self stimulate it. When you sit at a table, hold your fists on the edge of table against these two points and rub them gently rolling your fists back and forth for 3 to 5 minutes. Try to repeat it every one hour to achieve best results. If you give it a try for one day, you will notice that your waist is not aching, neck is not tired from work and eyes are at ease. Try doing this simple exercise every day. I suggest to use an alarm clock on your mobile as a reminder. This exercise requires little effort and time and is well worth doing. Remember! No matter how busy you are, oonly you are aware of your own body and only you can look after your own health!