If you are over the age of 55 and suffer from frequent or recurring neck pain then you may have a condition called Cervical Spondylosis or Neck Arthritis (osteoarthritis) as it’s more commonly known.

Cervical Spondylosis can be quite a troublesome condition. Often it comes and goes, some days you can wake up and feel perfectly fine, other days you can wake up and feel stiff, sore, general headache and restricted movement in the neck.

What is Neck Arthritis?

It occurs when the intervertebral discs which sit between the intervertebral bodies begin to thin with age. So as we get older the discs tend to dry out and they lose their thickness and the joints that they cushion end up sitting closer together.

As the joints begin to approximate they cause excessive rubbing between the facet joint surfaces, so as we move and go about our daily lives the bones begin to wear.

Now as I mentioned before, this forms part of the normal ageing process and often this is a painless condition. So we don’t feel wear and tear in our bones and the reason for that is the cartilage which separates the discs. They are what’s called anaural, which means it has no nerve endings or blood supply.

When tissues don’t have nerves or nerve endings, then when they wear down and you don’t feel any pain. We can live with arthritis without feeling any issues at all.

Eventually though if the cartilage wears to a significant degree, where you have bone touching on bone, then that causes inflammation and irritation between the facet joints, it’s this inflammation which causes pain.

Now unfortunately the condition is chronic so the effects of arthritis are irreversible but the symptoms can actually be treated quite well and effectively in the comfort of your own home with the correct information.

Treating Neck Arthritis effectively?

If you suspect that you have arthritis of the neck (Cervical Spondylosis) then get your symptoms assessed with our pain assessment tool.

Once you’ve identified the likely cause you’ll be able to download a treatment guide. It will tell you everything you need to know about Cervical Spondylosis. It will help you manage the pain effectively.

Start your Pain Assessment Get the Treatment Guide

Watch the ‘Neck Arthritis – definition and treatment’ video

Other resources

Causes of Cervical Spondylosis – how Neck Arthritis starts
Arthritis in the neck – Cervical Spondylosis
Cervical Spondylosis (Arthritis of the Neck)