If not treated right away, there are many consequences and pains various cervical spine disorders can cause.

- Neck pains Pains in the neck area tend to be tenacious and persistent and most muscles in the cervical spinal region tighten causing for discomfort.

- Headaches Headaches are further triggered through the stiffness of neck muscles, which pull at their attachment to the skull. These headaches are recurrent in nature and start from the base of the skull and emanate upwards; they can be painful or mild.

- Arm pains Muscular spasms within the arm are further common symptoms in which such spasms are seen right above the collarbones and pressure is placed on the Brachial plexus causing arms to feel heavy and ache.

- Difficulty walking Hardships arise with cervical spinal injuries when issues with walking, balancing, and posture are affected all due to the spinal cord being compressed resulting in Myelopathy.

- Those with extremely severe outcomes may result in:Impairment

It is through upper frontal chest discomfort (also known as cervical angina) and scapular pains which signs of cervical spine disorders are shown. In 1937 a man named Oille was the first to state that these chest pains originated from the cervical nerve root. This new outlook helped shed light on exactly what signs indicated the beginning of these ailments for those suffering from cervical spine disorders. It is now recognized that these patients feel pain, numbness, discomfort, and weakness along with neurological symptoms.

- Numbness Numbness occurs when one develops a “pinched” nerve not allowing for the flow of electrical charges, which may result in the death of the nerve fiber.

- Weakness An individual becomes weak due to the compression of nerves encompassing cervical spine disorders, thus resulting in the inability to move or use arms. Those who suffer from such symptoms should seek medical treatment as soon as possible.

The thoracic spine begins at the base of the neck and extends to the middle of the trunk. Any pain in this area is considered "middle back pain".

The exact symptoms associated with middle back pain will depend upon the underlying cause. Most middle back pain is not serious in nature. However, it does tend to have more serious pathology associated with it than pain in the neck or low back. Symptoms can include pain, either locally near the spine or referred along area the corresponding nerve dermatome. Symptoms can also include numbness or pins and needles when nerve irritation or compression is involved. Weakness in the legs or loss of bowel or bladder control in the presence of thoracic spine pain can indicate spinal cord compression and should be investigated.

Degenerative disc disease can result in lower back or upper neck pain, but this isn't always true across the board. In fact, the amount of degeneration does not correlate well with the amount of pain patients experience. Many people experience no pain while others, with exactly the same amount of damage have severe, chronic pain. Whether a patient experiences pain or not largely depends on the location of the affected disc and the amount of pressure that is being put on the spinal column and surrounding nerve roots.

Nevertheless, degenerative disc disease is one of the most common sources of back pain and affects approximately 30 million people every year. With symptomatic degenerative disc disease, the pain can vary depending on the location of the affected disc. A degenerated disc in the lower back can result in lower back pain, sometimes radiating to the hips, as well as pain in the buttocks, thighs or legs. If pressure is being placed on the nerves by exposed nucleus pulposus, sporadic tingling or weakness through the knees and legs can also occur.

A degenerated disc in the upper neck will often result in pain to the neck, arm, shoulders and hands; tingling in the fingers may also be evident if nerve impingement is occurring.

Pain is most commonly felt or worsened by movements such as sitting, bending, lifting and twisting.

After an injury, some discs become painful because of inflammation and the pain comes and goes. Some people have nerve endings that penetrate more deeply into the anulus fibrosus (outer layer of the disc) than others, making discs more likely to generate pain. In the alternative, the healing of trauma to the outer anulus fibrosus may result in the innervation of the scar tissue and pain impulses from the disc, as these nerves become inflamed by nucleus pulposus material. Degenerative disc disease can lead to a chronic debilitating condition and can have a serious negative impact on a person's quality of life. When pain from degenerative disc disease is severe, traditional nonoperative treatment may be ineffective.

