Osteochondrosis is a disease that is one of the most common in the world.Most people after 35 years have an osteochondrosis of the cervical column in one form or another.Recently, there has been a tendency to increase the number of suffering of a serious form of the disease and to rejuvenate the disease, a decrease in its lower age threshold.This is due to the fact that an increasing number of people around the world are engaged in sitting work and carry out a sedentary lifestyle.Meanwhile, the disease is quite dangerous, and anyone should know what it is - osteochondrosis, how it manifests itself and how it is treated, to be able to recognize its symptoms and start treatment in time.
Causes
Osteochondrosis is one of the rare diseases that are only characteristic for humans.In other animals, this disease is not found.Reason is such a distinctive characteristic of a person that simplicity.The vertical arrangement of the spine leads to the fact that the vertebrae crowd and the bone chryshabi tissue of the spine gradually degrades and deform.
The human spine begins with the cervical region.In total, there are seven vertebrae in this department - from first to seventh.The vertebrae are separated from each other by intervertebral discs.The cervical column is a particularly vulnerable part of this, which is associated, first of all, with increased mobility of the vertebrae in this area.In the cervical region, the disease is reflected, first of all, on the discs, which are a weak place in the structure of the spine.
The prevalence of cervical osteochondosis is also facilitated by factors such as the small size of the vertebrae and the relative weakness of the neck muscles.In addition, the development of cervical osteochondosis is considerably influenced by the lack of blood supply with the cartilage fabric.
Thus, the development of the disease is a complex and prolonged process and does not have a single cause.Although a connection was established between the sedentary work of a person and the presence of cervical osteochondosis in him, however, the disease is often found in trained persons, in particular athletes to increase the load on the cervical column during weight lifting.
In the elderly, as a rule, the degradation of vertebrates is an inevitable process associated with the aging of the body and the weakening of its protective forces.However, the pathological type of cervical osteochondosis is most often, in which external or internal negative factors play the main role.
Factors contributing to the development of neck osteochondrosis:
- Posture violation
- Spine curvature
- Back injuries
- Overweight
- Hard physical work
- Sedentary work
- A sedentary lifestyle
- Metabolic processes violation
- Frequent hypothermia
- In an uncomfortable pose during sleep
- Stress, overwork
- Hereditary factors
- Infectious diseases
- Individual characteristics of the body structure, for example, too long or too short
The degree of development of cervical osteochondosis
The disease has four steps.It is not always easy to determine the stage of the disease by analyzing symptoms, as sometimes the degree of degradation of bone-to-cheese tissue may not correspond to the symptoms observed in the patient.
The first degree
The destructive processes start in the bone skin tissue of the vertebrae.As a rule, at this stage of osteochondrosis in the cervical region, the symptoms are weakly expressed.Patients or do not notice them at all or do not associate with the diseases of the spine, but attribute to stress and overwork.
The second degree
A decrease in the height of the disc begins, the cracks appear on its surface.Symptoms of cervical osteochondosis at this stage manifest themselves in constant pain, weakness, numbness of individual face sections.
The third degree
Disk drins are formed, cervical vessels and muscles are damaged.The patient has stunning, pain in the occipital part of the head.
The fourth degree
Osteophytes appear - the growth of the bone tissue that protects the vertebrae from the load, which leads to a violation of the nerves.This leads to the rigidity of movements and damage to neighboring joints.
Symptoms
The main symptoms of osteochondrosis of the cervical column:
- Pain in the neck and shoulders
- Muscular weakness
- Increase in perspiration
- Numbness
- Coordination violation
- Dizziness
- Vision and deterioration of hearing
- Increase in blood pressure
- Headache
This typical osteochondrosis vertebral osteochondosis, symptoms can be present at all stages of the disease.In most cases, only a few symptoms are observed from the list, and the rest can be absent from a person who has encountered such signs of the disease for the first time, does not always suspect cervical osteochondosis.Therefore, he can contact various doctors - therapists, cardiologists, neuropathologists, surgeons.And the correct diagnosis as a result can be made with a significant delay.
Cervical osteochondosis syndromes
With cervical osteochondosis, several syndromes are found, that is to say typical conditions which have a complex of characteristic characteristics.They manifest themselves according to the nerves and arteries affected as a result of the disease:
- Vail artery syndrome
- Cardial syndrome
- Hypertensive syndrome
- Rook syndrome
- Cervical migraine syndrome
One of the most unpleasant and dangerous complications with cervical osteochondosis.This is due to the fact that the blood flow is reduced along the artery passing along the spine and the brain supply.Syndrome is manifested in symptoms such as systemic or periodic dizziness, wearing and vision.In some cases, fainting can occur.Often, there is a variety of syndromes, which consists in the fact that in the normal state, the blood flow in the artery is however normal, when you turn your head in one direction or another, it can decrease suddenly.
Cardial syndrome develops when pressing the roots of the nerves that innervate diaphragm or chest muscle.Consequently, the patient can have pain resembling the heart, although the heart does not occur in the heart.However, syndrome can be characterized by phenomena such as tachycardia, hypotension and arrhythmia.
Hypertension syndrome is also one of the most dangerous complications.Unlike the vertebral artery syndrome, it is caused by pressing not the arteries, but the veins, which complicates the flow of the blood of the head.Syndrome leads to an increase in intracranial pressure, which can manifest itself in symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, headache.
