Many Groton 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 difficulty with swallowing.
While cervical spine conditions may affect pharyngeal swallowing function, it is valuable to know
just how and why that would occur. Let’s,
Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office and our Groton 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 originating in the neck has the potential to impede
your ability to sense what is in your mouth,
resulting in trouble 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 may also interfere with your
ability to move food as it goes through your mouth
and throat by disrupting usual 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. Furthermore, cervical spine disorder has been linked to increased risk of aspiration (inhaling food
particles) due to decreased laryngeal elevation that commonly
occurs during swallowing. (1) Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office wants our Groton
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 reported
that, lucky for these patients, those who have spine-associated
dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than those whose
dysphagia was linked to other issues. (1) In
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 Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office
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 designed to increase strength and range of
motion in the neck muscles as well as tactics to
swallow safely when eating. Electrical
stimulation has been found 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) Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office deliveres research based and
clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic
spinal manipulation.
CONTACT Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office
There may not be a quick fix for
this problem—treatment typically takes some time—and with
patience and commitment you can get the results you want with
individualized care tailored specifically for your needs. Schedule
your Groton chiropractic appointment soon.