In complex therapy of cervical cartilage disease (chondrosis), injection solutions, ointments, creams, tablets and traction are used. The drug copes well with pain, swelling, inflammation, loss of sensitivity, dizziness and increased blood pressure.
Characteristic features of the disease
The process of cervical bone degeneration is accompanied by slow, irreversible destruction of the intervertebral disc. Losing the shock-absorbing cartilage cushion, the vertebrae also begin to deform.When visiting a spine specialist or neurologist, patients complain of sharp or aching pain, joint stiffness, and dizziness when standing up suddenly, so the treatment regimen includes drugs with manyVarious characteristics:
- External agents have local anesthetic, regenerating, warming effects;
- Medicines provide adequate nutrition for the brain;
- Chondroprotectors activate the process of disc recovery;
- Local and systemic analgesics.
The disease cannot yet be completely cured. Doctors' efforts are aimed at eliminating painful symptoms and inhibiting the spread of the disease to other parts of the spine. For this purpose, complex treatment regimens are drawn up using drugs from various groups.
Signs of cervical cartilage disease
In the early stages of the disease, there are practically no symptoms in women and men. Occasionally a person feels mild discomfort in the evening. He makes them tired after a day of work so they don't go see a doctor. Meanwhile, his discs are gradually being destroyed. The vertebrae are deformed with the formation of growing bone masses, compressing the vertebral artery.
After about a year, the discomfort is replaced by pain, which increases when turning or tilting the head.Chondrosis is manifested by the following symptoms:
- clicking, clicking in the neck;
- limited range of motion;
- hypertension;
- arrhythmic heartbeat;
- one-sided throbbing headache resembling a migraine;
- visual and hearing disorders;
- dizziness, unsteady gait, feeling of imaginary rotation of objects;
- nausea, rarely ending in vomiting.
Due to lack of oxygen in the brain, sleep is interrupted, weakness, lethargy, fatigue, and tinnitus appear. The psycho-emotional state of a person worsens - he becomes nervous and worries about little things.
Principles of drug treatment
Chiropractors, professional massage therapists, physiotherapists and physiatrists are involved in the treatment of cervical cartilage disease. At the final stage, the use of folk remedies is allowed. But the main role in complex therapy is assigned to pharmacological drugs.All dosage forms are in demand:
- Injectable solution is used to aggravate the condition of cartilage disease to quickly eliminate its painful symptoms;
- tablets, capsules, suppositories are prescribed during remission to prevent destruction of the intervertebral disc, relieve mild or moderate pain and restore blood circulation;
- Ointments, gels, balms, creams are the safest, quickly cope with unpleasant hardness and brittleness.
It is very rare that osteochondrosis can be treated with any medication. Treatment regimens usually include at least 5 drugs with different pharmacological properties. They are compatible and convenient to use at home.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
NSAIDs are more commonly used than other medications in the treatment of cervical cartilage disease. They are indicated for acute, penetrating or distant, dull pain. The mechanism of action of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is based on their ability to inhibit enzymes responsible for the production of neurotransmitters.All NSAIDs have complex effects on the human body:
- eliminates painful sensations;
- Eliminates crunching and clicking sounds when turning the neck;
- Prevent acute, subacute, and chronic inflammatory processes affecting soft tissues;
- stimulates and reduces swelling, affecting sensory nerve endings;
- Increase range of motion in damaged cervical vertebrae.
In the treatment of cartilage diseases, drugs in the form of injectable solutions and tablets have proven themselves well.
Long-term use of NSAIDs can cause damage to the stomach lining. Concomitant use of proton pump inhibitors will help avoid this. The drug reduces the active production of gastric juice by parietal cells, which increases under the influence of NSAIDs.
Synthetic hormones
Glucocorticosteroids are synthetic analogues of hormones produced by the adrenal cortex. This is a "heavy artillery" used to treat cervical spondylosis. Like natural hormones, glucocorticosteroids quickly reduce inflammation, swelling and eliminate pain almost immediately. They are used as an intramuscular injection solution. But in case of acute pain, they can be inserted directly into the destroyed disc area.Treatment of more severe pathology is carried out with hormonal drugs.One injection is enough to prevent pain from appearing for 3-5 days. Glucocorticosteroids are prescribed to patients with osteoarthritis when NSAIDs are ineffective. It's all about their extensive list of potential side effects. Too frequent use of hormones leads to damage to muscles, bones, and ligamentous apparatus.
