Nashua Cervical Spine Motion, Osteophytes, and Agings Effect

Aging gets blamed for a lot of ills…including neck motion changes. You are not alone if you realize that you don’t turn your head quite as effortlessly or as far as you used to 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. Moriarty Chiropractic is ready to help your neck movements with gentle chiropractic treatment!

CERVICAL SPINE MOTION

Physiological motion of the spine has a nice ring to it, 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 aging spines of older folks? Reduced movement has been linked to aging. A newer study by some curious researchers set out to see if such consistent neck motions in asymptomatic young people were the same in elderly asymptomatic persons. They didn’t. They found that aging - as demonstrated by the motion patterns seen in elderly asymptomatic persons - was associated with loss of consistent motion patterns that were 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 Nashua chiropractic friends and family age along with us, we’re not alone in feeling motion changes. Moriarty Chiropractic delivers gentle Cox® Technic treatment in order to allow 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 sources that may be the cause.

WHAT COMES WITH AGING THAT LIMITS NECK MOTION: Osteophytes

Osteophytes are commonly seen in elderly folks’ vertebrae of the lumbar and cervical spines. Anterior osteophytes continue growing and eventually provoke neck pain or back pain. Since osteophytes are so usual and produce such pain, researchers determined a way to predict the mean time to onset of pain and the path of degeneration that occurs in these vertebrae based on information from following patients’ osteophytes for 9 years. (2) We know our Nashua 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 showed anterior osteophytes as well as kyphosis (abnormal curvature) of her cervical spine and thoracolumbar scoliosis, any of which could contribute to her dysphagia. Six months of chiropractic care calmed her issues. (3) Chiropractic care works!

CONTACT Moriarty Chiropractic

Listen to the PODCAST with Dr. Shay Corbin on the Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explains the effectiveness and gentleness of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for his musician patient experiencing neck and back pain.       

Make your next Nashua chiropractic appointment with Moriarty Chiropractic. Bring your aging spine, your less-than-flexible cervical spine, your stiff neck to our clinic. We can work toward better mobility!