Murfreesboro Cervical Spine Motion, Osteophytes, and Agings Effect
Aging gets blamed for a lot of ills…including neck motion changes. You’re not alone if you find that you do not rotate your head quite as effortlessly or as far as you used to or that you don’t flex or extend it in the same way as you once could. Degenerative discs and vertebrae and associated osteophytes play a role in limiting movement. Most Chiropractic Clinic is here to help your neck motions with gentle chiropractic treatment!
CERVICAL SPINE MOTION
Physiological motion of the spine sounds like something good, does it not? It does! In the cervical spine, researchers have described how a consistent sequence of cervical segmental contributions work when the neck moves. This sequence is typical in 80-90% of young healthy persons. But what about the motions in older persons with aging spines? Decreased movement has been connected to aging. A newer study by some curious researchers set out to see if such consistent neck motions in elderly asymptomatic persons resembled the motions in asymptomatic young persons. They didn’t. They concluded that aging - as demonstrated by the motion patterns seen in elderly asymptomatic persons - was associated with loss of consistent motion patterns as seen in young asymptomatic persons. For example, the consistent pattern in young asymptomatic persons was found in only 10% of the older persons at T1 and 0% at T2. (1) As our Murfreesboro chiropractic friends and family age along with us, we’re not alone in noting motion changes. Most Chiropractic Clinic offers gentle Cox® Technic treatment in order to allow as much movement to spinal segments as they’ll allow. If you notice limitations in your neck motions, let us know! We can look for the usual culprits that may be the cause.
WHAT COMES WITH AGING THAT LIMITS NECK MOTION: Osteophytes
Osteophytes are frequently seen in elderly folks’ vertebrae of the lumbar and cervical spines. Anterior osteophytes keep developing and eventually bring about neck pain or back pain. Since osteophytes are so usual and produce such pain, researchers found a way to predict the mean time to onset of pain and the path of degeneration that occurs in these vertebrae based on data from following patients’ osteophytes for 9 years. (2) We know our Murfreesboro chiropractic patients with osteophytes aren’t as curious as to how long ago their osteophytes started, but rather how our chiropractic care can help! Here’s an interesting case concerning osteophytes and relieving chiropractic care: Osteophytes may cause the development of dysphagia (aka difficulty with swallowing). A case report presented a 53-year-old woman with a sore throat, difficulty swallowing solid foods, and acid reflux. Her imaging revealed anterior osteophytes as well as kyphosis (abnormal curvature) of her cervical spine and thoracolumbar scoliosis, any of which could impact her dysphagia. Six months of chiropractic care calmed her issues. (3) Chiropractic care works!
CONTACT Most Chiropractic Clinic
Listen to the PODCAST with Dr. Shay Corbin on the Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explains the effective, gentle treatment with the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for his musician patient experiencing neck and back pain.
Schedule your next Murfreesboro chiropractic appointment with Most Chiropractic Clinic. Bring your aging spine, your less-than-flexible cervical spine, your stiff neck to our clinic. We can work toward improved mobility!
