Cervical back osteochondrosis: symptoms and treatment

cervical osteochondrosis

The osteochled process affects any of the spine or some immediately.The lumbar and cervical vertebrae are more affected by pathologies, as the most sensitive to loads due to the anatomy of the human skeleton.

The consequences of spinal osteochondrosis in the cervical region cause more annoyance and possible complications because the neck is a rich area of neuromusive highways, many of which feed the brain directly.

For this reason, clinical symptoms with cervical osteochondrosis are very much associated with ischemia of the brain areas.In addition, the nerve roots, which provide the sensitivity and motor activity of the hands and shoulder band, when squeezing with destroyed vertebrates can give a variety of symptomatic photography.

Below, consider the overall osteochondrosis clinic of the cervical spine.

Dizziness

Dizziness is also due to a violation of blood flow to the inner ear organs, which ensures body balance.Nystagm often joins dizziness - arbitrary fluctuations in the students' eye on the sides.

Noise

This sensation appears due to the irritation of the edges of the diaphragmatic nerve.It is an ingredient of the cervical nerve beam and is involved in the regulation of breathing, depth and frequency.Patients complain about the inability to breathe in the full chest.

In some cases, the symptoms exacerbated in severe shortness of breath and drowning.For the same reason, breathing stops at night and snoring.

The disadvantage of oxygen due to respiratory problems is ultimately the cause of increased fatigue, a decrease in concentration and memory problems.

Nausea

It is accompanied by air that waist.Also due to problems with blood circulation in some areas of the brain and inner ear.Nausea is sometimes observed with unbearable vomiting provoked by head and body movements.The consequence of nausea and frequent vomiting is a decrease in appetite, weight loss, nutritious failure.

Problems with vision

"Flies" in the eye, a decrease in visual acuity, fog before the eyes - these are all symptoms due to the ischemia of the brain area that is responsible for vision.

Patients with osteochondrosis complain less frequently, as the lack of blood supply from the vertebral vessels is offset by the blood flow from the carbon artery system.

Glasses and therapeutic gymnastics for the eye muscles do not solve the problem, usually vision improves after treatment of osteochondrosis.

Cardiac syndrome

An unstable level of pressure is due to the damaged blood flow to the prolonged brain that is responsible for the functions of the vascular-motor center.

Occurs with spasm of the brain arteries due to short -term stop of blood flow along the vertebral arteries.

From the state of losing the patient's consciousness, you can quickly remove by laying it so that the legs are slightly higher than the head - the blood flow to the brain allows a person to lead to life.

After a weak attack, the reversible problems with speech and movements, due to a short stoppage of blood flow, can be observed for some time.

Green symptoms

It can often be the only sign indicating osteochondrosis of the cervix.They are expressed as a sweating, dryness and feeling of a lump in the throat, difficulty swallowing.Symptoms are associated with compression of the nerve plexus responsible for the intrigue of the pharynx.It is necessary to distinguish such manifestations from a similar clinic for inflammation or neoplasms.

Increased body temperature for cervical osteochondrosis is not the most typical symptom, rarely and locally observed: in the cervical area and collar, with a slight rash.

The clinic of osteochondrosis in the cervical spine can be, first, with varying degrees of severity, it depends on the stage of development of pathology, also during periods of irritation they are brighter, and secondly, to form in certain syndromes.

Stage of

Starting degenerative processes in the vertebral disc cartilage.Symptoms are weak, sometimes they may not be noticed at all.The first signs of cervical back osteochondrosis:

  • discomfort in the neck, arms, shoulders, sometimes turning into pain;
  • headache;
  • slight restriction of neck motor activity;
  • passing quickly visual damage;
  • Reducing the sensitivity of the collar area skin.

Important: These symptoms become more pronounced when bending your head.

As a rule, in the first stage of osteochondrosis of the cervical region, patients do not go to the doctor, believing that all symptoms are associated with fatigue, stress, age, lack of sleep.

Stage II

At this stage, the extension of the vertebrates, the narrow intervertebral cracks, the collagen fiber of the fibrous ring of the disk is destroyed.There are visible painful symptoms of a point nature due to the compression of nerve drawers, intensifying during neck movements and curves of the head.Here you can already suspect the cervical osteochondrosis, whose symptoms in the second phase are as follows:

  • Pronounced pain in the neck, sometimes with a cramp;
  • Shoulder and hands skin loses sensitivity almost completely;
  • Headaches are frequent, do not pass for a long time;
  • visual damage with "flies" in the eye;
  • bell and noise in the ear;
  • muscle weakness of the upper extremities;
  • The clarity of tendon reflexes is reduced;
  • pain in shots with dedication under the shoulder blade;
  • the feeling of a lump in the throat, problems with swallowing;
  • Disordishes sleep disorders, usually insomnia.
How does osteochondrosis look like

Long holding the head in a position leads to severe pain.At this stage of developing the disease, patients are already coming to the doctor for help.

