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

Many Largo people suffering from neck pain, stiffness, or other degenerative cervical spine disease conditions are curious how it might affect your ability to swallow. Dysphagia is the technical term for swallowing problems. While cervical spine conditions may have an impact on pharyngeal swallowing function, it is important to recognize just how and why this occurs. Let’s, Hollstrom & Associates Inc and our Largo chiropractic client, 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 coming from the neck has the potential to impede your ability to sense what is in your mouth, resulting in trouble determining when to swallow which can result in issues such as choking or coughing during meals. On the motor side of things, cervical spine pain conditions might also interfere with your ability to move food as it goes through your mouth and throat by disrupting normal tongue, jaw, and hyolaryngeal motions (the movement of the hyoid bone, the bone that supports the tongue). Therefore, there may be difficulty clearing food debris from your mouth after each bite or sip. Furthermore, cervical spine disorder has been associated with heightened risk of aspiration (inhaling food particles) due to reduced laryngeal elevation that commonly occurs during swallowing. (1) Hollstrom & Associates Inc wants our Largo 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 reported that, fortunately for these patients, those who have spine-associated dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than those whose dysphagia was related 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 Hollstrom & Associates Inc 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 meant to increase strength and range of motion in the neck muscles plus tactics for swallowing safety during meals. Electrical stimulation has been found beneficial in targeting specific areas of weakness associated with impaired tongue motion or jaw closure while also promoting increased blood flow throughout the neck region. (4,5) Hollstrom & Associates Inc offers research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

CONTACT Hollstrom & Associates Inc

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. Make your Largo chiropractic appointment soon.