Many New Roads 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 have an impact on pharyngeal swallowing function, it is valuable to recognize
just how and why that would occur. Let us,
New Roads Chiropractic Center and you, look
more closely 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 involves both sensory and motor components.
When it comes to the sensory part, pain originating in the neck can affect
your ability to sense what is in your mouth,
resulting in difficulty determining 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 interfere with your
ability to process food as it moves through your mouth
and throat by disturbing normal tongue, jaw, and
hyolaryngeal motions (the movement of the hyoid bone, the bone
that supports 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 commonly
occurs during swallowing. (1) New Roads Chiropractic Center wants our New Roads
cervical spine pain patients to be aware of such issues.
The Importance of Proper Treatment
The ability to swallow affects 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, lucky for these patients, those who have spine-related
dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than patients whose
dysphagia was linked 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 New Roads Chiropractic Center
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 designed to improve strength and range of
motion in the neck muscles as well as strategies for swallowing safety during meals. Electrical
stimulation has been reported beneficial 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) New Roads Chiropractic Center deliveres research based and
clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic
spinal manipulation.
CONTACT New Roads Chiropractic Center
There may not be a quick fix for
this problem—treatment typically takes several weeks—and with
patience and dedication you can get the results you want with
individualized care tailored specifically for your needs. Schedule
your New Roads chiropractic appointment today.