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

Many San Jose cervical spine-related pain (like neck pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical spine disease conditions) sufferers wonder how it might impact your swallowing ability. Dysphagia is the technical term for swallowing problems. While cervical spine conditions may affect your pharynx and its swallowing function, it is valuable to know just how and why that would occur. Let us, Chiropractic Solutions 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 part, pain originating in the neck has the potential to hamper your ability to sense what is in your mouth, resulting in trouble 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 may also disturb your ability to move 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). Therefore, there may be difficulty 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) Chiropractic Solutions wants our San Jose cervical spine pain patients to be aware of 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 essential. Treatment at Chiropractic Solutions typically starts with a thorough examination to determine the underlying cervical spine issue followed by a treatment plan incorporating 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 as well as tactics to swallow safely during meals. Electrical stimulation has been found 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) Chiropractic Solutions deliveres research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

CONTACT Chiropractic Solutions

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 personalized care tailored specifically for your needs. Schedule your San Jose chiropractic appointment today.