Cervical osteochondrosis is a common pathology associated with the destruction of cartilage in the joints of the cervical spine.
Signs of cervical osteochondrosis are most often manifested in the interval between 20 and 40 years, this disease explains headaches in one third of cases.If you do not prescribe treatment in time, the disease will go into the advanced stage and, most likely, provoke a hernia of the intervertebral disc or intervertebral protrusion.
A significant problem is that due to the contradictory symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis, a diagnosis may be difficult.Some features of the course of the disease, which will be discussed further, can lead to the fact that the patient will go to the doctor in a timely manner, which will complicate the diagnosis of neck osteochondrosis and his further treatment.
Most often, acute cervical osteochondrosis develops when a person leads a sedentary lifestyle, and since at present, with the development of technology and science, there is a gradual transition of mankind from mainly physical labor to the intellectual (respectively, to a sitting lifestyle), it is not surprising that this disease is widespread today.
Further, signs of neck osteochondrosis, as well as their differences from the symptoms that accompany this disease with damage to other spine departments, will be examined in detail.
The causes of this disease are the deposit of salts in the cervical spine during constant work at the computer or driving a car, metabolic disorders, inactive lifestyle and malnutrition.
The disease can also be provoked by systemic lupus erythematosus, neck injuries, hypothermia, heredity, hormonal disorders and rheumatism.
Symptoms of neck osteochondrosis and different groups of signs
Before moving on to a more detailed consideration of symptoms, you should get acquainted with a certain set of general signs of the disease.
So, the general symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis are expressed:
- pains in the cervical and shoulder departments, in the hands and back of the head, and painful manifestations are enhanced even with weak loads, during the sneezing or attacks of cough;
- pain and crunch in the neck when trying to turn the head;
- with numbness and tingling in the limbs, burning of the back area, near the shoulder blades and between them;
- headaches that begin from the occipital region and spread to the crown and temples;
- dizziness and fainting with sharp turns of the head;
- weakness and fatigue, quick fatigue.
The remaining symptoms are expressed by pulling pains in the heart and noise in his ears, the patient does not hear well, his vision may decrease.
All these processes can occur in parallel with other clinical signs.
Considering traditional pain in the neck sometimes adjacent to symptoms that are not atypical for osteochondrosis that are not associated with this disease.For example, few will compare with osteochondrosis of the neck weakness in the legs, elite pain or worsening vision - and the article is aimed at telling the symptoms of this disease as accessible as possible.
To understand how osteochondrosis of the neck is manifested, it is necessary to divide the syndromes of cervical osteochondrosis into three groups, which will depend on involvement in the pathology of the central nervous system.
The first group usually includes neurological features considered as complications of the disease that arise due to the influence of pathological processes on the peripheral region of the nervous system.
The second group is considered symptoms, which can manifest only under the influence of the disease on the spinal cord.
The third group includes symptoms that are associated with processes occurring during cervical osteochondrosis in the brain.
Briefly we can say this: the first group includes signs responsible for sick manifestations, the second - for motor disorders, the third - for pathological effects on the vessels.
Symptoms can manifest itself separately or in the combination of these groups, but usually one of them is dominant.
Signs that belong to the first group of the disease
What symptoms are pronounced with cervical osteochondrosis in this case?As was said, this group includes pain, which can manifest itself due to the defeat of the pathological process of the peripheral section of the nervous system.
Painful manifestations in the neck, radicolite of the cervical region and laterals are also symptoms of this group, which is also characterized by pain in the chest, in muscles and joints.
The pain in the neck is the first symptom of osteochondrosis of the neck, and it manifests itself in almost all patients.Most often begins in the morning and intensifies when a person turns, it provoke laughter, cough, sneezing, an unsuccessful turn of the neck.The pain is usually drilling, stupid, sometimes shooting, localized inside the neck, but occasionally spreads to the shoulder region.
Such pains can occur periodically or lasts constantly, they are different in duration and strength.
Sometimes painful manifestations are sharp, but they are expressed differently-they can be felt by the “current blow”, and at the same time someone feels a shooting pain that is piercing, everything individually.
