Many Murfreesboro 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 have an impact on your pharynx
and its swallowing function, it is important to understand
just how and why that would occur. Let’s,
Most Chiropractic Clinic and our Murfreesboro chiropractic client, take a closer look 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 part, pain stemming
from the neck has the potential to impede
your ability to sense what’s in your mouth,
resulting in difficulty determining when to swallow
which may result in issues such as choking
or coughing while eating. On the motor side of things, cervical
spine pain conditions might also interfere with 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 supports the tongue). Therefore, there may
be trouble clearing food debris from your mouth after each
bite or sip. Additionally, cervical spine disorder has been linked to heightened risk of aspiration (inhaling food
particles) due to reduced laryngeal elevation that commonly
occurs during swallowing. (1) Most Chiropractic Clinic wants our Murfreesboro
cervical spine pain patients to know about such issues.
The Importance of Proper Treatment
The ability to swallow impacts your
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 documented
that, lucky for these patients, those who have spine-associated
dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than those whose
dysphagia was related to other issues. (1) In
fact, a case report of a female patient with
swallowing issues who also had cervical osteophytes, cervical kyphosis, and thoracolumar
scoliosis was treated for 6 months with chiropractic reported relief of all
issues including dysphagia. (3) In order for individuals with cervical
spine disorder-related dysphagia to return to safe
eating habits, proper treatment is essential. Treatment at Most Chiropractic Clinic
typically involves a thorough examination to determine the underlying
cervical spine issue followed by a treatment plan including
gentle spinal manipulation care (often in the form of Cox® Technic) and
exercises meant to improve strength and range of
motion in the neck muscles as well as strategies for swallowing safety when eating. Electrical
stimulation has been found helpful 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) Most Chiropractic Clinic offers research based and
clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic
spinal manipulation.
CONTACT Most Chiropractic Clinic
While there isn't necessarily a quick fix for
this problem—treatment typically takes several weeks—and with
patience and commitment you can get the results you want with
personalized care tailored specifically for your needs. Make
your Murfreesboro chiropractic appointment today.