Juneau 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 once did or that you don’t flex or extend it like you once could. Degenerative discs and vertebrae and companion osteophytes play a role in limiting movement. Aurora Chiropractic Center is here to help your neck movements 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 noted how a consistent sequence of cervical segmental contributions work when the neck moves. This sequence is common in 80-90% of young healthy persons. But what about the motions in older persons with aging spines? Reduced motion has been connected to aging. A recent study by some curious researchers set out to determine if such consistent neck motions in asymptomatic young people were the same in elderly asymptomatic 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 Juneau chiropractic friends and family age along with us, we’re not alone in feeling motion changes. Aurora Chiropractic Center delivers gentle Cox® Technic treatment in order to bring as much movement to spinal segments as possible. If you see limitations in your neck motions, let us know! We can examine you to find the usual culprits that may be the cause.
WHAT COMES WITH AGING THAT LIMITS NECK MOTION: Osteophytes
Osteophytes are frequently seen in vertebral bones of the cervical and lumbar spines of elderly folks. Anterior osteophytes continue growing and eventually bring about neck pain or back pain. Since osteophytes are so common and result in such pain, researchers determined a way to predict the mean time to onset of pain and the path of degeneration that happens in these vertebrae based on information from following patients’ osteophytes for 9 years. (2) We know our Juneau chiropractic patients with osteophytes are not as curious as to how long ago their osteophytes started, but rather how our chiropractic care can help! Here’s an interesting case involving 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 showed 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 relieved her issues. (3) Chiropractic care works!
CONTACT Aurora Chiropractic Center
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 dealing with neck and back pain.
Make your next Juneau chiropractic appointment with Aurora Chiropractic Center. Bring your aging spine, your less-than-flexible cervical spine, your stiff neck to our clinic. We can work toward better mobility!
