Osteochondrosis disease: what is it and how is it expressed?This is a fairly common pathology, appearing most often in older people, but today the incidence is often observed among young people.To select the correct treatment for osteochondrosis, it is necessary to establish the cause of its occurrence and the stage of damage to the body.Well, in order to recognize this disease, you need to have an idea of what kind of disease it is and everything about osteochondrosis in general.And how to get rid of osteochondrosis and alleviate the patient’s condition?
What is osteochondrosis?
The diagnosis of osteochondrosis is a degenerative-destructive disorder of the spinal column.The basis of this disease is a change in the trophism of the vertebrae and intervertebral discs, resulting in a disruption of the normal tissue structure.The cartilage disc becomes inelastic, modifies its shape and consistency.The width of the intervertebral spaces narrows, and the damaged section of the spinal column loses its stability.Damage to the correct relationship between the vertebrae is associated with compression of the nerve endings extending from the spinal cord and the intensity of the back muscles.As a result, neurological symptoms of osteochondrosis and pain appear.
Dystrophic disorders in the disc lead to a decrease in the fibrous ring.In this regard, the patient often develops dangerous complications (vertebral hernia, protrusion).
Subsequently, osteochondrosis as a degenerative disorder is distributed to the small joints of the spinal ridge, intervertebral ligaments, and bone growths of the vertebrae are formed.The patient can barely bend or straighten; in other words, flexibility disappears, vertebral subluxations and spinal curvatures (scoliosis, kyphosis) occur.
Depending on the location, the pathology affects:
- cervical region;
- chest;
- lumbar.
The first signs of osteochondrosis do not awaken immediately, but gradually.These degenerative damage to bone and cartilage tissue quickly lead to physiological aging of the body.What is osteochondrosis and how to treat it can be seen below.
What is dorsalgia?
Dorsalgia is a rather complex syndrome that occurs in various diseases.It can be associated with both back diseases and other disorders of internal organs.
Most often it is formed as a result of osteochondrosis, spondylosis, disc herniation, and severe scoliosis.This syndrome is manifested by mild pain in the damaged area of the back.
Causes of the disease
What causes osteochondrosis?The exact causes of osteochondrosis have not yet been established.There are many predisposing circumstances that cause osteochondrosis, some of them are:
- genetic predisposition;
- changes in the metabolic flow in the body;
- intoxication, infectious pathologies;
- smoking, stress lead to narrowing and spasm of blood vessels;
- foot diseases that cause overload of the spine (flat feet);
- overweight, obesity;
- microtraumas of the spinal column (blows, falls, sharp jolts) and macrotraumas (bruises, fractures);
- age-related changes;
- hypothermia, a sedentary lifestyle, poor nutrition lead to a lack of fluids and vitamins;
- metabolic disorders;
- unique climate (high humidity, low air temperatures).
Osteochondrosis has other causes, and each of them can appear as a result of an incorrect lifestyle.
There is a popular belief that many diseases arise from nerves.Suspicious and temperamental people often suffer from diseases of the joints and spine.
Psychological causes of osteochondrosis can also be noted:
- insomnia, depression;
- stress, nervous breakdowns;
- feeling of loneliness, feeling of fear;
- sad mood;
- psychological pathologies;
- problems in sexual life.
The psychology of this disease has not been fully established.
Symptoms
In the case of osteochondrosis, symptoms and treatment will depend on the location of the lesion and the stage of the damage.
Symptoms of spinal osteochondrosis affecting the cervical spine appear as follows:
- pain in the parietal, occipital, and temporal zones, increasing with turns and neck movements;
- tinnitus, hearing loss;
- dizziness, flickering in the eyes, fainting;
- visual impairment;
- changes in blood pressure;
- hoarse voice, snoring;
- numbness.
Symptoms of osteochondrosis of the back affecting the thoracic region:
- numbness of the skin in the chest, back, abdomen;
- pain when raising your arms, taking a deep breath, as well as exhaling;
- aching, squeezing, often sharp, sharp pain in the heart area;
- discomfort and difficulty when turning the body in one direction or the other;
- severe pain in the spinal column.
Symptoms of osteochondrosis in women and men with damage to the lumbar region:
- feeling of numbness, tingling, goosebumps in the legs, buttocks;
- high sweating;
- pain in the lumbar region, transmitted to one or two legs;
- varicose veins on the lower extremities;
- feet freeze even at warm temperatures;
- Women have irregular menstruation, men have potency disorders.
When osteochondrosis treatment and symptoms are already long and advanced, the damaged vertebrae fuse together, the patient is tormented by the impossibility of movements in one or another area of the spine, and pain usually decreases or disappears completely.How to treat spinal osteochondrosis?
Diagnostics
If you have osteochondrosis, what should you do and how to overcome it?Before starting treatment for osteochondrosis of the back, the attending physician must correctly establish the diagnosis by initially examining and interviewing the patient.And yet, how to recognize osteochondrosis?