Stage III

The fibrous rings on the disk are destroyed, hernia is formed.In the third stage, there is a deformity of the spine, displacement and vertebrae displacements due to their weak fixation.Symptoms are as follows:

  • Intense, acute neck pain, collar area, heart area;
  • Head sensitivity to the back of the head, in the shoulder region, in the hands, until the complete absence of;
  • Cervical spine hernia;
  • The paresis and paralysis of the upper extremities;
  • The tendular reflexes are practically not observed.

This is a severe stage of the disease in which the patient is no longer able to support his head himself.Spinal cord ischemia and compression of the spine arteries lead to paralysis and paresis in other parts of the body and spinal cord.

Non -specific and a large number of different symptoms that accompany the osteochondrosis of the cervical pole make it difficult to diagnose and further treatment, as some of them may be a sign of completely different diseases.Symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis are formed in certain groups called syndromes.Their presence and severity can indicate a cervical back pathology with an updated localization.

Clinical photograph of cervical back osteochondrosis - symptoms, signs

Osteochondrosis of the cervical region is a chronic, slowly progressive spinal disease, in which the intervertebral joints and discs are affected and destroyed.The vertebrae from the first to the seventh, which belong to the cervical region, suffer.

Clinical picture of osteochondrosis

As the disease progresses, the intervertebral discs lose their elasticity and strength, flattened, relax, their depreciation properties worsen.Such deformity occurs due to changes caused by energy disorders and tissue impoverishment.

These violations are one of the natural processes of body aging, but various overloads, behavioral disorders, damage, congenital spine abnormalities and some other causes provoke early cartilage wear and discs.

The pain can have different localization, they can be in the neck, in the occipital region, shoulder or upper limbs.The pain in the shoulder or hand occurs when the spine of the inner nerve of the upper limbs is involved in the process.Pain in the occipital part of the scalp is caused by the cramping of the neck muscles, which are attached to the occipital bone and circulatory disorders in the area.

When symptoms occur:

  • A decrease in sensitivity in the hand occurs when a spine is damaged, which contains sensitive nerves that innovate the skin of the upper limbs.
  • Limiting movements in the spine and cervical cramps during movements occurs due to a decrease in the height of the intervertebral disc, the appearance of bone growth in the vertebrae bodies and damage to the small joints between the cervical vertebrae.
  • Dizziness, impaired coordination, weakness occurs in severe cases with a strong deterioration in blood supply to the occipital fraction of the brain, cerebellum and luggage.
  • Numbness of language, loss of hearing and vision

All of these symptoms are due to the involvement of the vertebral artery in the process, which develops in its canal located in the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae.As a result of the development of cervical osteochondrosis, the formation of fibrous tissue, vertebrae, blood flow to these arteries deteriorates, which leads to a deterioration in blood supply to the occipital fraction of the brain and cerebellum.

Reason

  • excessive physical activity in sports or heavy physical work;
  • hereditary predisposition;
  • neck hypothermia (walking in winter without scarf);
  • stress;
  • work on the computer;
  • Overweight

Some of the above causes cause osteochondrosis and other spine.

The rate of osteochondrosis is determined by the clinical photography and patient complaints.The concept of scale should not be confused with the stages of osteochondrosis.The stages will be discussed below.

Stages of osteochondrosis

Considering and analyzing the procedure for developing changes in vertebra tissue, doctors distinguished several stages of osteochondrosis of the cervical region:

  1. Paraglynian phase.Cervical osteochondrosis of the 1st degree cervix is expressed by the displacement of the pulpoosis nucleus on the side and the onset of the destruction of the fibrous ring.Pain in this period may be missing, a minor lordosis and difficulty in turning or sloping the head is possible.
  2. Osteochondrosis of the 2nd degree cervical region is characterized by an increase in pathological destruction, instability of the entire segment with subluxis, and appears a pain, sometimes giving to the shoulder strap or arm.The patient complains of distraction, a deterioration in memory and attention.
  3. The 3rd degree osteochondrosis develops with a complete rupture of the fibrous ring.Neurological symptoms appear, sensitivity is disturbed.Phase in the third stage becomes persistent and disturbs the patient very much.The mobility of the cervical segment deteriorates.
  4. Neck osteochondrosis 4 degrees.Final stage of the degenerative process.The intervertebral disc is completely replaced by connective tissue, all symptoms become more pronounced, a deterioration is marked in coordinating movements, ataxia is marked.

Depending on the localization of the pain, the following types of disease are distinguished: radiculochemia, cervicobrachialgia, cervicokranialia and cervicalgia.

