Osteochondrosis of the spine is the most common cause of back pain. According to statistics, more than half of people over the age of 40 experience a similar condition and its early manifestations appear already in the second and third decade of life. At the same time, it is almost impossible to cure the disease - it is chronic. The disease itself affects the intervertebral discs and cartilage, which compresses the nerve cells of the spinal cord. Osteochondrosis can be of many types - it all depends on the area of the back that is hit. This article will discuss the treatment of thoracic osteochondrosis, which is not a very common condition but causes great discomfort.
Specificity of the disease
Osteochondrosis of the chest is a fairly rare disease, which is due to the structure of the spine. In addition, this disease is quite difficult to diagnose, as its symptoms are often confused with manifestations of diseases of the internal organs.
An excellent feature of the chest is the fact that it is less subject to stress. A strong connection to the ribs and sternum creates a mobile but at the same time durable structure, which is the least exposed to various diseases.
With an early stage of the disease, it is practically not felt, which is another feature. The disease can cause a sharp increase in breast tension, which is often found in temperamental athletes or young mothers when breastfeeding. Another common cause of osteochondrosis of the chest is scoliosis or poor posture.
The risk of the disease also lies in the fact that the main symptoms appear at a delayed stage of development, when the nerve cells of the spinal cord or the spine itself have already been severely compressed or pathological disorders have occurred due to inability to circulate blood.
Manifestations of osteochondrosis of the chest
Most often, doctors treat such a disease as rhizopathy - compression of the nerve fibers of the spinal cord. In this case, the treatment of osteochondrosis of the thoracic spine depends on the symptoms that occur. They often occur due to the formation of various degrees of intervertebral hernia, while two of its types can be distinguished:
- Middle hernia. It is characterized by constant pain that does not go away for a long time and medications and injections rarely allow you to get rid of it.
- Lateral hernia. It is characterized by unilateral pain that occurs at the same level as the hernia, sometimes there is a loss of sensitivity of varying degrees. With such a manifestation of the disease, medications and injections can treat the pain.
Very rarely there is compression of the spinal cord itself. Typically, such a manifestation of the disease is accompanied by severe pain in the waist, numbness, weakness in the legs and profuse sweating. Chest pain often spreads to the groin, abdomen and can disrupt the function of internal organs.
Treatment of thoracic osteochondrosis
Competent specialists should consider how to treat thoracic osteochondrosis. Doing this at home is highly discouraging. Typically, such a treatment consists of two stages - the removal of the pain syndrome and the elimination of the cause of the pain.
Conservative treatment methods are most often preferred. In cases where this method does not treat the disease, they resort to surgery, but this is very rare.
Pain relief is achieved with two components - rest and medication. The patient is prescribed bed rest and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are prescribed. NSAIDs relieve swelling and inflammation, thus reducing the compression of nerve fibers in the spinal cord.
Sometimes, with severe pain, a combination of drugs is used. Then, in addition to NSAIDs, painkillers - injections, tablets are prescribed. This is done with very strong and unbearable pain and medications such as muscle relaxants relieve muscle spasm in the affected area.
Once the drug treatment begins to work, a period of remission begins. Physiotherapy exercises are currently used along with wellness massage and complete relaxation. This set of measures is an effective treatment.
Home treatment
In order to significantly reduce the pain that occurs due to such a condition, it is necessary to carry out a long and complex treatment. They often go to the hospital for these purposes, which is not always convenient and permissible. In such cases, you should resort to home remediation.
It is important to remember that such manifestations can take place only after the initial treatment by a specialist.
Recovery procedures can be used at home and to prevent flare-ups or as a precaution. Consider the most effective methods that allow you to get rid of the disease without using drugs - injections and pills. These methods include.
Therapeutic exercise and massage
At home, self-massage is allowed, which consists of warming up the back muscles from the neck to the lower back. A folded towel is often used for this purpose - rolling it into a tourniquet, rubbing is done.
Therapeutic exercises can be done in a sitting or standing position. The arch in the back helps a lot, as if you are stretching after sleep. Another exercise that eliminates aggravation is to alternately raise your arms and move them smoothly behind your back. Do not neglect such a method of treatment as physiotherapy exercises. Health and sports are always intertwined.
Folk remedies
Active at home, medicines based on medicinal herbs are used. They exclude injections and tablets and consist exclusively of ointments and decoctions. The most effective drugs:
Rubbing the back with a 10-day infusion of 200 grams of lilac per 0. 5 liters of vodka helps prevent flare-ups very well and treats osteochondrosis itself with varying degrees of manifestation.
Crushed hop cones, taken in the same amount as melted lard, will help relieve the deterioration.
Mix 1. 5 cups of radish juice with a glass of vodka and 200 grams of honey, add 10 g. salt and rub into the affected area of the back - and you will not need any injections.
The presented folk remedies are effective methods of treatment of osteochondrosis with different degrees of its manifestation. In addition, these products can be used during breastfeeding, as they consist of natural ingredients.
The treatment of such a condition, with different degrees of its manifestation, may consist of different methods. Sometimes injections prescribed by a doctor give the greatest effect, sometimes folk remedies. Ignoring the advice of experts, and even more so the complete refusal to examine them, is foolish and dangerous. With a very developed degree of the disease, even injections will not help. In addition, thoracic osteochondrosis is often combined with cervical osteochondrosis and the treatment of cervical osteochondrosis involves the use of slightly different methods. Therefore, the first thing to do when similar pain occurs is to contact a specialist.