Neural foraminal stenosis causes nerve irritation and compression when the space a spinal nerve travels through narrows.

In the normal cervical spine in a young person, the cervical nerve root occupies about one third of the neural foramen. [5] Degenerative changes of the uncovertebral and zygapophyseal joints ...

The cervical disks lie between these bones ... Another function of these joints is to protect the intervertebral foramen. This is the passageway between vertebrae that allows nerve roots to ...