Symptoms of a herniated disc can vary depending on the location of the herniation and the types of soft tissue that become involved. They can range from little or no pain if the disc is the only tissue injured, to severe and unrelenting neck or lower back pain that will radiate into the regions served by affected nerve roots that are irritated or impinged by the herniated material. Often, herniated discs are not diagnosed immediately, as the patients come with undefined pains in the thighs, knees, or feet. Other symptoms may include sensory changes such as numbness, tingling, paresthesia, and motor changes such as muscular weakness, paralysis and affection of reflexes. If the herniated disc is in the lumbar region the patient may also experience sciatica due to irritation of one of the nerve roots of the sciatic nerve. Unlike a pulsating pain or pain that comes and goes, which can be caused by muscle spasm, pain from a herniated disc is usually continuous or at least is continuous in a specific position of the body. It is possible to have a herniated disc without any pain or noticeable symptoms, depending on its location. If the extruded nucleus pulposus material doesn't press on soft tissues or nerves, it may not cause any symptoms. A small-sample study examining the cervical spine in symptom-free volunteers has found focal disc protrusions in 50% of participants, which suggests that a considerable part of the population can have focal herniated discs in their cervical region that do not cause noticeable symptoms.

A prolapsed disc in the lumbar spine can cause radiating nerve pain. This type of pain is usually felt in the lower extremities or groin area. Radiating nerve pain caused by a prolapsed disc can also cause bowel and bladder incontinence.

Typically, symptoms are experienced only on one side of the body. If the prolapse is very large and presses on the nerves within the spinal column or the cauda equina, both sides of the body may be affected, often with serious consequences. Compression of the cauda equina can cause permanent nerve damage or paralysis. The nerve damage can result in loss of bowel and bladder control as well as sexual dysfunction. This disorder is called cauda equina syndrome.

Other complications include chronic pain.

DISH can present with spinal stiffness on forward flexion/back extension, or with mild back pain. It is symptomatic for thoracic spinal pain in approximately 80% of patients. Back pain or stiffness is worse in the morning in almost two-thirds of patients. It may also be asymptomatic and discovered as an incidental radiological abnormality. Dysphagia from cervical spine osteophyte impingement of esophagus is reported in some cases. Similar calcification and ossification may be seen at peripheral entheseal sites, including the shoulder, iliac crest, ischial tuberosity, trochanters of the hip, tibial tuberosities, patellae, and bones of the hands and/or feet.

Understanding the meaning of signs and symptoms for the clinical syndrome of lumbar stenosis requires an understanding of what the syndrome is, and the prevalence of the condition. A recent review on lumbar stenosis in the Journal of the American Medical Association's "Rational Clinical Examination Series" emphasized that the syndrome can be considered when lower extremity pain occurs in combination with back pain. This syndrome occurs in 12% of older community dwelling men and up to 21% of those in retirement communities.

The leg symptoms in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) are similar to those found with vascular claudication, giving rise to the term pseudoclaudication. These symptoms include pain, weakness, and tingling of the legs, which may radiate down the leg to the feet. Additional symptoms in the legs may be fatigue, heaviness, weakness, a sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness and leg cramps, as well as bladder symptoms. Symptoms are most commonly bilateral and symmetrical, but they may be unilateral; leg pain is usually more troubling than back pain.

Pseudoclaudication, now referred to as neurogenic claudication, typically worsen with standing or walking and improve with sitting. The occurrence is often related to posture and lumbar extension. Lying on the side is often more comfortable than lying flat, since it permits greater lumbar flexion. Vascular claudication can resemble spinal stenosis, and some individuals experience unilateral or bilateral symptoms radiating down the legs rather than true claudication.

The first symptoms of stenosis include bouts of low back pain. After a few months or years, this may progress to claudication. The pain may be radicular, following the classic neurologic pathways. This occurs as the spinal nerves or spinal cord become increasingly trapped in a smaller space within the canal. It can be difficult to determine whether pain in the elderly is caused by lack of blood supply or stenosis; testing can usually differentiate between them but patients can have both vascular disease in the legs and spinal stenosis.

Among people with lower extremity pain in combination with back pain, lumbar stenosis as the cause is two times more likely in those older than 70 years of age while those younger than 60 years it is 0.40 as likely. The character of the pain is also useful. When the discomfort does not occur while seated, the likelihood of LSS increases considerably around 7.4 times. Other features increasing the likelihood of lumbar stenosis are improvement in symptoms on bending forward 6.4 times, pain that occurs in both buttocks or legs 6.3 times, and the presence of neurogenic claudication 3.7 times. Alternately, the absence of neurogenic claudication makes lumbar stenosis much less likely as the explanation for the pain.

