Cervical osteochondrosisis a disease that represents the process of malnutrition or the gradual destruction of the cartilage tissue of the intervertebral joints and discs of the neck.
How to carry your head on your shoulders with ease?
If it's hard for you to turn your head when someone calls you on the street, if your neck literally can't stand it and it just hurts, then it's time to get checked for osteochondrosis.
It is the cervical part that is most susceptible to injury, since it is the most mobile and at the same time has a weak muscular corset.The body creates a large load on the small movable vertebrae.The spinal canal itself is quite narrow.It easily squeezes under any pressure on it.
Every day, thousands of people feel a heaviness in the back of their head or tingling in their hands.And, unaware of the danger, they call such physiological manifestations fatigue, and sometimes a common cold.The neck area contains many blood vessels and nerve endings.In osteochondrosis, the vertebral artery is compressed, which provides nutrition to the cerebellum, medulla oblongata, and the back of the brain.As a result, a person's coordination of movements becomes ineffective, the sense of balance can be lost, vision decreases, hearing deteriorates, and sometimes this phenomenon leads to a stroke.
A fact.According to WHO statistics, people between the ages of 30 and 40 are increasingly suffering from cervical osteochondrosis.Doctors explain this trend by a huge decrease in physical activity.And the prevalence of this disease in industrialized countries is 60-80%.
Syndromes and symptoms of osteochondrosis
- Stenosis (narrowing syndrome of the spinal canal): compression of spinal cord vessels by herniated intervertebral discs, osteophytes (growths of bone tissue) or thickened spinal ligament.As a result, blood circulation in the affected area is disturbed.The person begins to feel restrained and feels a noticeable pain in the cervical spine.Numbness and tingling are detected in the upper and lower extremities
- Radicular syndrome: compression of the nerve roots by the intervertebral disc.This leads to a headache, expressed in painful, burning or pulsating impulses, sometimes the sensations are similar to the symptoms of hypertension.With this syndrome, speech defects and disturbances in the sense of smell, hypertrophy of the facial muscles, damage to the sensitivity of the tongue muscles, and the sensation of "clogging" the throat with lumps can occur.Breathing becomes interrupted, the person suffers from snoring, and his nose is often, seemingly for no reason, "stuffed".
- Vertebral artery syndrome: is caused by compression (squeezing) of the vertebral artery.Its main companion is throbbing pain.Seizures can affect the parietal lobe, the area above the eyebrows, the temporal and occipital lobes.
- cardiac syndrome:it resembles angina attacks, but their duration is much longer.The pain is reflected on the diaphragm.In some cases, this phenomenon is accompanied by high blood pressure and arrhythmia.
The main reasons for the development of the disease
- Metabolic problems;
- Lifestyle with low physical activity;
- Hereditary predisposition;
- Age-related ossification;
- Tightness in the muscles, due to which the posture changes;
- Lack of fluids and vitamins in the daily diet;
- Staying in an uncomfortable position for a long time, which increases the pressure on the discs and spine;
- Excessive weight or strain on the spine due to wearing heels;
- All types of spinal injuries;
- Regular weight lifting;
- Autoimmune diseases (the process of self-destruction of the immune system), which lead to cartilage tissue degeneration;
- Stress, which leads to muscle spasms and impaired blood flow to the intervertebral discs;
- Hypothermia.
Diagnosis of cervical osteochondrosis
The initial diagnosis of "osteochondrosis of the cervicothoracic region" or simply the cervical region can be made by the doctor during the initial examination of the patient.The expert will determine:
- Human body type;
- Posture position;
- Line of spinous processes;
- Cervical lateral contours and scapular angle;
- Localization of pain points and level of pain;
- Range of spinal flexibility
- Muscle relief.
All of this together will tell you exactly how the disease is progressing.Then the doctor will order a series of examinations:
- Digital radiography;
- CT (computed tomography);
- MRI (magnetic resonance imaging);
- Doppler ultrasound of the main arteries of the brain: a special ultrasound sensor determines the condition of blood flow and the walls of blood vessels.
