Cervical osteochondrosis signs symptoms

23 November 2020

The diagnosis of osteochondrosis, in my opinion, is not as sad as discirculatory encephalopathy and vegetative-vascular dystonia. Yes, under "osteochondrosis" abroad we mean completely different pathologies. Abroad - this is serious skeletal damage, mainly in children. With us it is enough to complain of neck pain, take an X-ray or MRI (where degenerative changes are sure to be found) - and here is the diagnosis of osteochondrosis.

The main causes of back pain

In most cases, the patient is diagnosed with osteochondrosis with back pain. But in fact, the reasons are different:

Non-specific back pain
Caused by muscles, ligaments, tendons. Does not require MRI. It is the most common cause of back pain and the most favorable option, because doctors usually prescribe quite appropriate treatment - nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, drugs for muscle relaxation, exercise therapy. It should be noted that for chronic pain that lasts more than 3 months completely different drugs are needed.
A fairly rare cause of back pain. Are you surprised? What if a hernia was found on an MRI and the back hurts, isn't the hernia the cause of the pain? In most cases, no. With a hernia, in addition to pain, there should be other symptoms: weakness of some muscles, decrease in tendon reflexes, impaired sensitivity in the area of innervation of the root. There are no such symptoms - you can forget about the hernia as the cause of the pain.

Serious causes other than pain and other symptoms are excluded on the basis of MRI.

It is much worse when the diagnosis of osteochondrosis is made with completely different complaints: increased pressure, dizziness, weakness, anxiety, headache. What should we exclude in this case?

Tension headache and migraine.
Not tied to your neck. Healing the neck means following the wrong path, bringing your pain closer to chronicity. The tension headache may be accompanied by muscle tension, but it is always a tension headache, not osteochondrosis.
Dizziness
Not from the high-pitched blues. The real causes of dizziness: benign paroxysmal positional dizziness, vestibular data lesions, vestibular migraine, Ménière's disease, vestibular paroxysm, pathology of the cerebellum and trunk, psychogenic dizziness, iron and vitamin B 12 deficiency, heart disease, pulmonary disease andeven more.
High blood pressure.
Sometimes I believe that if a patient's blood pressure rises, their neck and of course the vessels in the neck need to be checked. Did you find arterial hypoplasia, tortuosity, degenerative changes in the cervical spine? Blame them for the increased pressure. This is absurd. In reality, there is no connection between increased pressure and the neck.
Depressive anxiety disorders.
Do you suffer from anxiety, dizziness, weakness and fatigue, trouble sleeping? Let's go back to Benim's neck. And the poor patient, instead of going to a psychiatrist with antidepressants and tranquilizers, gets physiotherapy, massage, and some kind of homeopathy.
Iron deficiency, thyroid dysfunction.

Always keep in mind when complaining of fatigue, weakness, decreased concentration, dizziness, headache.

Changes occur in our bodies over the years. Baby's skin is soft and elastic. At 30, no matter how we resort to cosmetic procedures, she isn't like that anymore. Imagine a sailor who has spent his entire life sailing: his skin is rough and wrinkled. The same thing happens with our spine. In most cases, protrusions and hernias are natural age-related changes. If there are many provoking factors in your life, for example, carrying heavy loads, the likelihood of having a large hernia increases.

Numerous studies have established that protruding discs are found in healthy people: by 20 years - up to 40% of people examined (remember, these are patients without back pain), at 70years - up to 90%. In addition, the severity of the changes on the MRI is not associated with the degree of the pain syndrome: with a large hernia there may be no pain, and with small protrusions the patient may have severe pain (because the cause is not in the projections, but in something else).

Does a hernia never hurt?

Of course it does! In about 1 to 4% of all back pain cases. How do you recognize this? A hernia not only causes pain, but also other disorders: altered sensitivity, changes in reflexes, and sometimes a decrease in muscle strength. All this is determined by a competent doctor during a neurological examination.

If the muscle strength is sufficient, the reflexes when tapping with a hammer are symmetrical, not weakened, there are no sensory disturbances, then back pain is extremely unlikely to be caused by a hernia.

Also, pressing the spinal root to a certain level (if you read the MRI results, you will see that the protrusions and hernias are described at, for example, C3-C5 or L5-S1), the hernia causes not only a decrease in sensitivity anywhere, but certain segments and changes in strictly defined reflexes. The neurologist correlates the level of the lesion with the MRI data.

