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

Many Vancouver 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 difficulty with swallowing. While cervical spine conditions may have an impact on pharyngeal swallowing function, it is important to know just how and why that would occur. Let’s, Vancouver Disc Centers and our Vancouver 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 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’s in your mouth, resulting in trouble knowing when to swallow which may lead to issues such as choking or coughing while eating. On the motor side of things, cervical spine pain conditions might also disturb your ability to process food as it moves through your mouth and throat by disrupting normal tongue, jaw, and hyolaryngeal movements (the movement of the hyoid bone, the bone that holds the tongue). As a result, there may be difficulty clearing food debris from your mouth after each bite or sip. Additionally, cervical spine disorder has been associated with increased risk of aspiration (inhaling food particles) due to decreased laryngeal elevation that commonly occurs during swallowing. (1) Vancouver Disc Centers wants our Vancouver cervical spine pain patients to know about 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 documented that, lucky for these patients, those who have spine-related dysphagia had better outcomes with treatment than patients whose dysphagia was related 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 return to safe eating habits, proper treatment is important. Treatment at Vancouver Disc Centers typically starts with a thorough examination to determine the underlying cervical spine issue followed by a treatment plan incorporating 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 plus tactics for swallowing safety when eating. Electrical stimulation has been reported 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) Vancouver Disc Centers deliveres research based and clinically experienced relieving treatment modalities along with chiropractic spinal manipulation.

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While there isn't necessarily a quick fix for this problem—treatment typically takes some time—with patience and dedication you can get the results you want with personalized care tailored specifically for your needs. Schedule your Vancouver chiropractic appointment soon.