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

Many Manchester people suffering from neck pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical spine disease conditions may be surprised to learn how it might affect your ability to swallow. Dysphagia is the technical term for difficulty with swallowing. While cervical spine conditions may affect your pharynx and its swallowing function, it is important to know just how and why that would occur. Let’s, Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries and our Manchester 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 part, pain originating in the neck has the potential to interfere with your ability to sense what is in your mouth, resulting in difficulty determining when to swallow which can result in issues such as 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 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). Therefore, there may be difficulty clearing food debris from your mouth after each bite or sip. Additionally, cervical spine disorder has been associated with heightened risk of aspiration (inhaling food particles) due to decreased laryngeal elevation that normally occurs during swallowing. (1) Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries wants our Manchester 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-associated 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 who had both dysphagia and cervical osteophytes, cervical kyphosis, and thoracolumar scoliosis was treated for 6 months with chiropractic and reported relief of all issues including dyspagia. (3) In order for individuals with cervical spine disorder-related dysphagia to again experience safe eating habits, proper treatment is essential. Treatment at Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries 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 associated with impaired tongue motion or jaw closure while also promoting increased blood flow throughout the neck region. (4,5) Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries deliveres research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

CONTACT Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries

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 individualized care tailored specifically for your needs. Schedule your Manchester chiropractic appointment today.