To confirm the pathology, you must undergo the following examination methods:
- computed tomography, which recognizes the condition of the intervertebral discs, their structure, their shape, compression of nerve endings, deformations;
- MRI, reveals the smallest injuries in the area of the spinal column, is used when CT could not reveal the exact result;
- radiography, it establishes the degree of damaged vertebrae, their location and bone appearance;
- Doppler ultrasound detects the degree of change in blood flow through the capillaries that saturate the spinal cord and other organs.
Sometimes, a thorough examination can reveal associated pathologies that arise in the event of a complication of this disease (hernia, radiculitis, protrusion, kyphosis).
The diagnostic feature is of greatest importance, since many symptoms and signs are very similar to the symptoms of other diseases, and the centers of pain can be the spinal process, and also a damaged intervertebral disc.
How to cure spinal osteochondrosis?
Treatment of spinal osteochondrosis is a fairly lengthy process that involves the complex use of medications; you will also need a specific treatment regimen for osteochondrosis and an individual attitude to each patient.The selection of the necessary treatment regimen for any patient is determined by the nature of the pathological disorders, the person’s condition, and the presence of complications of the disease.
Also an important condition for how to deal with osteochondrosis is staged treatment.First of all, during an exacerbation of osteochondrosis, treatment is aimed at eliminating pain.The patient is recommended to rest, use special collars and corsets designed to self-unload the spine.External and internal treatment with medications and physical procedures will be required.
Then procedures will be needed that can prevent the formation of new exacerbations (therapeutic exercises, reflexology, manual therapy, massages).
Medications
Is it possible to cure osteochondrosis with medications?Medicines should be used at the time of exacerbation of the disease.They help reduce symptoms and influence individual etiological factors in the development of the disease.
The most common medications used to treat osteochondrosis are:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.They have an analgesic effect, quickly relieve inflammation, and can reduce the increased temperature of damaged tissues of the spinal column.These products are used in the form of injections, ointments, gels, and tablets.
- Muscle relaxants.They fight against increased muscle tone, which can often appear with this pathology.
- Chondroprotectors.They reduce the processes of cartilage destruction and lead to their restoration.
- Painkillersfor local effects (pepper patch, compresses).
- Vitamins E, B1, B2, B6.Increase metabolism, restore damaged tissue.It is better to use them in the form of injections.
- Vasodilator medications.Designed to remove vascular spasms.
- Glucocorticosteroids.Relieves swelling, inflammation, increases the effect of muscle relaxants, NSAIDs.
- Angioprotectors.Restore blood flow, metabolism, muscle tone capillaries.
Therapeutic exercise
In case of spinal disease, the symptoms can be pronounced, so only a specialist can advise what to do for osteochondrosis.
Exercise therapy or physical therapy is an effective treatment for osteochondrosis, since gymnastics to strengthen the back muscles leads to the development of a muscle corset, and this makes it possible to equally distribute the load on the spine.Thanks to constant procedures, blood circulation is restored, tissue nutrition is restored, and movements become easier.
For example, special breathing exercises reduce muscle spasms and relieve pain.But swimming can significantly relax and relieve the spine.
However, for the effectiveness of physical therapy and safety, exercises should be carried out only after getting rid of acute symptoms of the disease.
Physiotherapeutic treatment
In addition to medications, treatment of back osteochondrosis also involves physiotherapeutic measures.They help speed up the recovery process and continue to be used throughout the entire period of remission outside of exacerbations.There are plenty of physical therapy methods and many of them are practiced specifically for back osteochondrosis and treatment, for example:
- Magnetotherapy– restores metabolic processes, reduces inflammation, tissue swelling, and pain.
- Electrophoresis.Medicines used during this procedure promote analgesic results, improve blood flow in damaged tissues, and normalize metabolism.
- Manual therapy– reduces pain, mobility in joints can occur.
- Laser therapy– normalizes blood circulation, reduces inflammation, pain, stimulates tissue regeneration.
- Acupuncture.Special needles can relieve pain, relieve inflammation, and stimulate metabolic processes.
- Massage.Spinal osteochondrosis can be cured with the help of therapeutic massage, which eliminates pain, restores muscle tone, as well as nerve conduction.
- Tractionfor the disease osteochondrosis of the spine in adults.Helps normalize mobility, blocks the progression of the disease and the manifestation of complications.
It happens that a doctor prescribes a whole range of such procedures to one patient at once.This usually depends on how osteochondrosis manifests itself and on associated diseases.The duration of the course is from 10 to 15 days.It is advisable to repeat them 3-4 times throughout the year.In this regard, it is possible to reduce the rate of progression and the frequency of complications several times.
Surgical treatment
Is osteochondrosis treated surgically?For osteochondrosis of the spine, treatment is possible in this way.The reason for this intervention may be the patient’s late visit to the doctor, the presence of complications, or the failure of conservative treatment.
Any type of surgical intervention helps eliminate the pressure on the spinal cord and roots.When a person has an intervertebral hernia, then the damaged disc and the hernia itself are completely removed.
The surgical method involves a certain degree of risk and is performed in emergency situations.
Of course, it is unlikely that you will be able to get rid of osteochondrosis forever, but with the help of medications, physiotherapeutic measures, and massages, you can forget about the unpleasant symptoms of the disease for a certain period of time.