It has been written and said many times that osteochondrosis of the cervical, cervicothoracic and lumbar spine is not a disease in itself. This, if you like, is our "species curse". Humans, as a biological species, have moved on two legs for about a few million years alone, even less. This, from an evolutionary point of view, is still "halfway". It is not known what new anatomical variants of spinal development we will acquire in a million years.
Currently, osteochondrosis is the most common disease of the musculoskeletal system, and doctors of various specialties deal with it. Often, these are therapists and neurologists, because with complications of osteochondrosis, various neurological syndromes can occur, which will be discussed below.
Osteochondrosis - what is it?
You shouldn’t say the words "osteochondrosis is common", because this is not true. Osteochondrosis in its purest form is a process of normal aging and dehydration of the intervertebral disc, which, normally, does not cause any complaints. This may occur in fit older people who are mobile, have good posture and are free from excess weight. They do gymnastics, swim, avoid weight lifting, and lead what can be called a "healthy lifestyle. "
If we talk about osteochondrosis of any part of the spine, as a disease, then we always mean its complicated course, which causes a variety of complaints and symptoms. And in this case, the cervical spine is more exposed than the other underlying departments. Of course, the cervical area has the least load - only the head, but at the same time, the vertebrae of the cervical area are more mobile than the others, and at the same time they are less large.
All this makes lesions of the cervical area with complications of osteochondrosis more pronounced. The proximity of the head leads to the fact that headaches occur, which, of course, does not occur with lesions in the lumbar region. In addition, it should be remembered that it is in the central canal of the cervical vertebrae that passes through the spinal cord, which has absorbed all the basal pathways. Thus, with central canal compression syndrome, patients can experience paralysis of the arms and legs, resulting in inability to move fully, decreased skin sensitivity throughout the body, and dysfunction of the pelvic organs. All of this at this time can make a person disabled, for example, with a cervical fracture (diving in the head in a small unfamiliar place).
Of course, such complex injuries are not related to osteochondrosis: patients are more likely to be bothered by other symptoms. How to treat and cure osteochondrosis of the cervical spine? It is impossible to cure it. To do this, since childhood, simply refused to move with two feet, and crawled with four feet, or lived in the ocean, like a dolphin. Only then will the load on the intervertebral disc be minimal, or even absent at all.
Only exacerbations of osteochondrosis can be cured, and for this you need to know not only their signs and symptoms, but also risk factors.
On risk factors
In the case of the cervical spine, obviously, lifting a load on the shoulder will not play a significant role in the occurrence of pain syndrome as in the lower back. What conditions and diseases can contribute to the development of symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis? Here are the most common situations:
- Legs flat, longitudinal and transverse. The spine is a flexible and curved trunk. If the arch of the foot is not damp, and during the step there is no "elastic" movement of the spine downwards, but a blow, then this blow with a "wave", like a whip, goes up. , and is deleted right in the cervical region, at the site of the craniovertebral transition. That's where all the energy goes. Therefore, running with flat feet leads to significant changes in the intervertebral disc.
- Chronic injuries. This is, first of all, slipping on the ice in winter, falling on the back of the head, as well as constantly hitting the head on low doors, which is often found in people whose height is above average.
- Wear heavy winter hats, high hairstyles and lots of jewelry for women. All this leads to fatigue of the neck muscles, the occurrence of their chronic spasms, circulatory disorders, and the development of headaches and back pain.
- A sedentary lifestyle, "sedentary" work, the presence of stiffness in the upper part of the thorax and cervical spine.
We will not list specific risk factors that occur in sick patients. Enough are the causes of the deterioration of the condition found in normal healthy people.
Symptoms and signs of osteochondrosis
The signs of osteochondrosis of the cervical spine are very varied. Some doctors also know that general prolapse of the abdominal cavity (splanchnoptosis) or liver prolapse, which is often mistakenly diagnosed as an increase, may be due to osteochondrosis of the cervical area. In this case, the frenic nerve is irritated and the dome of the diaphragm, shrinks, falls down.
As a result, the liver is "pushed" out of the hypochondrium. But there are other more "common" symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis - pain and muscle tension. We will not talk about the symptoms of hernia and protrusion of the cervical spine - a separate article is devoted to this. Let’s talk about the clinics that occur with "whole" intervertebral discs, especially since such situations are more common.
Cervical osteochondrosis causes pain in the neck itself. Muscle pain is manifested by persistent pain and pain of low intensity. It gets worse by turning and tilting the head. Often accompanied by stiffness in the suboccipital area.
Headaches in osteochondrosis of the cervical region are almost always in the nature of tension headaches. The attacks lasted for hours and even days in a row. The pain increases from the neck through the occiput to the temples, and covers the skull like a casque or helmet. With this pain the work capacity does not suffer, but if radicular symptoms accompany it, then they acquire a shooting character, and become very painful to move the head.
"Vertebral Artery" Syndrome.
Speaking of cervical osteochondrosis, one cannot fail to mention the classic manifestations of cerebrovascular insufficiency caused by cervical osteochondrosis. The symptoms are vomiting and nausea, dizziness and balance disturbances. There is noise in the head and in the ears (tinnitus), in severe cases there are speech disorders (dysarthria), swallowing disorders. More often there are various visual disturbances ("flies"), headaches. Sometimes there is a drop - an attack, in which a person does not lose consciousness, but falls, and then quickly rises.
Compression of one of the two vertebral arteries can occur during sleep. If a person simultaneously throws his head backwards and turns it to one side, then the vertebral artery is pressed against the first vertebra - the atlas contralaterally, that is, from the opposite side.
