Welcome to the Survey

Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM) is an umbrella term that describes a number of conditions in which the cervical spinal cord is injured due to degeneration of surrounding structures. Causes include conditions such as Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy (CSM), Ossification of the Ligamentum Flavum (OLF), Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament (OPLL) and Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD).

Awareness of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy amongst the general public and health care providers is poor.  Most patients are waiting at least 2 years for a diagnosis!  This is not acceptable.
Myelopathy.org is working with the University of Cambridge to improve this.  One of the challenges is that how DCM affects an individual and those around them is not well described, especially at the very early stages.  This makes it difficult to advise on what to look out for.   

 At the Myelopathy.org CSM Patient and Public Involvement Day on the 21st of September patients and their supporters described how DCM affected them. They also suggested some categories to group these symptoms.

 However, the results of these discussions now need to be considered by a larger group, to ensure they are representative and nothing is missing. 

 We would therefore like to invite patients with Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy, and those around them, to participate in this survey as a step towards better understanding of the symptoms experienced as a result of DCM.

 This information will help researchers know what to measure in treatment studies but also help to educate professionals on the early symptoms, to support early diagnosis.

 All information will be stored anonymously.

 Thank you for agreeing to participate

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