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

Many Williamson people suffering from neck pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical spine disease conditions wonder how it might affect your ability to swallow. Dysphagia is the technical term for difficulty with swallowing. While cervical spine conditions may have an impact on pharyngeal swallowing function, it is valuable to recognize just how and why that would occur. Let us, Apple Country Chiropractic and you, 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 originating in the neck has the potential to impede your ability to identify what is in your mouth, resulting in difficulty knowing when to swallow which may result in issues like choking or coughing while eating. On the motor side of things, cervical spine pain conditions might also disturb your ability to process 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 linked to increased risk of aspiration (inhaling food particles) due to reduced laryngeal elevation that normally occurs during swallowing. (1) Apple Country Chiropractic wants our Williamson cervical spine pain patients to be aware of 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 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 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 Apple Country 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 meant to increase strength and range of motion in the neck muscles plus tactics for swallowing safety during meals. Electrical stimulation has been reported 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) Apple Country Chiropractic offers research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

CONTACT Apple Country Chiropractic

While there isn't necessarily a quick fix for this problem—treatment typically takes several weeks—with patience and dedication you can get the results you want with individualized care tailored specifically for your needs. Make your Williamson chiropractic appointment today.