Method of treatment of cervical osteochondrosis
The doctor will help you choose the most optimal solution to the problem.And they will offer various treatment methods: drugs combined with physiotherapy or they will prescribe an operation that is gentle on your body.
Conservative treatment- This is, first of all, drug therapy.It relieves pain, relieves muscle tension and extinguishes inflammation.Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and analgesics are prescribed for these purposes.The list of prescriptions also includes chondroprotectors for activating regenerative processes in the cartilage tissue of the joint, as well as B vitamins and external preparations: gels and ointments containing NSAIDs.
Physiotherapy, in turn, saturates the nutrient medium of the intervertebral disc cartilage tissue and promotes cartilage regeneration.The doctor will also prescribe exercises for therapeutic gymnastics - to strengthen the muscular corset and develop the flexibility of the ligament apparatus.He can hold an introductory lesson with you so that you can perform the exercises correctly in the future.
Surgical treatmentIt is suitable if medication and physical intervention are unavoidable.People turn to him if a patient's spinal canal has become catastrophically narrow.The surgical intervention is called an anterior cervical discectomy.The surgeon immobilizes the affected segment of the spine and removes the intervertebral hernia that is pressing on the spinal nerve.Over time, the vertebrae between which the disc was removed become fused.This is called spondylodesis.For greater adhesion, a specialist can perform an operation with stabilization with a cage - that is, the intervertebral space is filled with an artificial insert.
After 3-5 days, the operated patient is discharged from the hospital for outpatient treatment.Rehabilitation takes about 3 months on average and depends on the installed implant and the professional activity of the patient.
What is the best way to build a lifestyle for a person diagnosed with cervical osteochondrosis?
The daily routine should include obligatory walking, while jumping and running should be avoided.Spending time in a sitting position for a long time is contraindicated;swimming is useful - it not only strengthens the muscle tone, but also relieves the spasms that restrain the body.In the evening, it would be good to take a shower with warm water (except during the period of treatment of the cervical spine during the exacerbation of the disease).It is also important to watch your diet.Eat foods rich in magnesium and calcium - nuts, dairy and seafood, legumes.You will have to give up alcohol.
Is it possible to visit a sauna during an exacerbation of osteochondrosis?
Warming usually benefits the patient, but after intense steaming you will need to avoid immersion in cold water.You should also not run in the cold.Otherwise, the disease will worsen.Cervical osteochondrosis is sensitive to all temperature changes, including climatic ones.For example, the autumn cold can negatively affect a person's well-being.
What complications can arise after cervical osteochondrosis?
If you do not start treatment in time, when the first signs of the disease appear, then your neck may stop listening to you in the literal sense of the word.And the complications of this disease are quite serious.There is a danger of protrusion - the so-called "bulging" of the intervertebral disc outside the spine, which can later take the form of a hernia.Nerve roots in the neck area can be injured.Or osteophytes (bony growths on the vertebrae) may appear.Complications often include muscle weakness or paresis - a condition where the head begins to hang sideways or forward.In this part, in the processes of the neck vertebrae, there are vertebral arteries that supply the brain with blood.Disturbance of this circulation is one of the most serious phenomena.Unwillingness to undergo treatment can lead to neuralgia, deafness and even loss of vision.But if you get rid of the problem at an early stage of its development, the disease can be prevented.
Why do you need a Shants collar?
This is an orthopedic brace made of flexible material used to immobilize the neck in the treatment of cervical osteochondrosis.But you can't wear such a device for fixing the neck for a long time, because the muscles can weaken over time, and you will get used to involuntarily tilting your head to the side without additional support.The Shants collar does not allow the vertebrae to move and maintains the corrective effect after the massage session.It takes the weight of the head and distributes it evenly on the collarbone and base of the neck.At the same time, the head remains in the correct position.