It is forbidden to use hormonal drugs during pregnancy, lactation, adolescence and childhood.
All glucocorticosteroids have many contraindications. In clinical practice, withdrawal events include severe damage to the liver, kidneys, and stomach after long-term hormone therapy. They should not be used in the presence of cirrhosis, duodenal ulcers, kidney failure or osteoporosis.
The drug has a protective effect on cartilage
All means used in the complex treatment of meniscus disease only eliminate its symptoms, temporarily improving a person's health. The only exception is chondroprotectors. These drugs contain ingredients that can trigger the recovery of damaged cartilage discs. The pain in the neck stops after use and disappears not in a few hours, but forever.
In pharmacies, chondroprotectors are sold in a variety of ways. These are capsules, injectable solution preparations, powders packaged in bags.They must contain one of the following ingredients:
- glucosamine. Stimulates the synthesis of biologically active substances necessary for tissue building, improves the composition of synovial fluid. Increases the permeability of the joint capsule, restores enzymatic processes and inhibits the destruction of intervertebral discs.
- Chondroitin. Participates in building cartilage and bone tissue, accelerating metabolism. Inhibits the destruction of intervertebral discs, prevents enzymes that damage cartilage tissue.
The product improves microcirculation
An essential substance to improve blood circulation in cervical spondylosis is nicotine Xanthinol. This drug is used in the treatment of pathology of high severity, when not only the intervertebral disc, but also the vertebrae of the bones are deformed. Compression of the vertebral artery is manifested by cranial neck pain. This is the name for a series of symptoms of vertebral artery invasion: headache, "floating" before the eyes, temporary blurred vision, sweating, rapid heartbeat.
Thioctic acid helps improve microcirculation and eliminate "vertebral artery syndrome". The disadvantage of these drugs is their indiscriminate effect, since they speed up the movement of blood throughout the body, which is not always recommended. Therefore, their list of contraindications includes epilepsy, hyperthyroidism and gastric ulcers.
Preparations with B vitamins
Treatment of cervical spondylosis in the acute stage cannot be carried out without using drugs with ingredients from vitamin B. The fact is that acute bone growth of the vertebrae not only violates the vertebral artery. They also put pressure on sensitive nerve roots, disrupting the nerve distribution process. Nerve impulses enter the central nervous system with a delay and its responses are inhibited.
Disruption of nerves leads to paresthesia - loss of sensitivity in certain areas of the body.
In the pharmacological treatment of cervical cartilage disease, drugs with activity determined by pyridoxine, thiamine and B12 have been shown to be good.
Many of them are available as intramuscular solutions. It contains B vitamins and anesthetics. Therefore, after injection, pain immediately disappears and the range of motion in the cervical vertebrae area is restored.
At the same time, the product helps improve blood flow, nervous, muscular and cardiovascular system activity, reduce inflammation and neurodegeneration. There are contraindications to its use. This is the period of pregnancy and lactation, hypersensitivity to components.
Best muscle relaxant
Elimination of mild symptoms of cervical spondylosis and treatment of exacerbations of the disease at home are often complicated by muscle spasms. The nerve roots are compressed by displaced discs and edema due to inflammation. An intense pain syndrome occurs that the body tries to eliminate with muscle contractions. Thanks to this special protective reaction, a person's mobility is limited and discomfort disappears.
But often an increase in skeletal muscle tone causes even greater pressure on nerve endings.
Muscle relaxants are combined with all means of treating cartilage diseases, including glucocorticosteroids. They are well tolerated by the body, but some can cause addiction and "withdrawal syndrome". Therefore, they are not intended for long-term treatment. The duration of the treatment course is no more than one week.
