Spondylosis is caused from years of constant abnormal pressure, caused by joint subluxation, stress induced by sports, acute and/or repetitive trauma, or poor posture, being placed on the vertebrae and the discs between them.

The abnormal stress causes the body to form new bone in order to compensate for the new weight distribution. This abnormal weight bearing from bone displacement will cause spondylosis to occur.

Poor postures and loss of the normal spinal curves can lead to spondylosis as well. Spondylosis can affect a person at any age; however, older people are more susceptible.

There are multiple techniques used in the diagnosis of spondylosis, these are;

• Cervical Compression Test, a variant of spuling test is performed by laterally flexing the patient’s head and placing downward pressure on it. Neck or shoulder pain on the ipsilateral side (i.e. the side to which the head is flexed) indicates a positive result for this test. A positive test result is not necessarily a positive result for spondylosis and as such additional testing is required.
• hlermite sign: feeling of electrical shock with patient neck flexion
• Reduced range of motion of the neck, the most frequent objective finding on physical examination
• MRI and CT scans are helpful for pain diagnosis but generally are not definitive and must be considered together with physical examinations and history