SIB# 428 - Cervical Lordosis and Cervical Disc Herniation

The Study:  Correlation between cervical lordosis and cervical disc herniation in young patients with neck pain  

The Facts: 

a. Both loss of the normal cervical lordosis and cervical disc herniation are related to neck pain.  

b. The authors indicated that studies seldom look at the correlation between cervical lordosis and cervical disc herniation in subjects who have neck pain. 

c. The authors recruited 300 subjects, all of whom were younger than 40. 

d. They looked at disc herniations and the amount of spinal cord compression that was caused by these discs.  

d. They also looked at the degree of disc herniation and cord compression in those with different amounts of loss of the normal cervical lordosis.  

e. “The degree of disc herniation in the straight (1.58±1.49) and kyphosis (3.31±1.50 groups were higher than that in the lordosis group (0.88±1.31).” 

f. “We followed up the patients who showed improved cervical lordosis over a period of time and compared the different clinical variables between the first and last visits. It showed that a decreased degree of disc herniation was observed along with increased cervical lordosis …”  The authors also noted an improvement in the disc space with improved lordosis.

 g. “In conclusion, our study is the first to show that the degree of disc herniation and cervical spinal cord compression are inversely correlated to cervical lordosis in young neck pain patients, and the degree of disc herniation and height of disc space can recover with the recovery of cervical curvature.”

 Take Home:

More pronounced lordotic curves correlate with decreased disc herniation problems. Restoration of the cervical lordosis tends to reduce disc herniation and improve disc spacing.

Reviewer's Comments:

Cool! That would indicate structural rehabilitation actually makes a difference. Oh wait, we’ve been saying that here for years. I suggest you read the full text.

Reviewer:  Roger Coleman DC 

Editor: Mark R. Payne DC

Reference: Kun Gao, Jilang Zhang, Jinquan Lai et. al. Correlation between cervical lordosis and cervical disc herniation in young patients with neck pain. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Aug;98(31):e16545. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000016545.

Link to Abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31374017/  

Link to Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6708878/pdf/medi-98-e16545.pdf