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Cervical muscle diseases are associated with indefinite and various symptoms in the whole body

European Spine Journal volume 29, pages 1013–1021 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

Patients with various and indefinite symptoms in the whole body occasionally have coincident with stiffness or tenderness of the cervical muscles. This prospective case series examined the effect of local modulation of the cervical muscles in patients with cervical disorders reporting indefinite whole-body symptoms.

Methods

A total of 1863 hospitalized patients with cervical disorders accompanying three or more indefinite whole-body symptoms, who were resistant to outpatient care, were enrolled in this study for 12 years. All patients underwent daily physical therapies to the cervical muscles during hospitalization. Self-rated records on the medical interview sheets documenting 30 representative symptoms including cervical/shoulder pain or stiffness and 28 representative indefinite whole-body symptoms at admission and discharge were compared across the population.

Results

The number of symptoms decreased significantly with the local modulation of the cervical muscles during hospitalization. All of the 28 indefinite whole-body symptoms at admission showed recovery rates greater than 50% at discharge. The mean number of symptoms decreased significantly from 17.8 at admission to 7.4 at discharge (p < 0.0001). The percentages of patients reporting 10 or more symptoms were 91.1% and 29.3% at admission and discharge, respectively. Moreover, 8.2% of patients reported no residual symptoms at discharge.

Conclusion

Cervical muscle lesions may contribute to indefinite whole-body symptoms, possibly through dysfunction of the parasympathetic nervous system in the muscles. Local modulation of cervical muscles could lead to a breakthrough in the management of patients with indefinite whole-body symptoms.

Trial registration ID

UMIN000035445.

Graphic abstract

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mrs. Hiroki Fujii, Tomohiko Kaneko, and Naoto Yanagi at our institutions for their invaluable technical assistance.

Funding

There was no funding associated with this study. The patients were hospitalized for intensive treatment and detailed examinations, but not for this study. The cost of treatment was borne partly by the patients and partly by the Japanese national insurance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tokyo Neurological Center, Toranomon 4-1-17, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-0001, Japan

    Takayoshi Matsui, Takamasa Kayama, Makoto Iwata, Nobuyuki Shitara, Shuntaro Hojo, Yuzo Endo, Hideoki Fukuoka & Hiroshi Kawaguchi

  2. Matsui Hospital, Kan-nonji 739, Kagawa, 768-0013, Japan

    Takayoshi Matsui & Kazuhiro Hara

  3. University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Noriko Yoshimura

Authors
  1. Takayoshi Matsui
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  2. Kazuhiro Hara
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  3. Takamasa Kayama
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  4. Makoto Iwata
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  5. Nobuyuki Shitara
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  6. Shuntaro Hojo
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  7. Yuzo Endo
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  8. Hideoki Fukuoka
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  9. Noriko Yoshimura
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  10. Hiroshi Kawaguchi
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Contributions

TM conceived the idea and conception of the performed study. Initiation of the study was done by TM, MI, YE, NS, and HK. TM and HK conducted the ethical approval. Data acquisition was performed by TM, MI, YE, NS, SH, HF, and HK. Data interpretation were carried out by TM, KH, NY and HK. NY and HK performed the statistical analysis. TM and HK were responsible for writing the initial manuscript. Figure design was undertaken by TM and HK. Proofreading was carried out by all authors. All authors gave approval of the submitted version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroshi Kawaguchi.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was conducted with the approval of the institutional review board of Tokyo Neurological Center and Matsui Hospital. All participants provided written consent to participate in the study. All rights of the patients were protected against any kind of disadvantage and individual matters.

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Not applicable. We are permitted to reproduce copyrighted materials.

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Cite this article

Matsui, T., Hara, K., Kayama, T. et al. Cervical muscle diseases are associated with indefinite and various symptoms in the whole body. Eur Spine J 29, 1013–1021 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-019-06233-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-019-06233-5

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