Somatic dysfunction of the cervical spine and its complex clinical picture: The fundamentals of diagnostics of cervicobrachialgia and cervicocephalic syndrome through manual medicine

Abstract

Patients suffering from a segmental and somatic dysfunction of the cervical spine often present a wide variety of clinical symptoms related to cervicobrachial or cervicocephalic syndrome. These symptoms might evolve out of complex neural intersegmental or trigeminocervical interactions in the brain stem or the spinal cord of the cervical spine. After the exclusion of life-threatening preconditions, a careful physical examination with aspects of manual medicine aspects might unmask the cervical dysfunction as the primary cause of the symptoms. Treatment with manual medicine on the basis of a segmental antinociceptive proprioceptive input might then be an appropriate therapeutic approach.