In the modern world, coordination of cervical osteochondrosis disease is difficult to overestimate.Osteochondrosis of the cervical region is much more common than in other spinal regions.Almost all people over the age of twenty-five have this disease, to one degree or another.
Cervical osteochondrosis develops mainly due to a sedentary life, which is especially facilitated by the historical transition of a person from physical work to mental work, which, although to a moderate extent, is accompanied by work in a sitting position.
Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is a degenerative-dystrophic disease of the cervical spine, which leads to lesions of the intervertebral discs, which is common in osteochondrosis disease in general.Since this part of the spine is, by its nature, quite mobile, but also vulnerable due to a poorly developed muscular corset, therefore, any negative effect on the neck or back has a bad effect mainly on the cervical spine.Due to the fact that degenerative changes develop most often in the most mobile spinal regions, in the cervical region it is the nerve endings at the C5...C7 level that suffer most often.
Since the symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis are extremely contradictory, they are not always considered only as symptoms of this disease, which often leads to seeking help from specialists in other fields of medicine.Let's look at them in a little more detail.
Cervical osteochondrosis and its symptoms
Due to the fact that the cervical spine is quite compact compared to its other parts, even slight tension in the neck muscles or displacement of the cervical vertebrae can cause compression or pinching of the nerve roots, which can also affect the vessels located in this part.Well, osteophytes - bone growths, in folk treatment called "salt deposition" and formed during the development of the cervical osteochondrosis disease, lead, as a result, only to a significant worsening of the course of the disease.
The clinical manifestations of cervical osteochondrosis, that is, its symptoms, can be divided into reflex symptoms and radical symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis.
Reflex symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis
Reflex symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis include the so-called "lumbar", which is expressed by the appearance of sharp acute pain in the neck and noticeably intensifies with any movement.In view of this, patients often adopt some forced, more comfortable head position.In addition, it is very likely that a typical "squeak" will occur during turning or other head movements.
When suffering from cervical osteochondrosis, patients often experience headaches that are compressive in nature and radiate to the eyeballs or the temporal part of the head.In addition, sometimes the acuity of visual perception may decrease, as if "everything is floating in front of your eyes."
Vertebral artery syndrome can also develop when its nerve plexus is irritated, which very often, due to dizziness in the patient, is wrongly diagnosed as a cerebrovascular disorder.This symptom of cervical osteochondrosis can be manifested by sudden movements of the head and is complicated by nausea and possible vomiting.
In addition to the above, the reflex symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis also include cardiac syndrome, in which sensations similar to an angina attack appear.But this manifestation of symptoms of osteochondrosis is usually combined with a complex of other signs of this disease, so it usually does not cause difficulties in the correct diagnosis.
Root symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis
Root symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis, as a rule, appear due to compression of the end of the spinal nerve - the root.In this case, the sensory disturbances affecting the motor functions depend entirely on which particular nerve root has been injured, namely:
- C1 - reduced sensitivity in the occipital region.
- C2 - the appearance of pain in the parietal or occipital region of the head.
- C3 - reduced sensitivity and appearance of pain in the neck area, where the spinal root was injured, with possible impairment of speech due to loss of sensitivity of the tongue and control over it.
- C4 - appearance of pain and reduced sensitivity in the scapular dorsal region, as well as pain in the heart and liver, with a simultaneous decrease in muscle tone in the neck and possible respiratory disorders of the respiratory function.
- C5 – reduced sensitivity and pain on the outer surface of the shoulder.
- C6 – pain radiating from the cervical spine to the shoulder blade, the outer surface of the humerus, the forearm and further from the wrist to the thumb.
- C7 – the same pain as C6, but radiates from the shoulder blade to the back surface of the humerus and farther from the forearm to 2..4 fingers, with a decrease in sensitivity in the area of pain.
- C8 – decreased sensitivity and pain that goes from the neck to the shoulder and then down the forearm to the little finger.
Cervical osteochondrosis and its treatment
Cervical osteochondrosis is a rather complicated and extremely unpleasant disease, the treatment of which requires systematicity, duration and stages.The therapeutic treatment of cervical osteochondrosis is primarily aimed at completely stopping the pain symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis and eliminating inflammation in the neck area affected by the disease.
Patients treated for cervical osteochondrosis are treated with classical analgesics.Although recently, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which effectively relieve pain and reduce the activity of inflammation, have also become widely popular in the treatment of osteochondrosis of the cervical spine.
Among other things, chondroprotectors are also used in the treatment of cervical osteochondrosis, which slow down the process of cartilage tissue destruction and, according to many experts, also contribute to the process of their regeneration.In addition, patients are prescribed the use of B vitamins, which improve metabolic processes in the patient's body.
But the use of external gels or ointments for the treatment of cervical osteochondrosis is not effective, but it makes sense, since in the process of rubbing them into the skin, an additional massage of the cervical spine is performed.
Physiotherapy procedures are additionally combined with the traditional pharmaceutical treatment of cervical osteochondrosis and in particular the use of magnetic therapy through special therapeutic devices is particularly effective.In addition to the above, therapeutic massage, physical therapy and manual therapy are also used.However, in particularly severe cases of the disease, surgery may be required.
Prevention of cervical osteochondrosis
Prevention of cervical osteochondrosis in itself is not difficult.Recommended:
- maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle,
- playing sports or at least morning exercises,
- responsible organization of the workplace,
- compliance with the work and rest schedule,
- when working for a long time in a sitting position - during working hours, warm up several times and ensure the correct position and posture of the head when performing work.
It is also important to choose a comfortable pillow and mattress to sleep on.But for those who already suffer from this disease, the daily use of specialized orthopedic products for comfortable sleep is highly recommended.