Osteochondrosis: treatment, symptoms, signs, causes

There is another pathology here that is considered age-related, but it is often unrelated to age.

For example, the fact is that more than half of patients with osteochondrosis worldwide showed the first signs of their development at the age of 25. Yes, no one thought old age could come so soon. . . There are those who see these years as mature, there are those who prefer to refer almost to adolescence, and there are those for whom 60 is not a cause for malaise. But definitely everyone agrees that this is not, to put it mildly, an era for the aging process.

What's wrong? In reality, this is multifaceted and may seem complicated to a layman. But in reality, there is nothing complicated about that. In the section on disc herniation, we said that its content is water, with proteins dissolved in it, right? So all osteochondrosis, along with its speed, severity, and treatment predictions, is actually based on these proteins. What do we mean by that? Now everything turns out.

The proteins in the "charge" of the intervertebral disc are called glycosaminoglycans. Maybe we don’t have to remember that name.

But we must remember that the main purpose of glycosaminated dicans is to retain water. Moreover, with the possibility of gradual release under pressure. That is, the proteins that create the gel-like texture of the "filler" of the disc are made by heating the water at rest and gradually squeezing it out under load.

Of course, the water itself is too liquid to do that. This is why the body synthesizes special proteins - unique! analogues of food gelling agents such as carrageenan, gums, starch.

To keep the contents of the intervertebral disc (and remember that it is the basis of its padding properties) to be in order, throughout life:

• watch what we eat, avoid the lack of vital substances, especially proteins;
• avoid muscle cramps in the back;
• maintain active circulation of cerebrospinal fluid and blood to normalize metabolic processes in spinal tissues;
• avoid injury and infection of spinal tissues;
• maintain the rate of water-salt metabolism in the body.

Symptoms of osteochondrosis

So at the very beginning of our movement, our backs begin to "tap-dance". However, this crackle can only be heard for a long time. Subjectively, patients note that the joints affected by the process become tired faster than others, and accordingly, the aching pain increases as the feeling of fatigue increases.

But this is, of course, far from the end of the process, although it is no longer the beginning. After all, the condition of the disc does not improve, the condition of the cartilage deteriorates as the situation lengthens, and very quickly. Over time, the crunches themselves become painful.

All such sounds are accompanied by dull pain both at the site of appearance and in nearby tissues. It appears to propagate as an extensive painful wave from one point on the joint - exactly according to the laws of resonance.

Symptoms of osteochondrosis of the neck

If we have problems with the cervical spine, we may feel:

• headache resistant to normal treatment - dull, sore, throbbing, constant, evenly distributed throughout the head. It coincides with an increase in neck pain and is similar to a headache with jumps in blood pressure. Usually, in osteochondrosis, too much pressure leads to headaches;
• unmotivated dizziness attacks throughout the day: sudden changes in posture, head movements, tremors. Dizziness often coincides with the rhythm of breathing - a dangerous "lightness" appears in the head with each inhalation and disappears when you exhale. Such symptoms mean that the intracranial pressure is currently decreasing and not excessive as in the previous example. Generally, these two symptoms are observed alternately in all patients with cervical osteochondrosis, occur regularly, and last for several days. Sometimes one replaces the other, sometimes periods of relative pressure separate them;
• aching pain in the neck, especially at the base of the skull. In the initial stage, it is expressed by the vague discomfort during the day and the cracking while turning the head. But if you touch the spine in this area or try to massage the muscles, the muscle fiber will cause pain and stiffness. Thereafter, the pain is persistent, intensifying by turning the head to the side, bending it to the chest, after sleeping on a high or too soft pillow;
• aching pains in the chest (as if under the ribs), under the shoulder blades, with the return of the shoulder and upper chest muscles. They resemble an attack of angina pectoris or coronary artery disease than the pain of a disc herniation, but are more persistent. For example, in cardiovascular disease, pain rarely lasts for more than a few hours and is less dependent on respiratory rhythm. In osteochondrosis, it is permanent, worsening with each breath, lasting several days or more;
• "Lumbago" along the entire line of the shoulder, often to the tip of the fingers. As a general rule, depending on the degree of progression of osteochondrosis, the patient suffers from simultaneous or short-term "lumbago" in the shoulder joint, or numbness and prolonged acute "lumbago" along the entire inner surface. a kar. As for the injury to the small nerve cells in the shoulder, it does not feel at rest, but after a long period of immobility, it becomes sharply aggravated by the first movements of the head. Patients describe it as "electrical discharges along the spine in the muscles of the shoulder. And irradiation into the hand is often accompanied by spasm of the muscles of the wrist and a violation of the sensitivity of the ring finger and the little finger;
• quite often, although in less than half of cases of cervical osteochondrosis, tongue sensitivity and mobility are reduced. Patients may be unable to distinguish certain flavors (they do not recognize bitter, sour, sweet, but it is easy to name a mixed taste). Some people report a change in speech, especially when it comes to speaking quickly and / or clearly.

