Osteochondrosis: treatment, symptoms, signs, causes

Here is another pathology that is considered age-related, but often occurs without any connection with age.

For example, this fact: more than half of patients with osteochondrosis worldwide noticed the first signs of its development at the age of 25. Yes, no one thought that old age could come so quickly. . . Some people experience this year as mature, some are more accustomed to referring them almost to adolescence, and some 60 does not seem to be the reason for the bad condition. But everyone will resolutely agree that for the aging process, to put it mildly, it is not old age yet.

What is the problem? In reality, it is multiple and can seem complicated to a layman. But in reality there is nothing complicated about it. In the section on spinal disc herniation, we said that its content is water in which proteins are dissolved, right? So, all osteochondrosis, together with its speed, weight and healing projections, is actually built on these proteins. what do we meanNow everything will be clear.

The proteins in the "filling" of the intervertebral disc are called glycosaminoglycans. Maybe we shouldn't remember this name.

But we must remember that the main purpose of glycosaminated deacons is water retention. Moreover, with the possibility of its gradual release under pressure. In other words, the proteins that create jelly-like "filler" textures for the disk are made so that the water in it heats up at rest and is gradually squeezed out under load.

Of course, water itself is too liquid to do something like this. That is why the body synthesizes special proteins - unique! analog of gelling agents such as carrageenan, gum, starch.

In order for the contents of the intervertebral disc (and it is, we remind you, the basis of its amortization properties) to remain in order, we need:

• monitor what we eat, avoiding deficiencies in vital substances, especially protein;
• avoid muscle cramps in the back;
• maintain active circulation of cerebrospinal fluid and blood in it to normalize metabolic processes in spinal tissues;
• avoid injuries and infections of the spine tissue;
• maintain the rate of metabolism of water and salt in the body.

Symptoms of osteochondrosis

So, at the very beginning, our backs will start "dancing" to the rhythm of our every movement. However, for a long time this creaking can only be heard. In the future, there will be a period of sensation - constant withdrawal, painful pain and discomfort in the areas affected by osteochondrosis. They are felt at rest, and gradually increase with movement. Subjectively, patients notice that the joints affected by the process get tired faster than others. Consequently, as the feeling of fatigue intensifies, so does the pain.

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, and the condition of the cartilage deteriorates as the situation drags on, and very quickly. Over time, the crunches themselves become painful.

Any such sound is now accompanied by an outpouring of dull pain both at the site of onset and in nearby tissues of any kind. It seems to spread like an extensive painful wave from one point in the joint - exactly according to the laws of resonance.

Symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis

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

• headache resistant to standard treatment - dull, painful, pulsating, constant, evenly distributed throughout the head. It coincides with increased neck pain and is similar to the headaches that occur with an increase in blood pressure. As a rule, in osteochondrosis, too much pressure leads to headaches;
• unmotivated attacks of dizziness during the day: with sudden changes in posture, head movements, tremors. Dizziness often coincides with the rhythm of breathing - a dangerous "lightness" in the head appears with each inhalation and disappears during exhalation. Such symptomatology means that currently the intracranial pressure is reduced, not excessive, as in the previous example. As a rule, these two symptoms are alternately observed in all patients with cervical osteochondrosis, occur periodically and last for several days. Sometimes one replaces the other, sometimes they are separated by periods of relative pressure;
• aching pain in the neck, especially in the base of the skull. In the initial stages, it is expressed by vague discomfort during the day and crunching when turning the head. But touching the spine in this area or trying to massage the muscles causes pain and stiffness of the muscle fibers. After that, the pain is permanent, intensified by turning the head to the side, bending towards the chest, after sleeping on a high or too soft pillow;
• chest pain (as under the ribs), under the shoulder blade, with return to the muscles of the shoulders and upper chest. They are as reminiscent of an attack of angina pectoris or coronary artery disease as they are of pain in a disc herniation, but they are more permanent. For example, in diseases of the cardiovascular system, the pain rarely lasts longer than a few hours and depends little on the respiratory rhythm. In osteochondrosis, it is constant, worsens with each breath, lasts up to several days or more;
• "Lumbago" along the entire shoulder line, often to the fingertips. As a rule, depending on the degree of progression of osteochondrosis, the patient simultaneously suffers from either short-term "lumbago" to the shoulder joint, or from attacks of numbness and long-term acute "lumbago" along the entire inner surface of the hands. As for the injury of the small neurons of the shoulder, it is not felt at rest, but sharply worsens with the first movements of the head after prolonged immobility. Patients describe it as "electrical discharges along the spine, in the shoulder muscles. "Radiation in the hand is often accompanied by spasm of the wrist muscles and violation of the sensitivity of the ring finger, as well as the little finger;
• quite often, although in less than half of all cases with cervical osteochondrosis, the sensitivity and mobility of the tongue decreases. Patients may become unable to distinguish some flavors (they do not recognize bitter, sour, sweet, but it is easy to call a mixed taste). Some people report changes in diction, especially when it is necessary to speak quickly and / or clearly.

