Osteochondrosis- This is a spine disease, or rather its ligament apparatus.
Simply put, a violation of metabolism in intervertebral cartilage.
The name osteochondrosis comes from the Greek words osteon - "bone" and shoots - "cartilage". The essence of osteochondrosis is a dystrophic process in bone and cartilage, followed by aging. Spinal osteochondrosis in the classic doctor's direction is a degenerative injury of intervertebral disk cartilage and reactive changes in the adjacent spine bodies. It is generally accepted that it all starts with disk malfunction, but pain syndrome occurs already due to the neurological complications of this process.
There is an opinion that osteochondrosis is a disease, occurs as a result of the effects of many factors - both hereditary and acquired. People begin to feel osteochondrosis demonstrations more often after 35 years. The development and exacerbation of spine osteochondrosis are facilitated by its macro and microtrauma, static and dynamic overloads, as well as vibration.
One useful and ideal load on intervertebral vertebrae and discs is when we maintained the spine in its natural position, which is conceived to us by nature. When this position changes, there is an inadequate distribution of the load in the spine, which leads to a change in cartilage in the overeating sites.
This can be caused:
- Work associated with frequent changes in body position;
- raise heavy load;
- Pose forced for a long time (for example, among children and students)
- The wrong pose in standing, sitting, lying and loading weights;
- Physical education and sports without taking into account the influence of a great physical effort;
- injury, heavy physical work
Most of the time, several factors lead to the development of osteochondrosis. A place among them is occupied by stress, hypothermia, adverse weather conditions (low temperature in combination with high humidity), various chemicals that enter the body with food and breathing. People with excessive body mass. The causes of the development of osteochondrosis may be congenital deficiency of connective tissue (ligament apparatus weakness), an exchange hormone, autoimmune diseases, trophic disturbances in the joints, etc.
Osteochondros- degradation and destruction of intervertebral discs. It is osteochondrosis that is the cause of back pain in 80% of cases.
The mechanism of pain appearance can simplify the following way: the intervertebral disc does not support the load and its protrusion is formed. Around the intervertebral disc are nervous processes, vessels and spinal cord. The herniated disc, affecting any of the nervous processes, causes its inflammation, which leads to pain.
Cervical spine osteochondrosis is distinguished by a variety of symptoms. There is an unpleasant sensation in the hand, spreading from the shoulder and forearm to the external surface of the shoulder and the forearm in the fingers, numbness of this zone, an increase or decrease in sensitivity, sometimes you need to get up at night and knead your hand muscles. The pain can be acute, cutting and accompanied by a sensation of electric current. Often the pain intensifies with a minimum load on the arm; Some patients are unable to ride a coat - he presses his shoulders and seems exorbitantly heavy. The pain intensifies with cough, sneezing, watertight and especially when tilted to the healthy side. Motor disorders can occur, more often in the hands, especially in the fingers. As a rule, 2-3 The lower column of the column is affected.
Sometimes numbness, burning, tingling in the hands or legs, limiting the mobility of the upper or lower ends and the impaired sensitivity. The appearance of "cervical migraine" indicates the injury of the vertebral artery. Blood circulation in the stem and occipital parts of the brain is disturbed. A constant symptom is a headache. Generally, the pain occurs at the back of the head and spreads to the parietal-istum region. The pain is constant and intensifies with neck movements, more often in the morning. The elderly usually lose consciousness with a marked twist, which is preceded by dizziness, noise in the ears, a decrease in acuity and visual hearing, nausea and vomiting.
Sometimes there are pain in the heart - prolonged, pressing. With cervical spine osteochondrosis, especially old and senile age, changes in soft tissues are often found in the form of seals. These seals are determined in the neck muscles, in the area of the processes of cervical vertebrae (usually from vertebra VII), the pulse, the elbow joints, in the supra and subclavian pit. With age, the scarred seals in the palm of your hand are increasingly revealed due to a change in the tendon structure.