According to the method, of course, the disease is common to divide into acute intervertebral neck osteochondrosis, which appears for the first and chronic time, extending for years with continuous remissions and irritation.

Which doctor treats cervical osteochondrosis?

The variety of symptoms, often hidden under the guise of another illness, makes patients a logical question - which doctor to contact?When any pain in the neck, shoulder and hands or the appearance of neurotic disorders, it is urgent to approach the neurologist or vertebologist.

And to whom to contact if there are no such specialists in the local clinic?In this case, the ticket should be postponed to the therapist.The doctor will prescribe treatment or send a close specialization to the doctor.

Symptoms depending on the damaged vertebra

Separately, radicular syndromes can be distinguished, leading to one or another sensitive and motor disorder.They vary depending on that type of vertebra squeeze the spinal root:

  • C1: leads to damaged numbness and sensitivity to the back of the head;
  • C2: pain in the parietal region and the back of the head;
  • C3: speech damage, tongue sensitivity, pain and decreased sensitivity to the side where the spinal nerve is violated;
  • C4: heart pain, left hypochondrium, shoulder, shoulder blade, respiratory disorders, decrease in neck muscle tone;
  • C5: shoulder pain in the outer area;
  • C6: the pain it gives from the forearm on the thumb of the hand as well as from the neck to the shoulder blade;
  • C7: pain on the back surface of the shoulder, from the neck to the shoulder blade, gives the forearm up to 2-4 fingers;
  • C8: Pain from the neck to the shoulder, from the forearm to the little finger.

Diagnosis of osteochondrosis

To make a diagnosis, instrumental methods of examination are used:

  • X -Examination of the spinal department;
  • myelography;
  • Neurological observation of sensitivity, reflexes.

The additional methods described for differentiation and clarification of the diagnosis, the pathology phase include:

  • Calculated spine tomography (CT);
  • Nuclear-magnetic resonance (JAMR);
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images.

During examination by performing neurological tests, the doctor will evaluate the degree of mobility and neck pain, as well as impaired blood flow to the vertebral arteries.

Cervical osteochondrosis requires not only the study of the vertebrae themselves, but also near tissues, blood vessels, nerves.Only then can we judge the full appearance of the pathological changes that occurred due to the disease.

The diagnosis of cervical osteochondrosis begins with a visual examination and patient survey.The neuropathologist is interested in the patient's life and work conditions, the presence of chronic illnesses, food and motor activity.

A preliminary diagnosis is confirmed by conducting instrumental research:

  • X -Ray in two projections;
  • MRI;
  • c T;
  • Uzds (double scan).

Hormone analysis is required for the fairer sex.Without it, the treatment of cervical osteochondrosis in women does not begin.

To exclude pathologies with such symptoms, a differential diagnosis is performed by the appointment of additional consultations with a surgeon, gynecologist, cardiologist, ophthalmologist and lore.

Complications of osteochondrosis

The cervical back osteochondrosis is dangerous with its complications.With the unfavorable development of the disease, squeezing the spinal artery can result in a brain stroke, continuous deterioration of hearing and vision.

Often an intervertebral hernia, severe hypertension and numbness or finger cooling join osteochondrosis.In women, complications of a neurological nature often develop - constant fatigue, lethargy, loss of performance, excessive dissatisfaction.

Failure to respect the prescribed treatment, prolonged avoidance of a physician and the lack of osteochondrosis therapy contributes to the progression of the disease and provokes the development of new complications, pathologies and diseases, such as:

  • Hernia of the intervertebral discs (spinal cord hernia);
  • extension;
  • Kyfosis;
  • radiculite;
  • Salt deposits in the intervertebral space;
  • spinal cord stroke;
  • decreased limb muscles, muscle atrophy due to impaired blood supply;
  • Paralysis of the lower extremities.

Despite the fact that the 4th degree of osteochondrosis can occur without pronounced symptoms and pain, neglected osteochondrosis is more dangerous for developing serious complications and can lead to the patient's disability.

Physical education

LFK for cervical osteochondrosis should be performed outside acute irritation.The greatest effectiveness of this technique during the recovery period.During the implementation of the complex there should be no embarrassment and pain!

Exercise Number 1 Lying on the stomach, rest your hands on the floor, raise your head and a peat, the back should be straight.Stay in this position for 1-2 minutes.Slowly dipped to the floor.Repeat 2-3 times.
Exercise Number 2 Lying in the abdomen, stretch your arms along the body, turn your head to the left, try to touch the floor with your ear, then turn your head to the right.Repeat 6-7 times in each direction.
Exercise Number 3 In a sitting position, bend it forward and try to touch your chest with your head, then extract, bend again and discard your head.Repeat 10-15 times.
Exercise Number 4 When you sit down, put your palms on your forehead, press on your palms on your forehead and your forehead is in your palm.Continue this exercise for 30 seconds.Repeat 2-3 times.
Exercise Number 5 Slowly rotate the head first in one direction, then in the other direction.10 rotations in each direction.Make sure there is no dizziness.When it appears, the exercise stops.

