Many Tonawanda people suffering from neck pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical
spine disease conditions are curious
how it might affect your ability to swallow.
Dysphagia is the technical term for difficulty with swallowing.
While cervical spine conditions may affect your pharynx
and its swallowing function, it is valuable to recognize
just how and why this occurs. Let us,
Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation and our Tonawanda chiropractic client, look
more closely at the connection between cervical spine
disorders and swallowing function.
The Link Between Cervical Spine Pain and Swallowing Function
The relationship between cervical spine pain conditions and
swallowing function entails both sensory and motor components.
When it comes to the sensory component, pain originating in the neck has the potential to interfere with
your ability to identify what is in your mouth,
resulting in difficulty determining when to swallow
which may result in issues like choking
or coughing during meals. On the motor side of things, cervical
spine pain conditions may also disturb your
ability to move food as it goes through your mouth
and throat by disrupting normal tongue, jaw, and
hyolaryngeal movements (the movement of the hyoid bone, the bone
that holds the tongue). As a result, there may
be difficulty clearing food debris from your mouth after each
bite or sip. Additionally, cervical spine disorder has been associated
with heightened risk of aspiration (inhaling food
particles) due to reduced laryngeal elevation that commonly
occurs during swallowing. (1) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation wants our Tonawanda
cervical spine pain patients to know about such issues.
The Importance of Proper Treatment
The ability to swallow impacts one’s
quality of life. A variety of diseases and spinal conditions may be the root cause
of the swallowing trouble. Researchers are fine-tuning their evaluation of
patients with swallowing issues. (2) A recent study reported
that, fortunately for these patients, those who have spine-related
dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than patients whose
dysphagia was related to other issues. (1) In
fact, a case report of a female patient who had both dysphagia and cervical
osteophytes, cervical kyphosis, and thoracolumar scoliosis was treated for 6 months
with chiropractic and reported relief of all issues including dyspagia. (3) In order for individuals with cervical
spine disorder-related dysphagia to again experience safe
eating habits, proper treatment is important. Treatment at Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
typically involves a thorough examination to determine the underlying
cervical spine issue followed by a treatment plan incorporating
gentle spinal manipulation care (often in the form of Cox® Technic) and
exercises designed to increase strength and range of
motion in the neck muscles plus tactics for swallowing safety when eating. Electrical
stimulation has been reported beneficial in targeting
specific areas of weakness related to impaired tongue
motion or jaw closure while also promoting increased blood flow throughout the
neck region. (4,5) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation deliveres research based and
clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic
spinal manipulation.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
While there isn't necessarily a quick fix for
this problem—treatment typically takes some time—and with
patience and commitment you can get the results you want with
personalized care tailored specifically for your needs. Make
your Tonawanda chiropractic appointment today.