Gore et al. (1986) used lateral cervical radiographs in 200 asymptomatic adults aged 20-65 to establish normative data for cervical lordosis and spinal canal sagittal diameters, and to quantify how often degenerative changes appear in people who have never had neck symptoms.
When a cervical spine X-ray in an older patient shows spondylotic changes — disc narrowing, osteophytes, end-plate sclerosis.
Remember that these findings are present in the majority of asymptomatic people over 60; always correlate imaging with the clinical exam before attributing a patient's symptoms to a radiographic abnormality.
Similarly, isolated loss of cervical lordosis or focal kyphosis on plain film, without other clinical findings, should not be over-interpreted as inherently pathologic.
Gore et al. (1986) used lateral cervical radiographs in 200 asymptomatic adults aged 20-65 to establish normative data for cervical lordosis and spinal canal sagittal diameters, and to quantify how often degenerative changes appear in people who have never had neck symptoms.
When a cervical spine X-ray in an older patient shows spondylotic changes — disc narrowing, osteophytes, end-plate sclerosis.
Remember that these findings are present in the majority of asymptomatic people over 60; always correlate imaging with the clinical exam before attributing a patient's symptoms to a radiographic abnormality.
Similarly, isolated loss of cervical lordosis or focal kyphosis on plain film, without other clinical findings, should not be over-interpreted as inherently pathologic.