Many San Jose people suffering from neck pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical
spine disease conditions wonder
how it might impact your swallowing ability.
Dysphagia is the technical term for swallowing problems.
While cervical spine conditions may have an impact on your pharynx
and its swallowing function, it is important to know
just how and why this occurs. Let us,
Chiropractic Solutions and our San Jose 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 part, pain originating in the neck can hamper
your ability to sense what is in your mouth,
resulting in difficulty determining when to swallow
which may result in issues like choking
or coughing while eating. On the motor side of things, cervical
spine pain conditions might also disturb your
ability to process food as it goes through your mouth
and throat by disrupting normal tongue, jaw, and
hyolaryngeal motions (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. Furthermore, cervical spine disorder has been linked to heightened risk of aspiration (inhaling food
particles) due to decreased laryngeal elevation that commonly
occurs during swallowing. (1) Chiropractic Solutions wants our San Jose
cervical spine pain patients to be aware of such issues.
The Importance of Proper Treatment
The ability to swallow affects one’s
quality of life. A variety of diseases and spinal conditions may be the source
of the swallowing trouble. Researchers are fine-tuning their evaluation of
patients with swallowing issues. (2) A recent study reported
that, lucky for these patients, those who have spine-related
dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than patients whose
dysphagia was linked 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 return to safe
eating habits, proper treatment is important. Treatment at Chiropractic Solutions
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 increase strength and range of
motion in the neck muscles plus strategies to
swallow safely during meals. 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) Chiropractic Solutions deliveres research based and
clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic
spinal manipulation.
CONTACT Chiropractic Solutions
There may not be a quick fix for
this problem—treatment typically takes several weeks—and with
patience and dedication you can get the results you want with
individualized care tailored specifically for your needs. Make
your San Jose chiropractic appointment today.