Mobility and degenerative changes of the ageing cervical spine. A macroscopic and statistical study

In our morphological and kinesiological study, degenerative changes of the human cervical spine became more frequent and severe with advancing age. Disk splits and diarthrodial cartilage loss were the first lesions to appear. Apophyseal osteophytes arose approximately two decades after apophyseal cartilage loss, paradiscal osteophytes two decades after disk splits and irregularity of the vertebral end-plates 10-15 years after the appearance of paradiscal osteophytes. Because all these degenerative lesions are associated with loss of mobility, advancing age is correlated with decreasing mobility as well. In the absence of progression of any degenerative lesion, however, no change in mobility was found.