The neck muscles can be tense, and then it becomes hard to breathe.In addition, during the acute period of osteochondrosis of the neck, the patient takes certain poses - holds his head, tilting it forward and to the side, and it is very difficult for him to rotate with her during bastards.
Frequent symptoms are noise phenomena, they can occur when trying to turn their heads, expressed by crunch and crackling.This is what indicates the neglect of the disease.
Sometimes people believe that the disease is triggered by the wrong position in a dream, hypothermia, sharp turns of the head and the load on the neck.
Factors and signs accompanying symptoms of the first group
The factors listed above can really cause pain, but more often they only aggravate the existing symptoms of the disease, not being the main causes of osteochondrosis of the cervical spine.
Cervical pains and shots are not all the symptoms of this group, except for them, different types of radiculitis of the neck and shoulder region, which resulted in the painful manifestations of the upper cervical region and the back of the head.
The pain intensifies during the rotation of the head, sometimes it even passes to the shoulder belt and arms, it provokes tension in the muscles that is associated with nerve roots.Most often, they suffer in the sixth and seventh departments due to squeezing the vertebrae.The pathology of the sixth department leads to pain in the forearm and thumb, the seventh - to painful manifestations in the middle finger.Rare for this disease, damage to the eighth department is fraught with the spread of pain to the little finger.
With lesions of the upper vertebrae and cervical discs, the occipital nerve is included in the painful processes, which is fraught with new pains that are constant.Sometimes these pains become stronger, and then the sensitivity of the nape is lost, you can even find a pain point that looks like a small seal.
Since changes begin in the neck, due to impaired blood supply, cervical vegetative formations may suffer.The symptom as burning pain is joined, which becomes stronger during physical and emotional stress or when changing weather conditions.In addition, the color of the hands and hands changes, swelling appears, the skin turns pale and thinns out, becoming cold.Also, the disappearance of sensitivity to touch, or vice versa, its strengthening.Tachycardia joins, pain in the heart, pupils change.
Additional signs relating to the first group
Osteochondrosis of the neck is also manifested by discomfort in the hands (usually this happens at night).This is called night dies, usually the diagnosis is made after forty years to those whose lifestyle is associated with various physical activity.
The additional signs of the first group are tingling and numbness of bones, pain and discomfort in the hands, and since attacks more often occur at night, a dream is disturbed because of them.
Symptoms of this group reaches its peak when strong degenerative changes occur in the neck and vertebrae, which indicates the pathologies of the autonomic nervous system.This is due to the fact that vegetative nodes located too close to the spine are not sufficiently provided with blood.
This disease sometimes contributes to the occurrence of crooked, since frequent satellites of osteochondrosis are muscle cramps occurring during the slopes of the head and rotation of the neck.At the same time, a person cannot turn his head normally due to increasing pain in the back of the head or shoulder stumps.
Pain in the fingers and the pallor of the skin join if the vessels are squeezed, blood supply is disturbed or the pulse in the radial artery is weakened.
Another complication is the shoulder-packed periactatrite, which occurs due to a violation of the bond of the shoulder and spatular sections with the central nervous system.As a result - dystrophic changes, over time only increasing.
The main problem is that such pathologies occur secretly for a long time, and the patient may not notice them.
The main symptoms are in the causeless joint pain, which manifest, as already noted, at night.Painful places can be felt, and abduction of the hands to the side causes a sharp pain.
Since the patient will try not to disturb the limb in order not to experience pain once again, due to inactivity in the joints, the effect of a “frozen shoulder” can be formed, and if treatment does not start in time, a person will not be able to raise a hand above the horizontal level.
What are the signs of the second group of this disease?
Symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis that occur due to pathologies of the spinal cord are symptoms of the second group.Symptoms can lead to compression produced by a pulpoose core that falls out of the disk due to its softening, or due to the injury of the spinal cord.
Often, weakness in the limbs joins such symptoms, a reduced muscle tone is felt in the hands, but it, on the contrary, is increased in the legs, but losing weight is not observed.Sometimes painless grunts of muscles develop (usually it occurs after forty years, less often after fifty -five, and almost never in youth).Similar complications are found in those people who have an anamnesis of atherosclerosis or arrhythmias.
