Many Pflugerville 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 affect your pharynx
and its swallowing function, it is valuable to understand
just how and why this occurs. Let’s,
Pflugerville Wellness Center and you, 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 part, pain originating in the neck has the potential to affect
your ability to identify what is in your mouth,
resulting in difficulty determining when to swallow
which can lead to issues like choking
or coughing while eating. On the motor side of things, cervical
spine pain conditions may also interfere with your
ability to move food as it moves through your mouth
and throat by disrupting normal 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. Additionally, cervical spine disorder has been associated
with increased risk of aspiration (inhaling food
particles) due to decreased laryngeal elevation that commonly
occurs during swallowing. (1) Pflugerville Wellness Center wants our Pflugerville
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 documented
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) 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 important. Treatment at Pflugerville Wellness Center
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 meant to increase strength and range of
motion in the neck muscles plus strategies to
swallow safely when eating. 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) Pflugerville Wellness Center offers research based and
clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic
spinal manipulation.
CONTACT Pflugerville Wellness Center
There may not be a quick fix for
this problem—treatment typically takes several weeks—and with
patience and dedication you can get the results you want with
individualized care tailored specifically for your needs. Make
your Pflugerville chiropractic appointment today.