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Pain in osteochondrosis

February 6, 2018

Pain in osteochondrosis

The painful symptoms of osteochondrosis are many-sided and are often mistaken for the clinical manifestations of other serious diseases, therefore, if a disease not initially diagnosed is found, a neuropathologist should be visited.

Unbearable, widespread, of a different nature from aching sensations to lumbago, similar in sensation with a shot in the back, pains in osteochondrosis become the main factor under the influence of which the patient seeks medical advice.

The mechanism of pain in osteochondrosis

Pain syndrome in osteochondrosis – the end result of pathological processes in the human body, occurring under the influence of many factors. Age-related changes play a significant role in this, but lately there have been an increasing number of cases in which a disease that was considered senile affects young and able-bodied people. This is due to external negative influences in the form of:

  • thermal stress;
  • overvoltage;
  • hypodynamia;
  • unhealthy sleep;
  • lack of proper nutrition;
  • bad habits.

In addition, disruption of the endocrine system, metabolic processes, natural metabolism, chronic diseases of internal organs lead to the launch of degenerative-dystrophic changes in the spine.

A significant role is played by the lack of predisposition of a person to upright walking. Negative processes occurring in the body under the influence of external factors lead to the gradual destruction of the intervertebral disc. It ceases to fulfill its role as a natural shock absorber due to damage to the fibrous ring and modification of the connective tissue fibers. All this leads to a gradual deformation of the disk, its protrusion, decrease in elasticity and injury.

Drying of the pulpal nucleus and cracks in the ring cause disc bulging, less often lead to rupture of the ring and the formation of intervertebral hernia. Uncharacteristic position with bulging and hernia, creates pressure on the blood vessels, nerve endings and connective tissue.

Also, innervation of the nerve roots extending from the spine occurs, which causes unbearable pain. The decrease in the space between the vertebrae leads to pinching in the decreased openings formed by the processes of the adjacent vertebrae, as a result, inflammation and swelling of the tissues appear.

Treatment of pain in osteochondrosis is reduced to a reduction of the factors contributing to innervation, which helps reduce pain. Precisely because the changes occur persistent, simple analgesics practically do not help.

Varieties and localization of pain

It is difficult to unambiguously answer the question of what hurts with osteochondrosis. In the acute stage it seems to the patient that everything hurts. The nature and location of painful symptoms depend on the spinal column in which degenerative lesions occurred.

Differential diagnostics, conducted with fraudulent pains, can reveal what exactly is the cause of pain. When deciding how to relieve pain in osteochondrosis, the doctor must initially determine which of the factors caused the innervation of the nerve endings.

The spine is one of the largest anatomical structures in the human body, from which the nerves that innervate a multitude of anatomical structures lead to different sections. Hence, the characteristic symptoms associated with the localization of lesions of the spinal nerves.

According to the types of osteochondrosis, pain is classified, in which, depending on the location of the lesion, characteristic features appear. Osteochondrosis is:

  • cervical;
  • cervicothoracic;
  • chest;
  • lumbar;
  • lumbosacral.

Osteochondrosis can take a combined form and occur in several parts of the spine at the same time, therefore it is difficult to answer the question of what kind of pain in osteochondrosis. Pain can be individual in nature and be complicated by additional diseases, and how it hurts, each patient feels differently.

Pain in osteochondrosis is the main negative manifestation of degenerative processes in the cartilaginous tissues of the spine, regardless of the reasons they are caused. In severe forms of the disease, the localization of pain is difficult to determine, since the clinical picture of its manifestation can be many-sided. Intervertebral disc degeneration is painless, but the consequences of such a process lead to trauma to the nerve endings, which is the main cause of unbearable pain.

With cervical and cervicothoracic osteochondrosis

For cervical osteochondrosis, cervicalgia (cervical pain) is considered the most characteristic, which is combined with the other negative sensations. Localization of degenerative lesions causes headache, symptoms, manifested in the upper limbs, neck, shoulder girdle. Can hurt in the right hypochondrium and scapulae. No less intense irradiation can be observed in the frontal lobes, ears, throat, jaw, eyes, crown.