The spinal cord (with problems with the disk between the fifth and sixth vertebra) can endure the change called myelopathy.Typically, this pathology occurs due to injuries of the spine or overvoltage, which touched the muscles of the shoulder, but sometimes stress or alcohol poisoning can be the root cause.
There are also such clinical manifestations that proceed without increasing temperature or loss of sensitivity, which is why a person ceases to feel an annoying effect that can in any way on the skin of the neck, arms and chest.In addition, broken or aching pain may occur, the patient's hands are wearing.
Osteochondrosis of the cervical vertebra is also characterized by the “semiconductor disorders syndrome” that occurs when the spinal cord parts are poorly provided with blood.As a result, when walking or standing, the legs are very tired.Sometimes brushes are numb, occasionally - feet, discomfort may appear in them.Coordination is also possible, especially if the patient closes his eyes.
Despite the certain frequency of the manifestation of these signs, they will not deprive the patient with the opportunity to work, and a person will be able to lead a normal lifestyle.
What signs belong to the third group of this disease?
The symptoms and signs of the third group relate to the brain manifestations of the disease that appear due to insufficient blood flow in the system, which is responsible for ensuring that the blood in sufficient quantities and in time falls into the spinal cord compartments.This system is formed from the main vessels as the vertebral arteries.
What syndromes characterize this group of symptoms?
Hypotalamic syndrome in osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is most often found, its symptoms are instability of mood, irritability and high fatigue, anxiety, resentment, sleep disorder (the patient does not fall asleep well, rises with the feeling that he did not sleep).In addition, the opportunity to concentrate is lost, problems with memory begins, and discomfort is felt in everything.Occasionally, longing, anger, causeless fear, anxiety can join.The skin turns pale, the limbs are cold, the patient increases sweating, the pressure often rises, but the appetite and sexual desire are reduced.
Drops syndrome is characterized by attacks of causeless fainting (sometimes with loss of consciousness, sometimes without it), the reason for this is vascular cramps.Consciousness returns almost immediately if the patient is laying and lowering his head.After the weakness, a sense of breakdown may occur, headaches join.
Signs of vestibular-barrel syndrome at the beginning of the disease are dizziness, which appears due to insufficient blood supply, attacks of nausea and vomiting, staggering when walking.
The symptoms of cochlear-barrel syndrome-ringing and noise in the ears, usually on one side, may decrease hearing, hollow hollow.Usually this syndrome follows from the previous, but its independent manifestation is also possible.It is difficult to understand the diagnosis of cervical osteochondrosis with these signs.
With a pharyngeon-minute syndrome, there is a feeling that there is a foreign object in the throat, other signs-dryness and itching in the throat, the voice becomes deaf, the larynx of the sorcerers, and pain occurs in it and throat.The patient gets tired during a conversation, he needs a vacation, in addition, it is difficult to swallow thick foods, spasms of the esophagus are observed.A short -term rest can save these manifestations.
Symptoms of visual disorders are expressed by disorders - fog before the eyes, a decrease in vision.
What is the danger of the disease?
If you do not diagnose adequate treatment in time, when signs of osteochondrosis of the cervical spine appear, then radiculopathy may begin, in which nerve roots are affected, and the patient loses mobility, but the greatest danger is to compress the spinal cord, which can lead to death.
With neck osteochondrosis, the most dangerous form of this disease, cerebral circulation can be disturbed, due to which migraines, hypertension, vegetovascular dystonia, pathology of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, vision problems, hearing and coordination will begin.Runned forms of the disease lead to the syndrome of the vertebral artery, which supplies blood of the oblong brain and cerebellum, and if the artery is squeezed, then the ischemia of the brain or spinal cord may begin, such manifestations can provoke a spinal stroke.
Do not leave such a dangerous disease as cervical osteochondrosis without attention, since the consequences can affect the ability to work and lifestyle in general, and if the first symptoms appear, you need to immediately seek help from a specialist.How to treat osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, the attending physician decides after a thorough examination.