Thoracic spinal pain was significantly associated with: concurrent musculoskeletal pain; growth and physical; lifestyle and social; backpack; postural; psychological; and environmental factors. Specific risk factors identified in adolescents included age (being older) and poorer mental health.

Scoliosis is a common spinal disease in which the spine has a curvature usually in the shape of the letter "C" or "S". This is most common in girls, but there is no specific cause for scoliosis. Only a few symptoms occur for one with this disease, which include feeling tired in the spinal region or backaches. Generally, if the hips or shoulders are uneven, or if the spine curves, it is due to scoliosis and should be seen by a doctor.

Lumbar spinal stenosis is classified as a narrowing of the spinal canal in the lumbar region of the vertebrae. This may lead to compression of the nerve root of the spinal cord and result in pain of the lower back and lower extremities. Other symptoms include impaired walking and a slightly stooped posture due to loss of disc height and bulging of the disc. Lumbar spinal stenosis is very prevalent with 9.3% of the general population producing symptoms and the number is continuing to rise in patients older than 60. It's generally an indication for spinal surgery in patients older than 65 years of age.

The symptoms of facet joint syndrome depend almost entirely on the location of the degenerated joint, the severity of the damage and the amount of pressure that is being placed on the surrounding nerve roots. It's important to note that the amount of pain a person experiences does not correlate well with the amount of degeneration that has occurred within the joint. Many people experience little or no pain while others, with the exact same amount of damage, undergo chronic pain.

Additionally, in symptomatic facet syndrome the location of the degenerated joint plays a significant role in the symptoms that are experienced. People with degenerated joints in the upper spine will often feel pain radiating throughout the upper neck and shoulders. That said, symptoms primarily manifest themselves in the lumbar spine, since the strain is highest here due to the overlying body weight and the strong mobility. Affected persons usually feel dull pain in the cervical or lumbar spine that can radiate into the buttocks and legs. Typically, the pain is worsened by stress on the facet joints, e.g. by diffraction into hollow back (retroflexion) or lateral flexion but also by prolonged standing or walking.

Pain associated with facet syndrome is often called "referred pain" because symptoms do not follow a specific nerve root pattern and the brain can have difficulty localizing the specific area of the spine that is affected. This is why patients experiencing symptomatic facet syndrome can feel pain in their shoulders, legs and even manifested in the form of headaches.

Symptoms vary depending on whether the spinal cord, brain stem, nerves or their blood supply is affected by the pressure.

Symptoms become apparent when the neck is bent. They include:

- Posterior head pain

- Neck weakness

- Periods of confusion

- Dysarthria (difficulty swallowing or talking due to loss of muscle control)

- Dizziness

- Loss of sensation

- Cranial nerve disturbance

- Loss of the ability to know how joints are positioned

- Lhermitte's sign ('electric shock sensation' down spine and/or to the extremities when the neck is flexed forward)

- Weakness of the arms and legs

- Orthostatic hypotension

- Patients will go into a pool and notice that below their belly button the water is not as cold as it is above.

Complications from this can include hydrocephalus, pseudotumor cerebri or syringomyelia because it blocks the flow of fluid around the brain and spinal cord.

Spondylosis is a broad term meaning degeneration of the spinal column from any cause. In the more narrow sense it refers to spinal osteoarthrosis, the age-related wear and tear of the spinal column, which is the most common cause of spondylosis. The degenerative process in osteoarthritis chiefly affects the vertebral bodies, the neural foramina and the facet joints (facet syndrome). If severe, it may cause pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots with subsequent sensory or motor disturbances, such as pain, paresthesia, imbalance, and muscle weakness in the limbs.

When the space between two adjacent vertebrae narrows, compression of a nerve root emerging from the spinal cord may result in radiculopathy (sensory and motor disturbances, such as severe pain in the neck, shoulder, arm, back, or leg, accompanied by muscle weakness). Less commonly, direct pressure on the spinal cord (typically in the cervical spine) may result in myelopathy, characterized by global weakness, gait dysfunction, loss of balance, and loss of bowel or bladder control. The patient may experience shocks (paresthesia) in hands and legs because of nerve compression and lack of blood flow. If vertebrae of the neck are involved it is labelled cervical spondylosis. Lower back spondylosis is labeled lumbar spondylosis. The term is from Ancient Greek σπόνδυλος "spóndylos", "a vertebra", in plural "vertebrae – the backbone".