Symptoms of osteochondrosis of the thoracic region

Signs of chest osteochondrosis:

• aching, pulling pain in the chest, "somewhere under the ribs. "Unlike coronary heart disease, it is difficult for a patient to pinpoint its center. Such pain depends significantly on the rhythm of breathing - it is exacerbated by inhalation and coughing. And despite all the uncertainty of its position in the chest, all such attacks clearly resonate in the causal vertebrae (s). In 99 of 100 cases, the displaced vertebrae hurts the most;
• disturbances in the sensitivity and mobility of the pulmonary diaphragm - the appearance of a feeling of incomplete breathing, the inability to perform lower exhalation;
• pain and discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract - especially in the stomach, upper intestines, liver and pancreas. Pain can range from mild, inaudible discomfort to obvious cramps. Therefore, osteochondrosis of the thoracic region is often confused with slow gastritis, intestinal inflammation, colitis, and chronic pancreatitis.

Symptoms of lumbar osteochondrosis

Lumbar osteochondrosis, also known as lumbago (as we know it is one and the same), is the most common form of the disease.

With it will be:

• Painful pain in the lower back, aggravated by bending, sitting or standing - usually in almost any exercise. It usually bothers patients at night when they have to sleep on their backs with their legs straight. It is only attenuated by the habit of prolonged residence or sleep in a fetal position. That is, with his knees hidden in his chest. Patients with lumbar osteochondrosis switch quickly and voluntarily from a soft bed to a hard one because it is easier to maintain the position of the embryo on the hard floor overnight;
• lumbar stiffness syndrome. This means: the inability to bend quickly after a long period of standing or sitting, which is associated not so much with pain as with a general decrease in muscle extensibility and bone stiffness in the affected area; rapidly progressive numbness while sitting or standing in the lumbar region, resulting in acute damage to nerve endings in this position of the vertebrae;
• entrapment of the sciatic nerve (the main nerve trunk of the legs that enters the spine in the region of the coccyx). The osteochondrosis of the lumbosacral region belongs to the number of sciatica scenarios, although not the only one. Although there are many other variants, sciatica is often a painful complication of osteochondrosis.

Treatment of osteochondrosis

We have to deal with it for a long time, so first we will improve the quality of life on our own back.

1. Remove the feather bed and feather pillow from the bed. Leave a main mattress, take an orthopedic pillow - with a dense, low, fixed recess in the middle. Usually these pillows are made of padded polyester. That’s why you have to make sure it’s not too soft - it’s harmful to us now. And it’s very likely to "blow it off" and become a flat pancake in a week. The thickness of the cylinder along the edges should be equal to the length of our neck from the base of the skull to the 7th vertebra, which extends when the head is tilted. If 1, 5-2 cm lower, the better.
2. We buy another not very thick pillow or use our old pen in a new quality. From now on, this pillow should always be placed under the thigh or buttocks in a supine position, as well as under the upper knee when sleeping in a fetal position. Experiment with the optimal height, width and position of the pillow - the right thing, placed in the right place, will bring the immediate disappearance of pain into the most conspicuous focus in this position.
3. It is strictly forbidden to lift and transport objects weighing more than 10 kg in osteochondrosis. Therefore, all workouts with us must be done with our own or minimal weight. For any type of osteochondrosis, it’s wiser not to do it yourself but go to the gym. It is in the gym, as cardio (treadmill, cycling, skiing) and fitness are not the same. Now we definitely need to organize the extra support for our backs and work in exactly the same, correct posture. For such purposes, a simulator is best - a steel frame in which both we and the weight to be lifted can only move in an amplitude limited by the structure.
4. After any exertion (including routine standing walking), apply a light back massage, gently stretching. It can be warmed up at the site of particularly severe back pain - provided, of course, that the focus of the pain does not migrate with the change in posture. And because pain migration is common in osteochondrosis, sometimes a simple "five minutes" on a mat like the Lyapko applicator proves to be five times more effective than any heating pad. After all, we really can't buy a warming mattress! Moreover, in the warm season, heating such a huge area runs the risk of ending in heat stroke. . .

If we understand all this, we take it into account and we are sure that we will not forget to organize the activation of metabolic processes for our spine. As mentioned, you should not practice osteochondrosis at home. Specifically, you shouldn’t get carried away with this - it’s better to work with a professional orthopedic doctor or instructor who has equipment that can compensate for the lack of strength in our spine. But since unfortunately not everyone has this opportunity, we still dare to recommend some warm-up exercises that are less likely to cause complications.