Symptoms of osteochondrosis of the thoracic region

Signs of thoracic osteochondrosis:

• aching, drawing pain in the chest, "somewhere below the ribs. "Unlike coronary heart disease, it is difficult for the patient to determine its center more precisely. Such pain significantly depends on the rhythm of breathing - it intensifies with inspiration and coughing. And with all the uncertainty of its location in the chest, any such attack clearly resonates in the causal vertebra / vertebrae. In 99 out of 100 cases, the movement of the vertebrae hurts the most;
• disorders of sensitivity and mobility of the pulmonary diaphragm - the appearance of feelings of incomplete inhalation, inability to perform lower exhalation;
• pain and discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract - especially common in the stomach, upper intestine, liver and pancreas. The pain can range from mild, inaudible discomfort to obvious cramps. Therefore, osteochondrosis of the thoracic region is often mistaken for slow gastritis, enteritis, colitis, chronic pancreatitis.

Symptoms of lumbar osteochondrosis

Lumbar osteochondrosis, also called lumbago (to know that it is one and the same), is the most common form of the disease.

With him we will have:

• Painful pain in the lower back, intensified by bending, prolonged sitting or standing - in general, almost every movement of the body. As a rule, it disturbs the sick at night, in the presence of the habit of sleeping on the back, with the legs straight. It is calmed only by a longer stay or the habit of sleeping in the fetal position. That is, with the knees tucked into the chest. Patients with lumbar osteochondrosis move quickly and voluntarily from a soft bed to a hard one, as it is easier to maintain the position of the embryo on a hard floor throughout the night;
• lumbar stiffness syndrome. It involves: the inability to bend quickly after long standing or sitting, associated not so much with pain as with a general reduction in muscle extensibility and bone stiffness in the affected area; rapidly progressive numbness in the lumbar region when sitting or standing, associated with acute damage to the nerve endings in this position of the vertebrae;
• pinching of the sciatic nerve (the main neuronal trunk of the legs, which enters the spine in the region of the coccyx). In the case of osteochondrosis of the lumbosacral region, it is one of the scenarios of sciatica, but not the only one. Despite the existence of several other variants, sciatica is often a painful complication of osteochondrosis.

Treatment of osteochondrosis

We will have to treat ourselves for a long time, so we will first improve the quality of life of our own backs.

1. Let's remove the featherbed and feather pillow from the bed. Let's leave one main mattress, take an orthopedic pillow - thick, low, with a fixed depression in the middle. Usually these pillows are made of polyester. So you have to make sure it’s not too soft - it’s harmful to us now. And the probability that it will "blow out", turn into a flat pancake in a week, is very high. The thickness of the roller along the edges should be equal to the length of our neck from the base of the skull to the 7th vertebra that protrudes when the head is bent. If 1, 5-2 cm lower, the better.
2. We will buy another not too thick pillow or we will use our old feather in new quality. From now on, we will always have to put this pillow under the thighs or buttocks in a lying position, as well as under the upper knee when we sleep in the fetal position. Let's experiment with the optimal height, width and position of the pillow - the right thing, placed in the right place, will bring an instant disappearance of pain in the most noticeable focus in this position.
3. It is strictly forbidden to lift and carry any objects heavier than 10 kg in case of osteochondrosis. Therefore, every training should take place with us with your own or minimal weight. With any type of osteochondrosis, it is wiser not to do it alone, but to go to the gym. It's in the gym, because cardio (treadmill, bike, skiing) and fitness are not the same. Now we definitely need to organize extra back support and work with exactly the same, proper body position. The best for such purposes is a simulator - a steel frame, in which we and the weight that is lifted can move only in the amplitude of the limited structure.
4. After any effort (including routine upright walking), a light back massage should be performed, gently stretching them. Heat can be applied to places of particularly intense back pain - provided that the focus of pain does not migrate along with the change of posture, of course. And since the migration of pain is common in osteochondrosis, sometimes simply "five minutes" on a mat like a Lyapko applicator proves to be five times more effective than any heating pad. After all, we really can’t buy a heating mattress instead! Moreover, in the warm season, heating such a huge area risks ending up in heat stroke. . .

