I’ve noticed c1 issues have been mentioned on this site often. Does anyone know is there any correlation with eagle syndrome? I wonder if there is any connection with spine?
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People who have issues w/ C1 often seem to also have styloid elongation &/or stylohyoid ligament calcification. We’ve speculated that when the cervical spine isn’t stable or is not well aligned, the body senses weakness in the area & lays down extra calcification in the neck (on styloids/s-h ligaments) to try to create the stability it senses is lacking in that area. Unfortunately, when that happens, the results are often more problems rather than less which the body is trying to achieve.
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interesting. What is the c1 shave people and drs speak of? Dr Osbourne mentioned this and said he believed (his philosophy) was leaving c1 but removing styloid. Essentially removing the outer wall. Made sense. Plus c1 shave seems drastic. Although my biggest concern with styloid removal is what happens to the muscles and ligament attached. (Sorry pecking on a phone or I’d get a bit more technical with names).
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The C1 shave varies with doctors; some are quite conservative and just make more of a groove for the internal jugular veins to lie in, and then with removing the styloid process as well the idea is to remove compression. Other doctors shave some of the transverse process to remove the compression, some doctors are more ‘aggressive’ with their treatment and remove quite a bit of the transverse process- ligaments that link the C-spine vertebrae together are still intact, but there are risks with bleeding more if too much is removed.
For some people, there’s more compression from the C1 transverse processes so just removing the styloid isn’t enough. Dr Osborne has had good results with his surgeries, but if there is significant compression then the surgery might not help.
Some doctors believe it contributes to instability, others disagree. Same with our members who’ve had a C1 shave… The surgery hasn’t been performed for that many years, so while not experimental, I don’t know if there’s much research been done as to longer term outcomes…
We get asked this alot- when the styloid process is removed close to the skull base, the muscles & ligaments are detached before removal, and they’re left in to be reabsorbed by the body. I don’t know why, but it doesn’t have any effects on swallowing, talking etc, there’s no noticeable difference!
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