There is only one rule here that should not be broken. Namely, if we have decided to take everything into our own hands, we must order or buy a special medical bandage or corset before starting the workout. Bandage to reliably fix the exact part of the back where there is a pathological process. This is the only way to work, providing support for the problematic part of the spine that is currently lacking.

Thus:

1. We sit tightly against the table, the lid of which would have leaned against our bellies, in a chair with a narrow and high back. We need to have strong support for both the back and the back of the head. Lean back with your full back on the back of the chair, stretch your arms out, sliding along the lid to the maximum. It is even necessary to bend a little, pushing the shoulder blades forward, but it is forbidden to tear the back of the head or the back from the support. An object heavier than 10 kg should be placed on the line where our palms remain in this position. Its shape and surface should be comfortable, because then we have to grab this object with our palms a little from below and pull it towards us without lifting it off the surface. You need to move it not so much with your hands as with the effort on the shoulder muscles that are now trying to restore the pre-stretched forearms to their normal position. As you can see, we are talking about a "domesticated" rowing machine that is a little adjusted to our needs. More specifically, its modification, which is a simple weightlifting for itself. In any case, this exercise develops well the muscles of the middle part of the back - between the shoulder blades - as well as the bar. Once we have pulled the weight towards us, we need to push it back and repeat the towing 15 more times.
2. Stand close to the table you are already familiar with and rest your pelvic bones on the edge of the lid. Put your hands behind your head, lower your head so that your forehead lies on the table. However, the back should not be rounded - we will round it later. For now, our job is to do 15 bends to the table itself with your back straight and your back. The correct position of the body means that in the future, if we fall on the table, we will have our whole face, not our forehead. Therefore, let us linger over the lid itself, avoiding reliance on it.
3. One of the practices detailed in the section on the prevention of back disease is used. Namely: we lie on the ground on the ground, stretching the arms over our heads, clasped with straight legs. Lift one (any) arm off the floor and extend it forward and the opposite leg at the same time. Of course, don’t try to throw your foot over your head, but pull it back with a kicking motion. Then lower your limbs, count to three in your mind, and repeat with another "hand-to-hand leg. " You will need to do a total of 20 reps on each pair of limbs.
4. We sit on the floor with our backs to the wall, stretching our legs in front of us. Do not rest your back too tightly on the wall and rest your palms securely on the floor. Now we have to lift the body with one hand above the floor as much as we can. It is better to keep your legs straight while keeping your sitting position. If you don’t go with the straight lines, you can try to squeeze it to your chest. In this case, you should take into account that changing the position of the legs will shift the center of gravity and the head should be supported by the wall. Repeat 5-7 times.
5. We get a special weightlifting belt - made of wide, thick leather that perfectly secures the lower back. In milder forms of osteochondrosis, it is entirely possible to leave only the bandage that secures the diseased area. Bring a 15 liter sink or bucket to the bathroom to use on the farm. Fill it with water so that it does not splash on the edge, take it out to any free space. Pots with water should be placed on the floor, the legs should be kept slightly apart and bent. on your knees for stability, move your body slightly forward. We need to get a very ambiguous pose - a slight forward bend, noticeably sloping buttocks, but an even line of the spine at the top of the trunk. This is completely normal and correct for the anatomy of the human body. When you have reached the desired position, sit down until you can grip the handles of the pool without rounding your back. The pelvis should then be raised, straightening the knees and lower back in a synchronized motion.

As mentioned above, self-massage is easier for most people to understand intuitively, relying on the senses. And we recommend that you simply do regular (daily) independent treatment with a massager to find out the structural features of your back - with all its pathologies and proportions. However, no two spins in the world are alike. So no masseur or doctor will study this organ better than we do. Meanwhile, the unique details of the structure of our back can be extremely important here. Especially if only part of the spine is affected, or its damage involves "aggravating conditions" in the form of curvature, hernia, developmental abnormality.

However, here are some suggestions on the shades of massage for different classes. In fact, they were originally known only to professionals and are often left out of popular demonstrations of massage techniques. Thus:

In cervical osteochondrosis, the process affects both muscle types equally often and strongly. Therefore, regular, though in-depth, massage does not always bring patients the relief they hoped for. After all, the shoulder girdle is the most massive in the whole body, and the skeletal muscles are nowhere as "hidden" as in our country.