Classification of symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis

The development of this disease sometimes occurs before the age of 30-35, therefore, signs of the disease may appear even in adolescence. The signs of cervical osteochondrosis are discussed in detail below, the disease has become a real problem in the modern world. Sedentary work, prolonged stay in front of a computer negatively affect the state of health and well-being of a person. All the symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis are associated with dysfunctions of several systems:

In advanced cases there are signs of compression, the integrity of the spinal cord located in the spinal canal is impaired.
The pathological nervous process is able to influence the peripheral system. The roots of the spinal cord, located near the foci of deformation of bone and cartilage tissue, are negatively affected.
In some cases, pinching of the vertebral arteries occurs. These blood vessels supply nutrients, oxygen, to brain cells. Violation of these processes leads to a sharp deterioration in human well-being.

It is known that one of the first signs of the development of the disease is pain in the cervical spine. At first it passes quickly, is periodic, then becomes chronic. The main places where pain is located are:

occipital muscles (intensifies when turning the neck, tilting the head);
shoulder region;
neck.

It may hurt in different ways depending on the location of the lesion, the unpleasant sensations may be sharp, pulling, periodically disappear, be painful and constant. Over time, the movements of the head become more difficult due to the tension in the muscles of the neck. If an artery is pinched, sometimes a cervical migraine is observed (with a weakened blood supply, lack of oxygen, a headache appears).

Nausea

In some cases, the vessels of the circulatory system are compressed, which provides oxygen and nutrients to the human brain and inner ear. For this reason, nausea occurs with osteochondrosis. This symptomatology is accompanied, as a rule, by loss of appetite, which leads to weight loss, lack of necessary nutrients. In advanced stages, the disease can cause vomiting when turning the head, walking or bending down. This is due to a lack of blood supply to the middle ear, where the center of balance is.

Neurological symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis

Some manifestations of the disease cannot be immediately attributed to characteristic signs. You need to know what symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis cannot be ignored, for example, lack of air. If this section is damaged, an irritation syndrome of the phrenic nerve may develop. The patient has difficulty breathing, there is a lack of oxygen, which causes shortness of breath and even severe suffocation.

This manifestation of pathology is often accompanied by snoring, it intensifies if you take an uncomfortable position during sleep. This leads to the fact that a person does not rest at night, wakes up with a feeling of general malaise, weakness, fatigue and overwhelming. This condition, if left untreated, can lead to memory impairment, decreased concentration, and irreversible changes in brain tissue.

Vestibular signs

Another direction, how osteochondrosis of a cervical spine is manifested - vestibular signs. The brain is supplied with all the necessary nutrients through the vertebral arteries. If cervical chondrosis develops, in which the inner ear is disturbed, the patient experiences tinnitus and wheezing. In some cases, hearing impairment or loss is added to these symptoms.

Ball in the throat

In some cases, the disease manifests itself as a single symptom - the pharynx. There is a feeling that a lump has formed in the throat with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, there is sweating, itching, dryness, swallowing is difficult. These manifestations are associated with altered conductivity of neurovascular trunks emanating from the spinal cord. A lump in the throat is not a specific symptom of chondrosis; it may indicate a tumor or an inflammatory process. When this symptom appears, you should definitely see a doctor.

Visual signs of cervical osteochondrosis

Symptoms of cervical chondrosis can vary, but the most common are visual acuity disturbances. The delivery of visual analyzers is through the carotid and vertebral arteries. If a decrease in blood circulation occurs due to the compression of the latter, a decrease in vision begins, which does not improve with wearing glasses. Cervical osteochondrosis - symptoms:

low blood pressure;
floating and sparkling dots;
atherosclerosis of the arteries of the brain;
violation of the focus on the subject;
shroud, the fog before your eyes.

A characteristic sign of decreased vision due to pinching of a blood vessel by a vertebra, impaired blood circulation, will be the lack of improvement when wearing glasses, performing special exercises. Only timely treatment of the underlying disease (before the onset of irreversible tissue damage) will help change the condition.

Arterial signs

The spine plays an important role in the human body, so any disease affects many systems. Certain arterial signs of cervical osteochondrosis indicate this disease. These include sudden loss of consciousness. This is the most unpleasant and dangerous symptom inherent in this disease. This happens due to impaired blood flow, when blood temporarily stops flowing through the arteries in the brain.

Severe arterial spasm occurs due to the response of deformed bone processes to irritation of nerve endings. If your friend has osteochondrosis of the cervical spine and is unconscious, they should be lying down with their legs raised to a small elevation in order to increase blood flow from the limbs and increase the flow to the brain. After that, people tend to recover quickly.

Instability in blood pressure is another symptom of this disease. Doctors can diagnose spasmodic indicators if the blood supply is interrupted. It is not a specific symptom of chondrosis, but fits into the general picture of the disease. Blood pressure can drop or rise sharply. A person feels a deterioration in his condition, so he must ensure peace.