The manifestations of thoracic spine osteochondrosis are extremely diverse, but none of the symptoms are strictly specific. Basically, the symptoms are determined by the location (location) of the painful process and the degree of its severity. Thoracic spine pain is the main symptom. After physical effort or a long stay in a position, the pain intensifies, which forces patients to change the same at night. An ardent, painful or bland pain in the space of scapula and integral is very characteristic. Patients complain about the feeling of "iron ticks". Drinking in the vertebrae processes is painful. Pain can spread to various internal organs.
Osteochondrosis diagnosis
The diagnosis of osteochondrosis is performed by a neuropathologist, orthopedist. To confirm the diagnosis of osteochondrosis, the doctor discovers the symptoms of the disease, the history of disease development and examines the patient. When examining patients with osteochondrosis, the curvature of the spine (scoliosis), the presence of painful points and tense muscles on the sides of the spine are generally detected.
To clarify the diagnosis of osteochondrosis, a radiological examination of the spine, computed tomography or nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the spine is performed.
How to treat osteochondrosis
Today there are many ways to treat osteochondrosis, take drugs and end with surgery. Of course, there are many controversies on these methods and their effects on the body. When choosing a treatment method, you should pay attention to some points.
For example, if you are treated with drugs, you should pay attention to the fact that most of them adversely affect the stomach and liver, so it is important to contact experienced experts who will select the most sparing drug therapy.
When choosing a manual therapist, it is desirable to be closer, since a non -professional, which is now a lot, can take it to a wheelchair. By selecting therapeutic exercises, it is necessary to pay attention to ensuring that the exercises do not cause load in the spine, but only develop the muscles of the back. Try to do all the exercises slowly without sudden movements.
For the prevention of osteochondrosis and the exclusion of its exacerbations, it is advisable to observe several rules that will reduce the load in the spine:
- Always keep your back exactly
- Try not to raise heavy objects. If necessary, raise them crouching and not inclined
- Move more often, do not let your back muscles atroph
- Wait in the horizontal bar as soon as possible and swimming
But not everything is so scary. For those who do not yet have this disease, there are several preventive measures, the rest has a whole arsenal of funds to treat this disease.
Prevention of osteochondrosis
As you know, it is easier to prevent disease than treat it. Prevention of osteochondrosis is necessary for all - children and adults. Also, there is nothing complicated in it, and the prevention of osteochondrosis requires no special effort. The first and perhaps the most important point is the health care of the spine. To do this, the world of advice is constantly advising sports or at least gymnastics, which will help develop spine muscle corset and improve blood circulation. The next is to constantly monitor posture and march, not to bend and not lean.
The ideal posture is when the head and back are in the same vertical, the shoulders are straightened, the omplates do not stand out, the chest is lifted and the stomach is pulled. My yoga teacher said once the stomach is noticeable not because we eat a lot, but because we walk wrong. How is it right? Imagine that you are pulled by the top of your head and barely touching the socks on the floor. Practice such an exercise for a few weeks and soon you will not realize that they have become the owner of an excellent posture.
It is also advisable to hang as soon as possible in the horizontal bar, stretching the spine column and letting it relax. Provide a dream in which your column will have signed the right position. Studies by scientists have shown that the ideal pose for the spine on the back. But at the same time, the mattress should be difficult enough for the spine to make a convenient natural pose. To do this, put an elastic roll under your feet. We advise you to buy an orthopedic mattress and a pillow and finally throw the grandmother from the feathers.
If you have a monotonous sedentary work, always every two hours (more often, better) pauses. Relax, make some head and shoulders, go. If possible, go out to fresh air. By the way, these intervals are legalized and, in the Labor Code, are allowed for people who are constantly working on the computer.
We included a balanced and vitaminized nutrition for prevention. Try eating fish and seafood, walnuts, vegetables and various dairy products. Periodically take complex vitamins. This will not allow metabolic violation. Overweight is a destructive load to the spine, so try not to recover.
Well, some words about prevention in children. It is necessary to monitor the child's posture, do gym or morning exercises (it will be more effective if you do it together). And yet, give preference to school backpacks, not the bags, because it is the backpacks that balance the load on the back.