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

Many Plainville 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 valuable to recognize just how and why that would occur. Let’s, Layden Chiropractic and our Plainville 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 component, pain coming from the neck has the potential to interfere with your ability to identify what is in your mouth, resulting in difficulty knowing when to swallow which may lead to issues like choking or coughing while eating. On the motor side of things, cervical spine pain conditions might also interfere with your ability to process food as it goes through your mouth and throat by disturbing usual 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. Additionally, cervical spine disorder has been associated with increased risk of aspiration (inhaling food particles) due to decreased laryngeal elevation that normally occurs during swallowing. (1) Layden Chiropractic wants our Plainville cervical spine pain patients to know about 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, fortunately 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 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 return to safe eating habits, proper treatment is important. Treatment at Layden Chiropractic 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 increase strength and range of motion in the neck muscles plus strategies to swallow safely 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) Layden Chiropractic deliveres research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

CONTACT Layden Chiropractic

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 Plainville chiropractic appointment soon.