Dizziness

Previously, it has been reported that loss of consciousness sometimes occurs with this disease. This applies to cases where the flow of blood to the brain was very difficult. More often, patients experience dizziness with cervical osteochondrosis. It is a common symptom that accompanies all patients with this disease. This phenomenon has a spontaneous manifestation. This condition is caused by a reduction in the amount of oxygen supplied to the inner ear. It is located in the human brain and is responsible for the sense of balance. Dizziness occurs when:

turning head, neck;
if you suddenly get out of bed.

Temperature in osteochondrosis

In some cases, pathological processes spread between the structures of the cervical segment of the spinal cord. It happens with disc protrusion, ductal stenosis. Temperature in osteochondrosis is the body's response to these pathologies. The same reaction is possible with vertebral artery syndrome. It is a common phenomenon in osteochondrosis in the later stages of the development of the disease. Therefore, an increase in temperature refers to non-specific symptoms of the disease.

This symptom will not necessarily be present, body thermoregulation may be normal. If you experience constant pain in the back of the head, shoulders, neck, and when turning or tilting the head, aggravation occurs, you should consult a specialist and undergo an examination. The lack of treatment will necessarily lead to the fact that the condition will worsen, the level of comfort of life will decrease.

Learn more about what to do when diagnosed with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine.

Symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis

Cervical osteochondrosis is a lesion of the vertebral discs of the cervical spine, as a result of which they undergo degenerative-dystrophic changes. The main reason for its development is a violation of the normal course of metabolic processes, which leads to a distortion of the structure of the vertebral bodies and cartilaginous discs. In case of localization in the neck, the symptoms of the pathology are largely determined by the compression of large vessels. Treatment methods are chosen depending on the stage, the specificity of the course, the severity, the main symptoms.

Characteristics of the disease

The cervical form is the most dangerous type of osteochondrosis: it leads to deterioration of cerebral circulation, as the vertebral artery passes through this area - one of the largest vessels supplying the brain with necessary substancesand oxygen.

Displacement of the vertebrae, abnormal changes and proliferation of bone and fibrous tissue disrupt the normal functioning of the vessel.

The specificity of the symptoms of osteochondrosis in this part is determined, among other things, by one of the structural features of the cervical vertebrae, which is their closer adhesion to each other. As a result, any change in one segment causes the entire department to fail.

Clinic according to stage

During its development, cervical osteochondrosis goes through four stages. How does it manifest itself on each of them?

Stage 1. It is characterized by the appearance of initial disturbances in the stability of the intervertebral discs. Symptoms are mild or absent. Slight pain sensations and local muscle tension are possible.
Step 2. Disc protrusion begins, the spaces between the vertebrae are reduced, the fibrosus ring collapses. In many cases, as a result of the compression of the nerve endings, pain appears, mainly of a point nature. They intensify by turning, tilting the neck. Decreases tone, weakness often appears.
Step 3. The process of final destruction of the fibrous ring leads to the formation of hernias. This stage is characterized by a significant deformation of the spine. Increased pain and fatigue occur against the background of sensory disturbances and limited mobility in the affected area.
Step 4 is the most difficult. Intense pain syndrome is manifested by any attempt to move, which leads to a significant limitation in the mobility of this department. Sometimes the pain goes away, but this does not show an improvement in the condition, but only indicates an increase in the size of the bone growths, significantly limiting movement. They often lead to disability of the patient.

Symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis

When located in the cervical spine, the predominant symptoms of osteochondrosis are:

Pain is the main symptom

cervical, occipital, shoulder, arm pain;
restriction of movement, crunches at various turns, neck tilt;
weakness in the hands;
pulling the pain in the left side of the chest, radiating to the corresponding arm;
burning in the interscapular zone;
recurring headaches;
weakness;
dizziness (with severe cervical osteochondrosis it may lead to loss of consciousness);
coordination of movements is impaired, which is mainly reflected in gait;
hearing impairment, ringing in the ears;
decreased vision;
sore throat;
poor dental health;
weakening or hoarseness of the voice;
is a consequence of tension in the muscles of the neck.

In the cervicothoracic type, the symptoms are almost similar to those in cervical osteochondrosis. It:

asthenic syndrome

;
dizziness and headache;
periodic pressure fluctuations;
flies in front of the eyes;
pain in shoulder girdle and arms;
muscle weakness;
numbness, tingling, chills of the fingers;
pain in chest, heart region;
nausea;
numbness of the tongue, face;
dental problems;
sensation of current flowing down the arms while trying to bend the neck.

Syndromes

Symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis are not considered typical. Which of them is the most pronounced depends largely on the specific target. Many manifestations can be wrongly associated with other pathological conditions. Therefore, there are often cases when the wrong treatment is prescribed. The symptom complex is divided into the following groups:

root;
;
irritative reflex syndrome.

