Cervical Oculopathy: The Cervical Spine Etiology of Visual Symptoms and Eye Diseases—A Hypothesis Exploring Mechanisms Linking the Neck and the Eye

Background: Eye and visual symptoms are becoming increasingly common in young people, along with the emerging conditions text neck and computer vision syndrome, though underlying mechanisms are not fully elucidated. The link between cervical spine structure and the eye remains relatively unexplored.

Methods: This paper employs a hypothesis-driven, literature-based evidence approach, aiming to explore the hypothesis that cervical spine structural issues may be an underlying mechanism for visual symptoms and eye diseases. The purpose of exploring this hypothesis is to lay the groundwork for future research, and advance diagnostics and treatment options. No new analysis was performed.

Results: This article lays the groundwork for the hypothesis that cervical spine structural dysfunctions, including a forward-displaced atlas (C1), can cause dynamic carotid sheath compression, contributing to neurological and neurovascular mechanisms that affect the eye, primarily by (1) impaired venolymphatic drainage of the eye and brain due to compression of the internal jugular veins, and (2) ocular dysautonomia from a disruption of the parasympathetic/sympathetic system balance, partly due to vagus nerve degeneration.

Conclusions: Potential mechanisms, diagnostics, and treatment options for visual disorders initiated by cervical structural dysfunction are discussed, providing a foundation for future research aimed at improving clinical outcomes for some eye conditions which have an otherwise unknown etiology.