Spinal stenosis may be congenital (rarely) or acquired (degenerative), overlapping changes normally seen in the aging spine.

Symptoms of anterolisthesis include:

- A general stiffening of the back and a tightening of the hamstrings, with a resulting change in both posture and gait.

- A leaning-forward or semi-kyphotic posture may be seen, due to compensatory changes.

- A "waddle" may be seen in more advanced causes, due to compensatory pelvic rotation due to decreased lumbar spine rotation.

- A result of the change in gait is often a noticeable atrophy in the gluteal muscles due to lack of use.

- Generalized lower-back pain may also be seen, with intermittent shooting pain from the buttocks to the posterior thigh, and/or lower leg via the sciatic nerve.

Other symptoms may include tingling and numbness. Coughing and sneezing can intensify the pain. An individual may also note a "slipping sensation" when moving into an upright position. Sitting and trying to stand up may be painful and difficult.

Intradural disc herniation is a rare form of disc herniation with an incidence of 0.2-2.2%. Preoperative imaging can be helpful, but intraoperative findings are required to confirm.

Including the symptoms listed above, clinical presentations of "wobblers" can also include neck pain and stiffness, difficulty tracking up or gait abnormalities, decreased performance, intermittent or swapping lameness particularly in diagonal pairs, forelimb lameness, abnormal head and neck posture, defensiveness or change in behavior, and abnormal sweat patterns.

Radiculopathy, also commonly referred to as pinched nerve, refers to a set of conditions in which one or more nerves are affected and do not work properly (a neuropathy). This can result in pain (radicular pain), weakness, numbness, or difficulty controlling specific muscles.

In a radiculopathy, the problem occurs at or near the root of the nerve, shortly after its exit from the spinal cord. However, the pain or other symptoms often radiate to the part of the body served by that nerve. For example, a nerve root impingement in the neck can produce pain and weakness in the forearm. Likewise, an impingement in the lower back or lumbar-sacral spine can be manifested with symptoms in the foot.

The radicular pain that results from a radiculopathy should not be confused with referred pain, which is different both in mechanism and clinical features.

"Polyradiculopathy" refers to the condition where more than one spinal nerve root is affected.

Wobbler disease is a catchall term referring to several possible malformations of the cervical vertebrae that cause an unsteady (wobbly) gait and weakness in dogs and horses. A number of different conditions of the cervical (neck) spinal column cause similar clinical signs. These conditions may include malformation of the vertebrae, intervertebral disc protrusion, and disease of the interspinal ligaments, ligamenta flava, and articular facets of the vertebrae. Wobbler disease is also known as cervical vertebral instability, cervical spondylomyelopathy (CSM), and cervical vertebral malformation (CVM). In dogs, the disease is most common in large breeds, especially Great Danes and Doberman Pinschers. In horses, it is not linked to a particular breed, though it is most often seen in tall, race-bred horses of Thoroughbred or Standardbred ancestry. It is most likely inherited to at least some extent in dogs and horses.

Anterolisthesis can be categorized by cause, location and severity.

In majority of cases, spondylolysis presents asymptomatically which can make diagnosis both difficult and incidental. When a patient does present with symptoms, there are general signs and symptoms a clinician will look for:

- Clinical Signs:

- Pain on completion of the stork test (placed in hyperextension and rotation)

- Excessive lordotic posture

- Unilateral tenderness on palpation

- Visible on diagnostic imaging (Scottie dog fracture)

- Symptoms:

- Unilateral low back pain

- Pain that radiates into the buttocks or legs

- Onset of pain can be acute or gradual

- Pain that can restricts daily activities

- Pain that worsens after strenuous activity

- Pain aggravated with lumbar hyperextension

Degenerative disc disease (DDD) describes the natural breakdown of an intervertebral disc of the spine. Despite its name, DDD is not considered a disease, nor is it progressively degenerative. On the contrary, disc degeneration is often the effect of natural daily stresses and minor injuries that cause spinal discs to gradually lose water as the anulus fibrosus, or the rigid outer shell of a disc, weakens. As discs weaken and lose water, they begin to collapse. This can result in pressure being put on the nerves in the spinal column, causing pain and weakness.

