Cervical radiculitis: characteristic symptoms and treatment

Radiculitis of the cervical spine is a disease caused by inflammation of the nerve root emerging from the spinal cord in the cervical region.

The disease is accompanied by a sharp pain in the shoulders, neck, head, and numbness of the hands.

The cervical spine has seven vertebrae, and most often the nerve roots located between the 4, 5 and 6 vertebrae are affected.

According to statistics, the disease is equally affected by both women and men aged 20-35 years.

Causes of the disease

The disease appears for various reasons. This may be due to hypothermia, with the presence of inflammatory diseases of the cervical region, infringement of the nerve roots in chronic diseases of the spine.

In general, there are a number of factors that contribute to the appearance of radiculitis in people of any population category:

1. Work in which neck muscles are strained due to an incorrect posture. Most often, the wrong position of the neck is observed in teachers, librarians, people who perform jewelry manual work - jewelry, shoes, clothing.
2. Frequent exposure to drafts and in cool rooms.
3. Excess weight.
4. Diseases in the field of endocrinology.
5. Because of age-related changes, there may be formations that reduce the opening between the vertebrae and "press" nerves.

So, there are a lot of reasons for cervical radiculitis, and if they do not get rid of it, this can lead to complications later.

What diseases cause sciatica in the neck

Cervical radiculitis can act as a secondary disease caused by the existence of other diseases:

1. Intervertebral hernia most often leads to the onset of the disease. As a rule, this disease appears in people from the age of 30, but cases when the disease manifests itself in young people are not uncommon. The main causes are intense workloads, injuries and work that requires an uncomfortable position of the neck.
2. Inflammation of the cervical department .Occur due to hypothermia, observed in persons of any age. Often lead to other diseases. Sometimes it reminds of common cold symptoms.
3. Other diseases of , which indirectly cause pain syndrome.

Seizures can be repeated and exacerbated repeatedly. If the patient has an infection, acute pain occurs.

Symptoms of

As the main symptom of cervical radiculitis, severe neck pain appears.

It seems to the patient that the pain from the neck extends over the back of the head, goes over to the shoulders and shoulder blades.

Even if you turn your head slightly, sneeze or cough, your sensations increase.

When a disease is started, the patient can feel the following: tingling in the neck, burning, numbness in the hands. Specialists note that numbness arises from the loss of muscle strength, and as a consequence - a decrease in sensitivity.

Because of severe pain, the patient can not decide on the position for sleeping and sitting. Radicular pains are combined with with dizziness, so the patient tries to keep his head straight.

The disease can be accompanied by hearing loss, staggering during walking, this is due to a lack of blood supply to the brain.

Compared with lumbar radiculitis, the cervical is less common, but its symptoms are more vivid and painful, which gives the patient a lot of unpleasant sensations.

Diagnosis approach

Diagnosis of the disease is based on the successive actions of a specialist:

• examination by a neurologist , carrying out a check of organ sensitivity, muscle strength and basic reflexes;
• Spine Research - Computed Tomography( CT), MRI of the cervical spine, other methods;
• appointment of a patient-friendly method of treatment .

Since cervical radiculitis has pronounced symptoms, it is quite easy to diagnose it, and the main task of the specialist subsequently is to prescribe the right treatment.

Therapy of the disease

Currently, there are many methods and means of treatment of the disease, whose main goal is to relieve the patient of pain, to remove inflammation and to restore muscle sensitivity.

So, using the right methods, you can quickly and easily achieve your goals.

Traditional methods of treatment

As already mentioned, the disease is treated in several ways, and all of them differ significantly:

Conservative treatment is performed for several months, and if there are no results during this time, surgical intervention is prescribed.

Methods of non-surgical treatment:

1. Medication treatment .For treatment, a whole set of drugs is prescribed, which serve to eliminate pain, reduce the inflammatory process, improve metabolism, and repair damaged nerve fibers. Medications can relax the muscles that enslave the spine. The drugs used are Milgama, Revmoxicam, Mukosat, Movalis and others.
2. It is also recommended to use a special radiculitis adhesive - the latest development, which is worn overnight in the neck area.
3. Physiotherapy .To conduct this method of treatment, you need to contact a specialized agency. The procedure includes magnetotherapy, which is conducted 14-18 times, acupuncture - 10 times. Effective means of getting rid of the disease is massage, which is done in the neck-collar part, which includes 10 to 15 sessions. An effective procedure is electrophoresis, in which hydrocortisone is used. To reinforce the result, a good effect will be provided by therapeutic gymnastics, but you can not skip classes if you want to recover as quickly as possible.
4. Dietary treatment of .Since a large number of medications used has a very negative effect on the functioning of the body as a whole, it is recommended to adhere to a special diet for the period of treatment. It is aimed at improving the quality of nutrition, the rejection of harmful products( sweet, salty, smoked, fatty, alcohol and tobacco).It is important to monitor the diet, eat foods in small portions, including dairy products.
5. Surgical intervention .If traditional treatment does not bring results, specialists prescribe an operation. It includes decompression of the nerve root.

As they say "when fighting, all means and methods are good."However, one should not resort to radical measures at once. Since cervical radiculitis is a fairly common disease, good and prudent hostesses have invented more than one method of folk treatment.

Folk methods

Treatment of cervical radiculitis in the home is based on external and internal methods of combating the disease.

To external methods include ointments, lotions, creams, and to internal - tinctures from alcohol, broths, herbs.

To a greater extent, the treatment of the disease folk methods is reduced to the use of medicinal plants, which have analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect.

There are several recipes for combating this hateful ailment when using folk methods:

1. For example, can be treated with birch leaves, which are applied to a sore spot and previously doused with boiling water. This compress is covered with cellophane and lasts for several hours.
2. The burdock tincture has proved itself well. To make it, you need to take 0.5 liters of vodka, fill it with burdock roots, which are pre-ground. The tincture lasts 14 days, after which it can be used to rub the sick places.
3. The mustard plasters and mustard baths are an excellent option. To prepare the medicine, it is necessary to mix the mustard powder in the bowl and add it to the bath with water, take a bath for 15 minutes.

If you correctly approach getting rid of the disease, using traditional medicine, you can get an excellent result in a short time and forget about the disease forever.

Complications of advanced disease

If you do not come to the treatment of pain in time, you can get secondary diseases caused by it.

This may be ischemic spinal cord disease in the cervical region of the spine, intracranial hypertension, paralysis of the upper limbs.

In order to avoid the progression of the disease, it is necessary to implement measures aimed at treatment, as well as the prevention of the development and the onset of the disease.

Complex of preventive measures

In order to avoid the manifestation of cervical sciatica, it is necessary to be as little as possible in the cold, to avoid hypothermia, it is necessary to put on a scarf in the cold.

It is very important to adhere to the alternation of rest with work, if you work in a place that requires a stable same position, then periodically do special exercises that will help to avoid the inflammatory process. Avoid carrying heavy loads.

Radiculitis of the neck is a common disease that occurs even in young people. It can manifest itself as a secondary disease caused by other ailments.

To avoid occurrence and development it is necessary to observe safety measures, and also in due time to address to experts who will help to recover.