Risk factors

The chances of getting osteochondrosis increases if you have:

  • spine development abnormalities;
  • excess weight;
  • long physical exercise;
  • bad habits (smoking);
  • sedentary lifestyle;
  • work, which implies the regular impact of vibration on the back (for example, with drivers);
  • long stress, excess nerve tension;
  • local hypothermia;
  • preliminary damage to the neck and nape;
  • Autoimmune pathologies that bring about cartilage degeneration.

Psychosomatic

The development of cervical osteochondrosis indicates the inability to withstand competence problems.Sometimes people become so strong and confident in their abilities that their stability before the calamity turns into stiffness and lack of flexibility.In this case, efforts to turn their head are associated with stiffness, convulsions and other unpleasant sensations.

Also, osteochondrosis can develop in people who are afraid of problems and do not know how to cope with them.In this case, the protective reflex of the mammals is caused, and the head is literally drawn to the shoulders.This provision is considered unnatural, therefore, after some time, the muscles of the cervical region begin to damage and deform.

Treatment

The treatment of cervical osteochondrosis depends on the stage of the disease.If in the first phase there is a very conservative, woven treatment, then in the second and third stages the doctor's task is, first of all, to stop the pain syndrome.Enlarged cases may require surgical treatment intended for decompression and stabilization of vertebrae.

drug

assort Description
NSAIDs (non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs) Help to remove swelling and pain.The basis of the most used medication is such an ingredient of action as diclofenaci sodium.
Vasodilat Contribute to improving blood circulation.
Soothing, relaxing muscle They are also prescribed to relieve the patient's overall condition and reduce NSAID doses.Stretch at the same time nerve overload and muscle cramps, help to achieve a better therapeutic effect.

At the end of the flow of therapy, NSAID should be purchased for a first bag of the house, because the pain in the neck can be periodically returned (with stress, overload, weather change).Before taking any drugs, consult your doctor.

If a positive effect is not observed after a conservative treatment of a conservative treatment, the doctor may recommend the spinal fussia.

This procedure allows you to immobilize the affected spinal segment.

Its essence is to remove the intervertebral disc, decompression of the nerve root, implant installation or the creation of the physiological height of the disk space.

Operation has many side effects and contraindications.So it can cause vertebrogen disability.That is why surgery is performed in extreme cases.

Massage with cervical osteochondrosis allows you to achieve significant improvements.It is important for the procedure to be performed by a professional: the disabled movements in the cervical backpack can aggravate the situation.Movements should affect the Jaka area, cervical region and part of the back.

Pay attention to the technique of performing exercises for the treatment of cervical uterine osteochondrosamas for osteochondrosis implies alternating the following actions.

  • Hitting.Massage affects the surface layers of the skin, moving from the head to the upper third of the middle of the back.At the same time, palms or fingertips work.
  • Squeeze.Deep skin layers located in the upper third of the back are exposed.In this case, the index and thumb of the hands through the neck are performed to get the skin.The fabrics adjacent to the beads are not included in this process.
  • The trouncing it is performed to heat the skin, to increase the blood flow to the collar area.The procedure should be performed extremely carefully.It is forbidden to affect spinose bead processes.Sometimes friction is replaced by circular strokes or movements that resemble the saw.
  • Travel.It affects deep -stretched fabrics, so it has a limited value.Can worsen the pathology.

During massage, the patient should extend to his stomach, in extreme cases, to decrease.

PREVENTION

Prevention of osteochondrosis

For the prevention of the disease, recommended:

  • For the health of the spine, it matters which pillow passes to sleep on an orthopedic pillow and mattress;
  • Take a hot shower daily for 10 minutes;
  • Visit a bath or sauna (relieves neck muscle cramps);
  • Avoid sharp tiles and head curves;
  • Walk more on foot, make yoga and swimming;
  • With "sitting" work, take five -minute vacation every hour (you have to walk during the holidays, tilts with a body and head in different directions);
  • Avoid increasing the load on your back: classes with weights, jumps, jogging;
  • Choose chairs and chairs that support the spine;
  • abandon addictions, such as smoking, alcohol abuse;
  • Drink at least one and a half liters of water a day.

Nutrition with cervical osteochondrosis is often recommended (at least five times a day) and in small portions.Preference should be given to steamed or cooked dishes.Salads should be seasoned with olive oil.