St Peters Chiropractic Care for Cervical Spine Conditions and Related Dysphagia (swallowing trouble)

Many St Peters 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 pharyngeal swallowing function, it is important to recognize just how and why that would occur. Let’s, Old Mill Chiropractic 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 entails both sensory and motor components. When it comes to the sensory component, pain coming from the neck can impede your ability to identify what is in your mouth, resulting in trouble determining when to swallow which may lead to issues like choking or coughing during meals. On the motor side of things, cervical spine pain conditions may also disturb 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). 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 heightened risk of aspiration (inhaling food particles) due to reduced laryngeal elevation that normally occurs during swallowing. (1) Old Mill Chiropractic wants our St Peters cervical spine pain patients to be aware of such issues.

The Importance of Proper Treatment

The ability to swallow affects 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-associated dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than those 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 return to safe eating habits, proper treatment is essential. Treatment at Old Mill Chiropractic typically starts with 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 designed to increase strength and range of motion in the neck muscles as well as tactics for swallowing safety during meals. Electrical stimulation has been reported 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) Old Mill Chiropractic deliveres research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

CONTACT Old Mill Chiropractic

While there isn't necessarily a quick fix for this problem—treatment typically takes some time—with patience and dedication you can get the results you want with personalized care tailored specifically for your needs. Schedule your St Peters chiropractic appointment soon.