If we understand all this, take it into account and we are sure that we will not forget, we will organize the activation of metabolic processes of our spine. As already mentioned, you should not exercise at home with osteochondrosis. More precisely, you should not get carried away with it - it is better to work with a professional orthopedist or instructor where there is equipment that can compensate for the lack of strength that has arisen in our spine. But since, unfortunately, not everyone has such an opportunity, we still dare to recommend some warm-up exercises with a reduced likelihood of complications.

There is only one rule here that must not be broken. Namely: if we have decided to take everything into our own hands, we must definitely order or buy a special medical bandage or corset before the start of training. Bandage for reliable fixation of the part of the back where there is a pathological process. He should work only in it, providing support to the problematic part of the spine, which he currently lacks.

so:

1. We will sit near a table whose lid would be leaning on our stomach, on a chair with a narrow and high back. We need to have a firm foothold for both the back and the back of the head. We lean our whole backs on the back of the chair, stretch our arms out, sliding them over the lid, to the maximum. It is even necessary to bend a little, pushing the blades forward, but for this it is forbidden to tear off the back of the head or 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 will need to gently grasp this object with our palms from below and pull it towards us, without lifting it from the surface. You have to move it not so much with your hands as with the effort of the shoulder blade muscles, which are now trying to return the outstretched forearms to their normal position. As you can see, it is a "domesticated" and slightly adapted rowing device for our needs. More precisely, its modification, which means simply pulling the weight on yourself. In any case, this exercise develops the muscles of the middle back well - between the shoulder blades, as well as the lat. After we pull the load towards us, we need to move it back and repeat the pull 15 more times.
2. Let's stand near the table that is already familiar to us and lean the pelvic bones against the edge of the lid. Let's put our hands behind our heads, let our heads fall so that our foreheads are resting on the table. At the same time, the back should not be rounded - we will round it off later. For now, our task is to make 15 bends to the table with a flat back and arms at the back of the head. Proper body position means that in the future, if we fall on the table, we will be the whole face, not the forehead. Therefore, it should be kept above the lid, avoiding relying on it.
3. We use one of the exercises described in the section on the prevention of back disease. Namely: we lie on our stomachs on the floor, arms outstretched above our heads, legs straight together. Lift one (any) arm off the floor and stretch forward at the same time as the opposite leg. Of course, you should not try to throw your leg over your head, but pull it back with a kick. Then lower your limbs, count to three in your mind and repeat with another pair of "arms-opposite legs". In total, you need to do 20 reps for both pairs of limbs.
4. We sit on the floor, back to the wall, legs outstretched in front of us. Do not lean your back too hard against the wall and rest your palms firmly on the floor. Now we need to raise the body with one hand above the floor as much as possible. It is better to keep your legs straight while maintaining their sitting position. If it doesn’t go with straight lines, you can try squeezing them to your chest. In this case, you will need to consider that changing the position of your legs will shift the center of gravity and require you to lean your head against the wall. Repeat 5-7 times.
5. We will get a special weight lifting belt - wide, made of thick leather that perfectly fixes the lower back. In milder forms of osteochondrosis, it is quite possible to leave only a bandage that fixes the affected area. Take to the bathroom a 15-liter sink or bucket that we use on the farm. Fill it with water so that it does not splash on the edges, take it out to any free space. Dishes with water should be placed on the floor, legs slightly apart and bent. knees for stability, gently move your body forward. We should get a very ambiguous pose - a slight tilt forward, with a noticeably receding buttocks, but a uniform line of the spine in the upper torso. This is quite normal and correct from the point of view of the anatomy of the human body. When we reach the desired position, we should sit until we grasp the handles of the pelvis without rounding the back. After that, the pelvis must be raised, with synchronized movement straightening the knees and lower back.

As already mentioned, most people find self-massage easier to understand intuitively, relying on sensations in the process. And we recommend that you simply regularly (daily) conduct a stand-alone session with a masseur, discovering the structural features of your back - with all its pathologies and proportions. Yet there are no two identical turns in the world. So, no masseur or doctor will study this organ better than us. Meanwhile, certain details of the structure of our backs here can be extremely important. Especially if only one part of the spine is affected or its damage includes "aggravating circumstances" in the spirit of curvature, hernia, malformations.

However, here are some recommendations regarding the nuances of massage of different departments. Indeed, in the original they are known only to experts and are often omitted in the popular presentation of massage techniques. so:

In cervical osteochondrosis, the process affects both types of muscles equally often and strongly. Therefore, regular, although deep 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 deeply "hidden" as here.