And to be completely satisfied with the result, we consider several provisions that will make it easier to reach them:

• When massaging aching deltoid muscles, the easiest way to "reach" their outer edge is to press your finger into the recess between the clavicle and the "bulge" of the shoulder joint. You shouldn’t press your finger too hard - there. in addition to the muscle, the ligaments of the shoulder are also located. However, as we knead the rigid head of the muscle, we begin to more accurately distinguish its soft fiber from the spring ligament. Work only with a soft head, kneading with twisting movements. You can then go up and 2-3 cm up along the shoulder line, continuing the work from above;
• the inner edge of the deltoid (the most problematic shoulder muscle in everyday life) is connected to the 7th vertebra. He acts harder than others when, as they say, we bend our heads to our chests. But there are many skeletal muscles under the head of the deltoid muscle and completely cover them from manipulation from above. Meanwhile, the lion's share of osteochondrosis "discharges" through their fibers. Therefore, we need to lie on our back on a soft surface.

The middle of the back causes less problems with the number of muscle fibers. However, their design is very complex - in the sense that most of the muscle heads here are not attached to the edges of the bones, but are placed just below them. This is especially true for the scapulae, to which all the muscles in the middle are attached on one side, but none of these attachments are located directly on the edge or top of the bone:

• if we are tormented by burning, shooting pains "somewhere under the shoulder", it does not matter whether they can be observed at the top, below or even in the middle of the shoulder blade. The fact is that in the normal lying position we will not reach these places. We need to lie down so that the massaged hand hangs freely from the bed and lies on the floor. The working hand is always the opposite and should be rolled up tightly from above, behind the back of the head. Uncomfortable but effective. It is better to massage the middle part of the shoulder blade with a hard massager - we will hardly reach it with our fingers and therefore we will not be able to press it. In order to increase the area to be reached, a pillow can be placed under the elbow of the working hand;
• how to stretch the upper corners of the latissimus dorsi, putting his hand on it, not even a genius of acrobatics will be able to. Latos are the muscles that allow bodybuilders and physically well-developed individuals in general to show a classic V-shaped extension of the back from the torso to the shoulders. The rowing machine is exactly what they are developing well - pulling heavy objects to the chest. They are located on the upper back and strictly on the sides. The value of the developed bones in terms of the strength of the arms and lower back cannot be overestimated, so their condition should not only be improved but also monitored. In addition, the vast majority of people do not follow them at all and are very rarely used directly in everyday life. For a latte massage, it is better to use the position on your side. In this case, for stability, the legs should be pulled closer to the stomach, the working hand should be pulled forward along the bed and placed under the armpit of the massaged arm. For comfort, the hand to be massaged does not need to be kept lowered to the side - it is better to lower it to the bed at chest level as well. The lower edge of the shoulder blade will then tighten and the slats will stick to it immediately.

The lumbar region has its own structural features. First, the same row of small skeletal muscles runs along the spine here, moving the vertebrae as they turn. Second, many muscles coming from above are connected to the sacrum at this site. That is, connecting the lower back to the upper - actually allows you to maintain and maintain the amount of S-shaped back curvature throughout your life. By the way, because of this, the weakness of the middle part of the back (scoliosis) is often accompanied by the curvature of the lower back - lordosis and kyphosis. The main muscle of the lumbar spine is the lat. Without health, we will not see a normal S-shaped bend like our ears. And the sacrum and tailbone will keep hurting us, even without osteochondrosis.

So let's start:

• it should be remembered that the latissimus dorsi muscle is strongly oblique: the upper edge is fixed to the lower part of the scapula and the lower to the sacrum, i. e. the coccyx. Therefore, if we walk straight from the armpit with our fingers or a massager down the side, we knead a muscle that is equally connected to the back and abdomen - the oblique abdominal muscle. It does not tie the lower back to the shoulder - the oblique muscle is responsible for tilting the body to the strict side. Mostly to successfully straighten out of this tilt. He suffers a lot from scoliosis and pelvic lesions. The main section for us is near the lower femur itself. It has two heads that connect it to the tibial joint. One is closer to the buttocks (merges with the top lobe) and the other goes slightly forward to the lumbar region. So if we take the habit of massaging the whole area around the protrusions of the pelvic bones, it certainly doesn’t become superfluous;
• if for some reason (mostly due to pain) we decide to warm our buttocks, it is better to do this by lying on our side, pressing our knees to our chest. This position makes all the buttocks available for massage. At first it may seem to us that the buttocks are very painful and as if made entirely of tendon tissue - it will be so dense to the touch. In reality, they shouldn’t be like that - it’s a spasm. It is especially noticeable on the upper lobes and in the middle. Normally, the finger in the middle of the buttocks should be pressed freely to the depth of one of the phalanxes - the block of buttocks is no smaller than the block of shoulder muscles. We need to achieve this without looking at the burning pain.