Many West Palm Beach 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 difficulty with swallowing.
While cervical spine conditions may have an impact on pharyngeal swallowing function, it is important to recognize
just how and why this occurs. Let’s,
Chiropractic Care and our West Palm Beach 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 originating in the neck can impede
your ability to sense what is in your mouth,
resulting in trouble determining when to swallow
which can lead to issues like choking
or coughing during meals. On the motor side of things, cervical
spine pain conditions might also disturb your
ability to move food as it moves through your mouth
and throat by disturbing 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. Furthermore, cervical spine disorder has been linked to heightened risk of aspiration (inhaling food
particles) due to decreased laryngeal elevation that normally
occurs during swallowing. (1) Chiropractic Care wants our West Palm Beach
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 reported
that, fortunately for these patients, those who have spine-related
dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than those whose
dysphagia was linked 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 again experience safe
eating habits, proper treatment is essential. Treatment at Chiropractic Care
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 strategies to
swallow safely 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) Chiropractic Care offers research based and
clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic
spinal manipulation.
CONTACT Chiropractic Care
There may not be a quick fix for
this problem—treatment typically takes some time—and with
patience and dedication you can get the results you want with
individualized care tailored specifically for your needs. Make
your West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment soon.