Medicines improve psychological and emotional state
Of all the diseases of chondrosis, cervical disease especially aggravates the psycho-emotional state of a person. It's all due to bone growth invading the vertebral artery, leading to lack of oxygen in the brain.Patients with atypical symptoms of pathologies of the musculoskeletal system:
- panic attacks;
- depression, neurological disorders;
- visual and hearing disorders;
- dry cough without phlegm;
- short of breath;
- anxiety, lethargy, fatigue;
- various sleep disorders.
The last thing you need to do when they appear is use cough suppressants, eye or ear drops. Symptoms can often be eliminated by taking a course of drugs with a mild sedative effect: Tenoten, Novo-Passit, motherwort tincture, valerian, peony. Only people with nervous disorders and severe depression are prescribed sedatives, antipsychotics and antidepressants.
Vitamin balanced complex
Most vitamins, essential micro and macro elements enter the human body with food. But food does not always meet physiological needs or is absorbed and distributed incorrectly. For example, with circulatory disorders characteristic of cervical spondylosis. There is a deficiency of biologically active substances, which negatively affects the functioning of all vital systems.
To quickly replenish the body's daily need for vitamins, micro and macro elements, their balanced complexes must be included in the treatment regimen.
Magnesium forms muscle and bone tissue, and iodine regulates metabolism. Manganese, molybdenum, chromium, potassium, chlorine, selenium, zinc stimulate the strengthening of the ligamentous apparatus, and copper suppresses the inflammatory process. These minerals are present in all of the above complexes.
The correct amount of medicine to take is 1 tablet per day - this amount is enough to improve blood supply to the brain with useful substances.
A week later, signs of anemia that occur in stage 3 of the development of cervical cartilage disease disappear. The person no longer feels sleepy and has no impaired coordination of movements. Double vision of objects before the eyes disappear.
Ointments, gels, balms
External treatments are always used to aggravate the condition of cartilage disease at home. They cannot cope with severe pain, requiring injections or painkillers. Ointments, creams, gels, balms are used to eliminate pain that occurs during hypothermia and changes in climatic zones.Which of them will help cure a chronic disease:
- Anti-inflammatory. The drug has a more gentle effect on the human body compared to other NSAIDs.
- Vasodilators. These agents exhibit local stimulant activity and dilate blood vessels supplying blood to the brain.
- Analgesic. The medicine helps relieve pain immediately after application. They are well absorbed and do not leave greasy stains on clothes and bed linens.
- Warming. Products with pepper extract should only be used with an applicator. The medicine has a pain-relieving effect a few minutes after applying it to the back of the neck.
Topical products are effective and rarely cause local allergic reactions. But caution is needed during treatment. If the ointment comes into contact with mucous membranes, rinse quickly with water. Especially those containing essential oils, natural toxins, and turpentine.
Therapeutic plaster
A time-tested treatment for worsening osteoarthritis is the Pepper patch. Its composition is represented by plant extracts of red bell pepper, belladonna and dimexide. The active ingredients of the patch gradually penetrate the damaged disc area and provide pain relief for 3-5 hours. If your neck hurts, apply the medicine whole or cut it into small pieces.
Pepper patches are convenient to use for treatment at home, at work or while traveling. But it also has contraindications - individual intolerance to one of the components. And in women with sensitive skin, it can cause chemical burns.
The patches demonstrate anti-inflammatory, decongestant and cartilage-protecting activities. They are used to treat all diseases of the cervical spine. Their use helps reduce the pharmacological load on the human body by systematically reducing the dosage of drugs.
How to treat cervical cartilage disease properly?
Preventing the destruction of intervertebral discs is possible only with integrated therapy. People practice wearing orthopedic devices (Schanz collars) to fix the vertebrae in anatomical position. The applicator is required to improve blood supply to damaged tissues with nutrients and biologically active substances. Daily physical therapy classes, yoga, swimming and walking in the fresh air are all featured.
Most medications are recommended to relieve symptoms during an attack. They have many side effects, including liver tissue damage. Chondroprotectors, a means to improve blood circulation, and balanced vitamin and mineral complexes suitable for regular use.