Baton Rouge Chiropractic Care for Cervical Spine Conditions and Related Dysphagia (swallowing trouble)

Many Baton Rouge people suffering from neck pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical spine disease conditions are curious 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 valuable to know just how and why this occurs. Let’s, Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers and our Baton Rouge 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 involves both sensory and motor components. When it comes to the sensory component, pain originating in the neck has the potential to interfere with your ability to identify 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 disturb your ability to process food as it moves through your mouth and throat by disrupting usual tongue, jaw, and hyolaryngeal motions (the movement of the hyoid bone, the bone that holds the tongue). As a result, there may be trouble clearing food debris from your mouth after each bite or sip. Furthermore, cervical spine disorder has been linked to increased risk of aspiration (inhaling food particles) due to reduced laryngeal elevation that commonly occurs during swallowing. (1) Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers wants our Baton Rouge cervical spine pain patients to be aware of 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, lucky for these patients, those who have spine-associated dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than patients whose dysphagia was related 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 return to safe eating habits, proper treatment is important. Treatment at Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers typically starts with 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 meant to improve strength and range of motion in the neck muscles plus tactics for swallowing safety when eating. Electrical stimulation has been found beneficial 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) Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers deliveres research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

CONTACT Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers

There may not be a quick fix for this problem—treatment typically takes some time—with patience and commitment you can get the results you want with personalized care tailored specifically for your needs. Make your Baton Rouge chiropractic appointment soon.