While not always symptomatic, DDD can cause acute or chronic low back or neck pain as well as nerve pain depending on the location of the affected disc and the amount of pressure it places on the surrounding nerve roots.

The typical radiographic findings in DDD are black discs, disc space narrowing, vacuum disc, end plate sclerosis, and osteophyte formation.

DDD can greatly affect quality of life. Disc degeneration is a disease of micro/macro trauma and of aging, and though for most people is not a problem, in certain individuals a degenerated disc can cause severe chronic pain if left untreated.

Cervical spinal stenosis is a bone disease involving the narrowing of the spinal canal at the level of the neck. It is frequently due to chronic degeneration, but may also be congenital. Treatment is frequently surgical.

Cervical spinal stenosis is one of the most common forms of spinal stenosis, along with lumbar spinal stenosis (which occurs at the level of the lower back instead of in the neck). Thoracic spinal stenosis, at the level of the mid-back, is much less common. Cervical spinal stenosis can be far more dangerous by compressing the spinal cord. Cervical canal stenosis may lead to serious symptoms such as major body weakness and paralysis. Such severe spinal stenosis symptoms are virtually absent in lumbar stenosis, however, as the spinal cord terminates at the top end of the adult lumbar spine, with only nerve roots (cauda equina) continuing further down. Cervical spinal stenosis is a condition involving narrowing of the spinal canal at the level of the neck. It is frequently due to chronic degeneration, but may also be congenital or traumatic. Treatment frequently is surgical.

Clinical signs and symptoms depend on which spinal cord level (cervical, thoracic or lumbar) is affected and the extent (anterior, posterior or lateral) of the pathology, and may include:

- upper motor neuron signs—weakness, spasticity, clumsiness, altered tonus, hyperreflexia and pathological reflexes, including Hoffmann's sign and inverted Plantar reflex (positive Babinski sign);

- lower motor neuron signs—weakness, clumsiness in the muscle group innervated at the level of spinal cord compromise, muscle atrophy, hyporeflexia, muscle hypotonicity or flaccidity, fasciculations;

- sensory deficits;

- bowel/bladder symptoms and sexual dysfunction.

Lumbar hyperlordosis is a condition that occurs when the lumbar region (lower back) experiences stress or extra weight and is arched to point of muscle pain or spasms. Lumbar hyperlordosis is a common postural position where the natural curve of the lumbar region of the back is slightly or dramatically accentuated. Commonly known as swayback, it is common in dancers. Imbalances in muscle strength and length are also a cause, such as weak hamstrings, or tight hip flexors (psoas). A major feature of lumbar hyperlordosis is a forward pelvic tilt, resulting in the pelvis resting on top of the thighs.

Other health conditions and disorders can cause hyperlordosis. Achondroplasia (a disorder where bones grow abnormally which can result in short stature as in dwarfism), Spondylolisthesis (a condition in which vertebrae slip forward) and osteoporosis (the most common bone disease in which bone density is lost resulting in bone weakness and increased likelihood of fracture) are some of the most common causes of hyperlordosis. Other causes include obesity, hyperkyphosis (spine curvature disorder in which the thoracic curvature is abnormally rounded), discitits (an inflammation of the intervertebral disc space caused by infection) and benign juvenile lordosis. Other factors may also include those with rare diseases, as is the case with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), where hyper-extensive and usually unstable joints (e.g. joints that are problematically much more flexible, frequently to the point of partial or full dislocation) are quite common throughout the body. With such hyper-extensibility, it is also quite common (if not the norm) to find the muscles surrounding the joints to be a major source of compensation when such instability exists.

Excessive lordotic curvature – lumbar hyperlordosis, is also called hollow back, and saddle back (after a similar condition that affects some horses); swayback usually refers to a nearly opposite postural misalignment that can initially look quite similar. Common causes of lumbar hyperlordosis include tight low back muscles, excessive visceral fat, and pregnancy. Rickets, a vitamin D deficiency in children, can cause lumbar lordosis.