Spondylosis is an inflammation of the vertebral joints. Common symptoms include extreme pain and contraction in the back or the cervical region of the neck, shoulders, and the lower spine. The pain caused due to spondylosis increases gradually over time and is rarely a sudden onset of severe pain.
Earlier this used to affect people in their 40s & 50s, but lately this has started impacting people as early as their 20s due to bad lifestyle habits (e.g. texting neck due to overuse of mobiles).
Depending on the vertebral joints involved, symptoms of spondylosis may include:
Causes of spondylosis may include:
At Vivacare Advanced Physiotherapy and Pain Clinic, our physiotherapists will assess the cause of your condition and advise you with an individualized treatment plan. The clinic provides the following therapies to bring you quick and long term relief:
You will be given a home exercise regime including strengthening and stretching exercises to maintain the effects of therapy and bring long term relief.
If stiffness and pain are limiting daily movement, or you notice tingling/weakness radiating into the arms or legs, it’s worth getting assessed to slow progression and stay functional.
No — spondylosis refers to age- or wear-related degeneration of the spinal joints and discs, while a slipped disc is a specific herniation of disc material. They can occur together but are distinct conditions.
The degenerative changes themselves can’t be reversed, but symptoms — pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility — respond well to physiotherapy, and progression can often be slowed with the right habits.
They’re closely related — spondylosis is essentially osteoarthritis affecting the spinal joints and discs specifically, rather than a separate condition.
Yes, increasingly so — prolonged poor posture, especially "text neck" from heavy mobile phone use, is now causing earlier degenerative changes in people in their 20s and 30s.
Not necessarily — many people have visible degenerative changes on imaging with little to no pain, while others with milder changes experience significant discomfort; symptoms depend on individual factors.