Cervical migraine syndrome has little in common in its etiology with classical migraine.It manifests itself in the strongest pain in the occipital part of the head.The pains are of a paroxysmal nature, last up to ten o'clock and are accompanied by vomiting.
Rest syndrome is the most common syndrome for osteochondrosis of the cervical column.It is caused by the compression of the individual roots of the nerves in the cervical vertebrae.It can be expressed in pain in the neck, the nape of the neck, the shoulder blades, the shoulders, the numbness and the weakening of the tone of the individual sections of the hands (until the impossibility of performing a kind of manipulation) and the neck.
Very often, several individual syndromes or symptoms characteristic of different syndromes can be observed at the same time.
As you can see, with osteochondrosis of the cervical column, the manifestation of the disease is multifaceted and far from always the patient is capable of correctly recognizing the cause of their occurrence.If you are faced with similar symptoms, it is an opportunity to see a doctor.
Diagnosis
To install the diagnosis, it is recommended to contact the therapist.He will refer to specialists - an orthopedist, a vertebrologist, a neurologist.
The following types of research are used for the diagnosis:
- Radiography
- Computed tomography
- Magnetic tomography
- Extrasons with ultrasound of neck ships
X -Ray allows you to determine the displacement of the vertebrae, the presence of growth - osteophytes and saline deposits, disc seals.The CT scan consists in creating a series of X images which give a voluminous idea of the body, in this case, on the cervical column.It allows you to detail the degree of pathological processes - the nature of the nerves compression, the structure of osteophytes, the height of the discs, etc.Magnetic resonance imaging, based on the physical effect of nuclear magnetic resonance, gives an even more detailed structural image of the spine.The ultrasound of the neck of the neck helps to identify changes in blood flow in the main vessels of the neck caused by the disease.
Treatment
How to treat cervical osteochondrosis and is it treated at all?To combat disease, medicine has developed many methods.Certain treatment methods can be used at home.But this process is a long and complete remedy is unlikely, especially in old age.However, it is possible to slow down and stop destructive processes in the spine at any stage of the disease.
In the early stages of the disease, methods are generally conservative.Several ways are used to treat cervical osteochondosis:
- Drugs
- Medical physical education
- Physiotherapy
- Massage
- Special tools to repair the spine
If the disease has moved to the last step and there is a serious destruction of the bone structure of the spine, surgery can also be used to treat osteochondrosis of the cervical column.
Drug
The following types of drugs are used:
- Chondroprotector
- Vitamins
- Analgesic
- Anti-inflammatory
- Antipasmodics
In acute pain syndrome associated with osteochondrosis, the priority task is to eliminate it.As a rule, oral preparations are used, however, with their ineffectiveness, the blocking of novocaine is used in serious cases.
With muscle cramps, antipasmodics are used.They demonstrate the greatest efficiency of osteochondrosis.As an anti-inflammatory and analgesic, ointments containing non-steroidal drugs can be used.
In the presence of syndromes associated with circulatory disorders and blood supply to the brain - hypertension and vertebral artery syndrome, drugs that relieve the undesirable effects of these syndromes are taken - drugs lower than pressure and nootropic agents.
Medical physical education
Medical physical education is the simplest and most affordable type of treatment for cervical osteochondosis and, at the same time, quite effective.Physical education can also be done at home.With osteochondrosis, the intensity of the classes does not play a decisive role, only their regularity is necessary.First of all, physical education is designed to strengthen the neck muscles, which compensate the insufficient functionality of the spine and help it maintain the weakened vertebrae.
To strengthen neck muscles, daily classes are recommended.They can be completely simple, composed of turns and tilt of the head in different directions, and more complex, including the help of the neck muscles.They can be done at home and at work.For example, if the work is sedentary, it is useful to do such exercises after sitting at a table or an instructor.However, they can only be carried out outside the period of exacerbation of the disease and in the absence of pain.Otherwise, they can only worsen the condition.
The strengthening of the shoulder belt muscles, for example, is no less effective, using regular classes with light dumbbells.However, weight lifting (weight, stems) is contraindicated.Regular swimming, unloading the spine, is also useful.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy is a treatment method that uses certain physical fields and radiation to affect the body.A positive property of physiotherapy is that it has a minimum number of contraindications.
The following physiotherapy methods are used to treat osteochondrosis:
- Ultrasound
- Laser therapy
- Magnetic field exposure
- Electrical current effect (electrophoresis)
The magnetic field positively affects damaged tissues of the body and has an anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect.Ultrasound improves metabolic processes in tissues, relieves swelling.The same can be said of laser therapy.Electrophoresis is most often used in a pile of drugs, as the use of electric current accelerates their absorption by the body.
Massage
Massage reduces the increase in muscle tone which causes spasms and reduces the flow of lymph which causes swelling.The procedure helps improve blood circulation in the affected area, which stops the process of destroying intervertebral discs.
Other treatment methods
To reduce the load on the cervical compartment, a special device is used - a singing collar, which fixes the neck in a constant normal position.It is recommended to wear it during exacerbations with pain syndrome or with a prolonged session.
In order to avoid exacerbations, you must also organize a place to sleep.The pillow should not cause the neck curvature, and the mattress must be rigid and even.In some cases, special sleep devices can help - orthopedic mattress and pillow.