If you lie down like this for a while, then in the morning, when you try to get out of bed, there is severe dizziness, nausea, vomiting, gait and balance disturbances. In some cases, "higher order" disorders also develop - for example, global temporary amnesia, in which the patient does not remember anything.
Many neurological syndromes and symptoms also arise, which we will only list briefly, indicating their diagnostic point of reference, so that the reader of the article can imagine and "try" these symptoms for himself if he is unable to contact a neurologist:
- Inferior oblique muscle syndrome of the head (often occurs in patients older than 50 years, especially in postmenopausal women). There is pain, disturbance of sensitivity in the back of the head, along the auricle. Pain is aching, bursting in nature, both in the neck and at the back of the head, persistent, and its intensification is associated with prolonged immobility. Increased by turning the head to the healthy side;
- Anterior Scalenus syndrome - manifests itself in patients with the addition of "cervical ribs".
There are disturbances in sensitivity and "crawling" in the hands, whitening and coldness, sometimes swelling of the hands, the appearance of weakness, hypotrophy of the muscles of the hands, as well as weakness of the pulse in the wrists. In severe cases, progressive paralysis, or paresis of the hand muscles, may occur. Patients should not drive a car, sleep in pain, should not lift weights, and even work with raised hands (hanging curtains, plastering). There were also complaints of stiffness and pain in the neck, forced head position in the morning.
- Mid -scale muscle syndrome. First, there is pain in the shoulder, in the scapular area, and then muscle hypotrophy starts there. This mechanism is associated with damage to the long nerves of the trunk and the transverse arteries of the neck;
- Shoulder-costal syndrome (levator levator syndrome of the muscles that lift the scapula). First, a sore throat appears, in the area of the scapula, which is "buzzing". They give to the shoulders, there is also pain in the neck, which is often painful "in the weather. " Irritation is usually heard when moving the scapula.
Thus, it is clear that many processes that begin in the neck or around the structure appear "on the edges", for example, in the hand area. This requires a wise and efficient approach from the doctor. Currently, the diagnosis of osteochondrosis complications has become easier, especially with the introduction of MRI into clinical practice.
Treatment of cervical osteochondrosis
Modern therapy of cervical vertebrogenic origin and related compression and muscle syndrome provides a short course of medication. Treatment of exacerbation of osteochondrosis of the cervical region quickly translates into a fading exacerbation phase, for which the main treatment methods are kinesiotherapy and physiotherapy.
Ointments and medications for severity
As you know, "injections", ointments and even restrictions are not canceled. But the neck is the focus of a large number of nerves, blood vessels, autonomic fibers, fascia. Therefore, restraint is performed less frequently here than with acute pain in the back or lower back. In addition, the thin skin on the neck allows gels, creams and ointments to be absorbed faster than in the lumbar spine.
Instead of drugs, injectable forms of NSAIDs are used, preferably selective, central action muscle relaxants, vitamins of group "B".
Keep in mind that if NSAIDs are used, then it is important to protect the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract by using antisecretory drugs during treatment.
For local treatment, there are currently many ointments, gels and creams that contain NSAIDs, bee and snake venom, as well as agents that cool and relieve pain. The main thing is not to use very hot ointments. They can cause an increase in blood pressure, redness of the face, and even a hypertensive crisis in old age. Treatment with ointments is desirable to carry out prophylactically, without waiting for the next exacerbation.
About the Shants collar
In the early stages, in the acute stage, it is necessary to protect the neck from unnecessary movements. Shants collars are great for this. Many people make two mistakes when buying this collar. They don’t choose it according to its size, which is why it doesn’t fulfill its function and causes discomfort.
The second common mistake is to wear it for prophylactic purposes for a long time. This leads to weakness in the neck muscles, and only causes more problems. There are only two indications for the collar, where it can be worn:
- The appearance of acute pain in the neck, stiffness and spread of pain to the head;
- If you are going to do physical work in full health, where there is a risk of "pulling" your neck and getting worse. This is, for example, repairing a car when you’re lying under it, or washing a window when you need to reach out and take an uncomfortable position.
It is necessary to wear the collar for no more than 2-3 days, because wearing longer can cause venous stasis in the neck muscles, at a time when it is time to activate the patient.
Patient activation
Kinesiotherapy (treatment with movement) involves therapeutic exercises, swimming. Gymnastics for osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is not directed at all on the discs, but on the surrounding muscles. Its job is to relieve tonic spasms, increase blood flow, and even normalize venous outflow. This leads to a decrease in muscle tone, a decrease in the severity of pain and stiffness in the back.
Along with massages, swimming, acupuncture sessions, the purchase of orthopedic mattresses and special pillows are shown. Pillows for osteochondrosis of the cervical spine should be made of special materials with "shape memory". Its job is to relax the muscles of the neck and suboccipital area, as well as to prevent disruption of blood flow at night in the vertebrobasilar basin.
Autumn is an important stage in the prevention and treatment of home physiotherapy products and devices - from infrared and magnetic devices, to the most common needle applicators and ebonite discs, which are a source of weak electrical current during massage that has a beneficial effect on the patient.
What's next?
Statistics show that the Mediterranean people, who often and at any age swim in the sea, the situation with diseases of the musculoskeletal system is many times better.
However, the basis for the prevention of osteochondrosis, in addition to the elimination of risk factors, it is necessary to lay a healthy diet, which is based on sour-milk, plant foods, seafood, fiber, and plenty of fluids. This will slow down the process of age-related intervertebral disc dehydration, and maintain a healthy neck and back until the most advanced years.