Exercises For Cervical Spondylosis

By Suparna Chakaraborthy

Thursday, March 10, 2011, 11:15

The IT culture has brought with it many causes of ill-health but one of the major disease which is common among people specially after 50 is spondylitis. Spondylitis are of several types but one of the most common types is cervical spondylosis.

It is a disorder of the cervical spine, when the neck is strained excessively on one side. Due to the degeneration of the intervertebral discs, the nerve roots on both side of the spin is effected which causes pain in the upper limb. When even the posterior intervertebral discs are effected pain in the neck takes place. The common symptoms of spondylitis are neck pain, pain the forearms and hands, giddiness and lack of strength in the hands.

Exercise for cervical spondylosis is the best cure. Exercise though is effective only at the moderate level. For more sever cases, operation is opted. Lets look at some exercises for cervical spondylosis -

1.Arm Lifts – Stretch your arms straight in front of you and then rise it to bring it near your ears. While this exercise for cervical spondylosis, you might feel pain bring the hands near the ears. Don't force yourself and raise it till the level you can. Do it eight times regularly and slowly you will find improvement.

2.Shoulder Workout – Stand with legs wide apart and then raise your shoulder. Hold the position for sometime and then relax. Repeat the action eight times. After this rotate your shoulder both clockwise and anti-clockwise. Do this five times continuously.

3.Neck Movement – This cervical spondylosis exercise can be very painful as it targets the main area of pain I.e the neck. In this exercise you need to stand straight with legs apart. Place your hands on your waist and rotate your neck slowly both ways. Then drop your chin to your chest and raise it up again. After doing it for five times, move your neck to both right and left shoulder. These movements of the neck helps to treat the stiffness.

4.Isometric Exercise – Place your palm on both sides of your forehead and try to bring your shoulder to your ears. Hold the position for 5-6 counts and then relax. Place your hands behind the head and try push your head backwards. Hold the position for 5-6 counts. Repeat the actions with normal breathing process.

5.Stretching Exercises – Stretch your hands above your head and hold them together. Your hands should touch the ears. Push your hands upwards. Do it for 6 counts and then relax. Repeat the action for 5-6 times.

These five exercises for cervical spondylosis need to be done regularly for immediate effect. Some guidelines for spondylitis exercises are that do all the exercises in a slow motion, don't exert yourself if it hurts too much, relax after every exercise and wait till the pain has subsided.