Can cervical spondylosis cause cerebral infarction?

Cerebral infarction is actually very common in some middle-aged and elderly people, but it also seriously threatens a person's life. If the cerebral infarction is serious, it will block the normal operation of the arteries in the brain, resulting in blood being unable to supply to the brain. However, there are many causes of cerebral infarction. Some people find that they have had old infarction after suffering from cervical spondylosis. So is cervical spondylosis really related to cerebral infarction?

Cervical spondylosis can cause cerebral infarction. Many people have expressed doubts that cervical spondylosis is a disease caused by degenerative changes in the cervical spine, which causes deformation and stenosis of the cervical spinal canal or intervertebral foramen, stimulates and compresses the cervical spinal cord and nerve roots, and causes corresponding clinical symptoms. Cerebral infarction is caused by various emboli entering the intracranial arteries with the blood flow, causing acute occlusion of the blood vessel lumen.

It causes ischemic necrosis of brain tissue and brain dysfunction in the corresponding blood supply area. The two are unrelated. How can cervical spondylosis cause cerebral infarction? Will cervical spondylosis specifically cause cerebral infarction?

It is possible that cervical spondylosis can cause cerebral infarction. It is only determined by the anatomical, physiological and pathological characteristics of the cervical spine. Under normal circumstances, the head position changes through the movement of the cervical spine. This movement will not cause the vertebral body to be dislocated anterior and posteriorly because of the elastic intervertebral disc. As we age, the muscles and ligaments in the neck become strained and degenerate, and the strength and function of the fixed joints weaken. When we lower or raise our head, the neck joints become unstable, swing, and dislocate, which will inevitably stimulate the vertebral artery passing through the transverse foramen of the cervical vertebrae, causing it to spasm, contract or twist, resulting in insufficient blood supply to the brain.

In addition, because the fibers of the intervertebral disc are attached to the edge of the vertebral body, dislocation will cause repeated pulling of the annulus fibrosus, irritating the edge of the vertebral body, causing bone hyperplasia, compressing the vertebral artery, causing vertebral artery stenosis or spasm, and also causing insufficient blood supply to the brain. Clinically, symptoms include dizziness, nausea, tinnitus, and blurred vision. Cervical spondylosis often occurs in middle-aged and elderly people, who are often accompanied by cerebral arteriosclerosis, which slows down the cerebral blood flow, making it easy to form blood clots and cause cerebral infarction.

Finally, patients with cervical spondylosis should pay attention to turning their heads slowly and using a low, not too hard pillow to reduce the pressure of the hypertrophic vertebral body on the vertebral artery and reduce the occurrence of cerebral infarction.