Many Carrolltown cervical spine-related pain (like neck
pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical spine disease conditions)
sufferers wonder
how it might impact your swallowing ability.
Dysphagia is the technical term for difficulty with swallowing.
While cervical spine conditions may affect pharyngeal swallowing function, it is important to recognize
just how and why that would occur. Let’s,
Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation and you, 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 involves both sensory and motor components.
When it comes to the sensory component, pain stemming
from the neck can affect
your ability to sense what is in your mouth,
resulting in difficulty determining when to swallow
which can lead to issues such as choking
or coughing during meals. On the motor side of things, cervical
spine pain conditions might also interfere with your
ability to process 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). 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 increased risk of aspiration (inhaling food
particles) due to decreased laryngeal elevation that normally
occurs during swallowing. (1) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation wants our Carrolltown
cervical spine pain patients to be aware of 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, lucky for these patients, those who have spine-related
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 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 Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
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 plus tactics to
swallow safely during meals. Electrical
stimulation has been found beneficial in targeting
specific areas of weakness associated with impaired tongue
motion or jaw closure while also promoting increased blood flow throughout the
neck region. (4,5) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation deliveres research based and
clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic
spinal manipulation.
CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
There may not be 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 Carrolltown chiropractic appointment today.