[Clinical symptoms and imaging findings of cervical instability in young adult].

Objective: To explore clinical symptoms and X-ray imaging features of cervical instability in young adult represented by postgraduates with a master's degree in medicine.

Methods: Totally 91 postgraduates with a master's degree in medicine were investigated from September to December 2021, including 45 males and 46 females;aged from 22 to 30 years old with an average of (25.30±2.18) years old. The cervical spondylosis-related discomfort symptoms of the subjects were collected and examined by the examiner for neck and shoulder tenderness point examination and cervical vertebra positive and lateral and functional X-ray radiography. According to the results of X-ray examination, the subjects were divided into stable cervical group and unstable cervical group.

Results: Among 91 subjects, there were 50 patients with cervical instability, accounting for 54.90% of total number of subjects. The cervical curvature was abnormal in 78 patients, accounting for 85.70% of total number of subjects. Among 50 patients with cervical instability, 50 patients were diagnosed as cervical instability on the basis of angular displaxement(AD)≥ 11 °, including 13 cases of C instability, 30 cases of C instability and 7 cases of C instability;and 5 cases were diagnosed as cervical instability based on horizontal displacement(HD)≥ 3.5 mm, including 1 case of C instability and 4 cases of C instability. Compared with stable cervical group, the number of discomfort symptoms of neck pain, headache and shoulder pain in instability group was significantly higher than that of in stable cervical group(<0.05);and the number of tenderness in spinous process space of C and C, 2 cm adjacent to the spinous process of C-C and the superior angle of the scapula (the stop point of levator scapulae) in the instability group was significantly higher than that in the stable cervical group (<0.05);and the cervical curvature in the instability group was significantly lower than that in stable cervical group(<0.05).

Conclusion: The incidence of cervical instability in young adult represented by postgraduates with a master's degree in medicine is high, they are mainly diagnosed as cervical instability on the basis of vertebral angular displacement ≥ 11°, and the instability segments are concentrated on C, C and C segments, the occurrence of cervical instability is often accompanied by abnormalities of cervical curvature. Most of clinical manifestations are head, neck and shoulder pain, especially neck pain in unstable segment.