Concord, NC Chiropractic Care for Cervical Spine Conditions and Related Dysphagia (swallowing trouble)

Many Concord, NC cervical spine-related pain (like neck pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical spine disease conditions) sufferers are curious 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, Pure Chiropractic and our Concord, NC 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 component, pain coming from the neck can impede your ability to sense what’s 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 interfere with your ability to move food as it goes through your mouth and throat by disturbing normal tongue, jaw, and hyolaryngeal movements (the movement of the hyoid bone, the bone that holds the tongue). Therefore, 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 reduced laryngeal elevation that normally occurs during swallowing. (1) Pure Chiropractic wants our Concord, NC cervical spine pain patients to know about 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 root cause of the swallowing trouble. Researchers are fine-tuning their evaluation of patients with swallowing issues. (2) A recent study reported that, fortunately for these patients, those who have spine-related dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than patients whose dysphagia was linked to other issues. (1) As a matter of 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 again experience safe eating habits, proper treatment is essential. Treatment at Pure Chiropractic typically involves a thorough examination to determine the underlying cervical spine issue followed by a treatment plan incorporating gentle spinal manipulation care (often in the form of Cox® Technic) and exercises designed to improve strength and range of motion in the neck muscles plus tactics to swallow safely when eating. Electrical stimulation has been found helpful 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) Pure Chiropractic offers research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

CONTACT Pure Chiropractic

While there isn't necessarily a quick fix for this problem—treatment typically takes some time—with patience and commitment you can get the results you want with individualized care tailored specifically for your needs. Schedule your Concord, NC chiropractic appointment today.