And for complete satisfaction with the result, we will consider a few provisions that will be easier to reach:

• When massaging painful deltoid muscles, their outer edge is easiest to "reach" by pressing your finger from above into the recess between the collarbone and the "bump" of the shoulder joint. You shouldn't press your finger too hard - that's it. in addition to the muscles, there are also shoulder ligaments. However, as we knead the stiff head of the muscle, we will begin to more accurately distinguish its soft fiber and elastic ligament apparatus. It is necessary to work exclusively with a soft head, kneading it with twisting movements. Then you can go up and 2-3 cm up along the shoulder line, continuing to work from above;
• the inner edge of the deltoid (the most problematic shoulder muscle in everyday life) is attached to the 7th vertebra. It works harder than others when we, as they say, bow our heads to our chests. But under the head of the deltoid muscle, it is located through the skeletal muscles, which completely covers them from manipulation from above. Meanwhile, the lion's share of osteochondrosis "discharge" passes through their fibers. Therefore, we must lie on our backs on a soft surface.

The middle back will give us 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, so to speak, go under them. This is especially true of the shoulder blades, to which all the muscles of the middle are attached on one side, but none of these appendages are located directly on the edge of the bone or on its top:

• if we are tormented by burning or shooting pains "somewhere under the shoulder blade", it does not matter whether they are observed at the top of the shoulder blade, below or even in the middle. The fact is that in the usual lying positionit hangs from the bed and lies on the floor. The working arm is always opposite, and it should be tightly wound from above, behind the back of the head. Inconvenient but effective. The middle part under the shoulder blade is better massaged with a hard massagerTo increase the area we reach, a pillow can be placed under the elbow of the working arm;
• how to stretch the upper corners of the latissimus dorsi, putting his hand on top, even the genius of acrobatics will not be able to. Lats are muscles that allow bodybuilders and physically well-developed individuals in general to show a classic V-shaped back extension from torso to shoulders. It is their rowing device that develops them well - pulling heavy objects on the chest. They are located in the upper back and strictly on the sides. The value of the developed widths for the strength of the arms and lower back cannot be overestimated, so they should not only be developed, but also their condition should be monitored. Moreover, the vast majority of people do not follow them at all, and in ordinary life they are used directly very rarely. It is better to use a lying position on the side to massage the lats. In this case, for stability, the legs should be pulled closer to the abdomen, the working arm should be pulled forward along the bed and placed under the armpit of the hand to be massaged. For convenience, the hand you are massaging should not be kept lowered to the side - it is more convenient to lower it to the bed at chest height. Then the lower edge of the blade will be stretched after it, and the lats will be immediately attached to it.

The lumbar region has its own structural characteristics. First, the same row of small skeletal muscles here runs along the spine, moving the vertebrae when turning. Second, at this point many muscles coming from above are attached to the sacrum. That is, connecting the lower back with the upper - in fact, allows you to maintain and maintain throughout life the rate of curvature of the back in the shape of the letter S. Otherwise, for this reason weakness in the middle of the back (scoliosis) often accompanies curvature of the lower back - lordosis. The main muscle of the lumbar spine is the lats. Without her health, we will not see a normal S-shaped curve like our ears. And the sacrum and buttocks will constantly hurt us, even without osteochondrosis.

Let's start:

• it should be borne in mind that the latissimus dorsi muscle goes strongly obliquely: its upper edge is attached to the lower part of the scapula, and the lower - to the sacral bones, ie to the occiput. So, if we walk straight from the armpit with the fingers or massager down the side, we will knead a muscle that is equally connected to the back and the abdomen - the oblique abdominal muscle. This is not the lats, which connects the lower back to the shoulder - the oblique muscle is responsible for tilting the body strictly to the side. Mainly due to the successful correction from this slope. Many suffer from scoliosis and pelvic lesions. Its main part for us is the lower, near the femur itself. There are two heads with which it is attached to the tibial joint. One is closer to the buttocks (merges with its upper lobe) and the other goes slightly forward, to the groin. So, if we make it a habit to massage the whole area around the protrusions of the pelvic bones, it will definitely not become superfluous;
• if for some reason (most often due to pain) we decide to warm up the buttocks, it is better to do it lying on your side, squeezing your knees to your chest. This position makes all the gluteal muscles available for massage. For the first time, our buttocks can seem very painful and as if they are completely composed of tendon tissue - it will be so thick to the touch. In reality, they shouldn't be like that - it's a cramp. It is especially noticeable in the upper lobes and the middle part. Normally, the finger in the middle of the buttocks should be pressed freely to the depth of one phalanx - a series of gluteal muscles is not smaller than a series of shoulder muscles. This is what we need to achieve without looking at any burning pain.