Radicular syndrome

Its second name is cervical sciatica. The syndrome develops as a result of the pinching of nerve endings in the neck. The pain is transmitted from the neck, given to the shoulder blades, along the shoulder along the outside of the forearm to the fingers. In this case, often appear:

scary feeling;
tingling of the hand, forearm, fingers;
pasty.

The manifestations also vary depending on the area of the lesion. If the endings of the central nerve are affected, the pasture extends to the thumb, middle finger and index finger. When the ends of the brachial nerve are pinched, the little finger and ring finger are affected.

Irritative reflex syndrome

Sharp, burning pain in the cervico-occipital region, appearing during movement after a static state: after sleep, when sneezing, a sharp turn of the head becomes its sign. Often the pain radiates to the shoulder and chest.

Vertebral artery syndrome

Symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis become:

stabbing or burning headache (paroxysmal or persistent in nature), extending to temporal region, darkness, occiput, browbone arches;
increased discomfort with certain movements or after a long stay in an awkward position;
general weakness;
nausea;
loss of consciousness;
hearing problems;
disorders of the vestibular apparatus;
eye pain;
blurred vision.

Cardiac syndrome

With the appearance of this complex of symptoms of osteochondrosis of the neck, an almost similar picture to angina develops, which often leads to incorrect treatment. Muscle contractions and spasms in the heart region are most likely a reflex response to compression of nerve endings in the lower cervical region. Cardiac syndrome is a consequence of irritation of the phrenic nerve (its fibers lead to the pericardium) or the pectoralis major muscle:

the pains appear suddenly, last a long time;
aggravated by sudden neck movement, coughing, sneezing;
tachycardia and extrasystole are possible;
the pain does not stop after taking coronary dilators;
there is no sign of impaired circulation on the ECG.

Disease exacerbation

At the stage of exacerbation, the symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis are:

increased pain and its radiation to the scapula, interscapular area, arms, shoulders;
Difficulty moving shoulders, torso, arms, sometimes breathing (inhaling and exhaling);
often resembles a heart attack or intercostal neuralgia;
when pain appears in the right hypochondrium or iliac region, the clinic is similar to manifestations of gastritis or cholecystitis;
headaches are long term in nature, there is imbalance, visual and auditory functions;
in the area of innervation, the trophicity of the skin is disturbed, tingling, numbness, dryness, pallor, burning, chills appear;
the tone of the cervical muscles increases;
weakness, lethargy, nervous tension, anxiety, emotional instability appear;
possible sleep disturbances, memory impairment and concentration problems.

How the disease is diagnosed

The main methods of diagnosing cervical osteochondrosis are:

radiography

;
;
computed tomography;
Doppler ultrasound;
.

The last two methods are used to check the condition of the neck vessels.

Signs of cervical osteochondrosis

The cervical spine contains a large number of blood vessels that supply the brain. Therefore, any problem with the neck, including cervical osteochondrosis, can cause the blood supply to the brain to deteriorate. Hence - and the most common signs of cervical osteochondrosis:

regular headaches and dizziness,
occasionally - sudden fainting,
impaired coordination of movements, appearance of a "relaxation" of the gait,
hearing impairment, ringing in the ears,
visual impairment,
the onset of dental disease,
the appearance of hoarseness in the voice, changing the timbre of the voice, its weakening,
snoring,
persistent sore throat.

Other symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis include feeling cold in the fingers, numbness, weakness in the arms, pain in the neck and shoulders, often accompanied by dizziness and nausea.

How to treat this disease

Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, symptoms and treatmentdepend on the patient's condition, the severity of the disease, the nature of the lesion of the cervical vertebrae.

In the acute period, hospitalization and medication may be required.

Commonly used pain relievers, novocaine muscle blocking, muscle relaxants, relieving muscle spasms; chondroprotectors for the nutrition of cartilage tissue; sedatives that calm the nervous system, B vitamins that improve neuromuscular conductivity.

Treatment for osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is always long term and should be comprehensive.

During periods of remission, when there are no acute symptoms, physiotherapy methods (electrophoresis, ultrasound, etc. ) are widely used, physical therapy, massage, as well as nontraditional ones, such as acupuncture, are necessary.

There are many conservative treatments for osteochondrosis that can stop the progression of the disease. However, each patient needs individual treatment, taking into account the stage of the disease, the characteristics of the organism, gender and age.

The goal of treatment for cervical osteochondrosis is:

Elimination of pain and swelling at the site of inflammation.
Relaxation of tight neck muscles.
Release of pinched nerve roots.
Improved blood circulation.
Activation of the metabolism.
Improved nutrition of intervertebral discs.

Comprehensive targeted therapy can prevent protrusions and intervertebral hernias.

In order not to triggerosteochondrosis of the cervical spine, symptoms and treatment, and to avoid serious complications of the disease, prompt treatment should be initiated.