A difficult diagnosis of vertebrogenic cervicalgia means that you have cervical pain, which you have probably noticed so far. The cause of unpleasant sensations in this case was the pathology of the vertebrae or the spine as a whole.
Such a difficult name, like all other medical terms, consists of Latin words. Vetebra - "vertebra", in combination with genesis - "origin" is the word vertebrogenic, and cervix - "neck" and algos - "pain" forms cervicalgia. So it turns out that this uneasy term means banal - pain in the neck.
Causes of the disease
There are many reasons for the appearance and development of vertebrogenic cervicalgia, among them:
- neurological diseases;
- traumatic diseases;
- rheumatological diseases and others.
One of the most common diseases of previous cervicalgia is spinal column disease, which is accompanied by the following diagnoses:
- spondylosis;
- osteochondrosis;
- spondylolisthesis and so on.
Injury of the cervical spine does not rarely cause a chronic form of vertebrogenic cervicalgia.
Also, to provoke pain in the cervical spine may be an incorrect position of the head during sleep, work at a table or hypothermia.
Classification of the disease
Vertebral cervicalgia is classified according to the nature of the pain.
Spondylogenic cervicalgia
This form of the disease manifests itself when:
- osteomyelitis;
- osteome;
- osteoclastoblastoma;
- other diseases characterized by affection of the vertebrae.
With this diagnosis, the nerve roots are irritated by the bony formations, which causes pain. In this case, it is difficult to treat, so the course takes a long time, and the patient should have patience.
Discogenic cervicalgia
The cause of development of discogenic cervicalgia is the presence of degenerative processes in the cartilaginous tissue. Such a process is diagnosed by the following diseases:
- herniated intervertebral disc;
- osteochondrosis and so on.
With discogenic cervicalgia, there is a syndrome of persistent pain. In this case, surgical intervention is often necessary.
Specialists consider this classification to be conditional, since damage to the bone structure, discs and muscular apparatus is not uncommon.
Symptoms of vertebrogenic cervicalgia
At first glance it seems that the symptoms of the disease are quite understandable, but vertebrogenic cervicalgia is accompanied by pain radiating into the hand, as well as other neurological symptoms, among which:
- numbness of the hands;
- burning in hands and fingers;
- pain at the base of the skull, weakness in the arms and shoulders;
- the muscles in the neck are tense and firm to the touch, hurt while moving;
- paresis;
- "Crawling creepy."
The nature of the pain can be completely different, it depends on the diseases that caused the emergence of cervicalgia.
Treatment of the disease
Treatment of vertebrogenic cervicalgia fully depends on the cause of the onset of the disease. If you have felt neck pain, which is accompanied by some symptoms, the doctor must appoint you an MRI . This will help to identify the causes of pinching the nerve roots. You can also undergo a cervical spine test. After confirming the diagnosis, the doctor prescribes treatment, which often has a conservative nature:
- anesthetics ;
- muscle relaxants;
- use of the cervical collar for the period of treatment (from one to three weeks);
- spinal traction (to reduce pain);
- physiotherapy;
- physiotherapy treatment.
Treatment of cervicalgia can be of a surgical nature. But this is rare, because surgical treatment of the spine is accompanied by a variety of risks. Therefore, doctors try to avoid it. Indications for participation in the treatment of surgeons are:
- acute or subacute lesion of the spinal cord in the cervical spine;
- the growth of the paresis in the place of innervation of the nerve root;
- occurrence of risk of necrosis of the root.