Vertebrogenic cervicalgia is a neurological disorder accompanied by severe pain in the neck, which often spreads to the back of the head and shoulder girdle. This syndrome gives a person a lot of inconvenience. So what caused such a state?
What are the causes of vertebrogenic cervicalgia?
Most often, the cause of constant pain is degenerative processes in the spine. In particular, the most common risk factors include osteochondrosis. With such a disease, the tissues of the intervertebral discs are gradually destroyed, which leads to their displacement. When the disc structures protrude, they compress the vessels and put pressure on the nerve roots, which, accordingly, causes chronic pain.
Approximately the same picture is observed in hernias, spondyloarthrosis and spondylosis. The reasons also include the formation and growth of a tumor in the spine. On the other hand, chronic vertebrogenic cervicalgia often develops against the background of a previous injury or a progressive autoimmune disease.diseases.
It is worth considering that pain attacks most often appear when exposed to adverse environmental factors, including hypothermia. Chronic neck pain affects people whose profession requires a long stay in a sitting position (for example, office workers, drivers). Sometimes these symptoms appear with intense physical exertion, a sharp turn of the head, an uncomfortable posture during sleep, etc.
Vertebrogenic cervicalgia and its symptoms
As already mentioned, the main symptom of this pathology is pain in the neck. Quite often, vertebrogenic cervicalgia is accompanied by sharp, shooting pains. A person is afraid to move, because any, even the slightest movement, causes an acute, painful attack.
In chronic cervicalgia, the pain is less intense, but is present almost constantly. When a nerve fiber is squeezed, the body instinctively tries to limit movement, which causes persistent muscle spasm, thus, this condition is accompanied by stiffness.
In some cases, the pain spreads to the arm, to the area of the shoulder blade, and sometimes to the sternum. Often, vertebrogenic cervicalgia is accompanied by headaches. After all, displaced intervertebral discs often compress blood vessels, disrupting cerebral circulation.
How is cervicalgia treated?
Immediately it should be noted that the diagnosis of "cervicalgia" can only be made by a doctor. Indeed, in this case it is necessarya thorough examination of the whole body. Pain in the neck, arms and back can indicate a host of diseases, including muscle inflammation, gastritis and even myocardial infarction.
It is extremely important to find the cause of neck pain and eliminate it. As for symptomatic treatment, first of all it includes taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. With severe muscle spasm, it is advisable to take muscle relaxants. You can relieve pain with the help of anesthetic ointments and gels, in particular, experts recommend Fastum-gel, Diklak, Voltaren.
Physiotherapy, in particular electrophoresis, will also have a positive effect on the patient's condition. Therapeutic massage relieves muscle spasm and improves blood flow, but such procedures should not be performed during an exacerbation.
