How to prevent and treat chest chondrosis

One of the most common diseases of the spine is chondrosis( another name is dorsopathy, osteochondrosis).This disease can affect the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. This article will deal with chondrosis of the thoracic region.

This disease affects 30% of people over 50 years old, and the onset of the disease is 35-40 years.

Symptoms of chest chondrosis are manifested in everyone differently, and treatment is appointed individually, taking into account the peculiarities of the patient's condition.

What is implied?

Chondrosis refers to the process of reducing elasticity and elasticity in the intervertebral discs, while they thicken and the dystrophic changes occur in them .

As a rule, this pathology occurs in people older than 50 years, but the first changes begin to occur much earlier.

Chondrosis of the chest is a complex degenerative disease, which is accompanied by dystrophy of the intervertebral discs, compression of nerve endings and development of pain syndrome. The disease is more severe if the patient has a metabolic disorder, has vascular diseases and leads a sedentary lifestyle.

Causes of Destructive Processes

People whose activities are associated with heavy physical exertion are more likely than others to have pathological changes in the thoracic spine.

In addition to weight lifting, the following factors can be the causes of the disease:

• metabolic disturbance;
• incorrect distribution of loads;
• malnutrition in the cells of the intervertebral disc;
• pathological changes in tissues.

Constant infringement of roots of nerves provokes painful sensations in the field of a breast which are the first sign of infringement.

Mechanism of development of violation

Let us consider in detail the development of dystrophic processes in the thoracic spine. Between the vertebrae are located intervertebral disks, providing mobility of the spine.

Inside the discs is a pulpous core, which is a gel-like mass, surrounded by fibrous rings, allowing it to hold in the desired position.

The peculiarity of the discs is that they lack a circulatory system, and as a result, there is no possibility to supply cells.

Therefore, the nutrition of the cells of the intervertebral discs occurs with the help of tissue cells located side by side. In the process of age-related changes in the body, spinal cells suffer in the first place, because there is a lack of their nutrition.

As a result, the fibrous rings are unable to withstand the stress, causing their cracking and the formation of hernias. At this stage, the first symptoms of chondrosis appear.

Symptoms of the disease

Symptoms of chest chondrosis differ depending on the stage of development of the disorder.

Initial stage

With chondrosis of the thoracic region, the symptoms are milder than in the case of the cervical or lumbar, as the thoracic section is less mobile.

Symptoms of chest chondrosis is an unexpected sharp pain that occurs when turning the body or careless movement.

This symptom is often interpreted as a sign of heart attack, angina, or problems in the respiratory system.

In addition, the symptom of chondrosis is pain when lifting heavy objects, or if the patient has slept in an uncomfortable position for him. During movement or with loads, the pain becomes stronger and does not stop even when the load has already been removed.

Thoracic chondrosis manifests itself at the initial stage and this allows to diagnose the disease in time and start treatment.

Acute period

The acute stage of chondrosis resembles symptoms of heart attack, patients complain of shortness of breath, pain in the thoracic region of the back, in the lungs and heart. Often the pain spreads over the left shoulder and arm and can be either permanent or arising on inhaling or exhaling.

There are a number of symptoms that distinguish chondrosis from heart disease:

• pain spreads around the chest along the spine;
• spinal discs decrease, and the distance between vertebrae decreases;
• vertebrae are displaced relative to each other.

Chronic stage

In the chronic stage, the disease provokes the appearance of hernias and disruption of the organs located in the chest, and can also cause abnormalities in the work of the digestive system.

For this reason, the treatment should begin immediately after the appearance of its first signs.

Diagnosis of the disease

Diagnosis of a disease such as chest chondrosis can be difficult because its symptoms are largely similar to those of diseases of the internal organs, for example, with cardiac. For this reason, chest chondrosis is called "chameleon disease".

In order to diagnose a disease it is necessary to do an x-ray, CT( computer tomography) and spinal scan.

These studies can establish how much the cartilage tissue is affected and determine the stage of the disease.

What can I do at home?

Traditional medicine offers many tools for the treatment of chest chondrosis. These are medicinal infusions, which allow to remove pain syndrome and strengthen cartilaginous tissue, as well as warming sprays.

In addition, for successful treatment, the following recommendations should be observed:

• follow the posture;
• sleep on orthopedic mattresses and pillows;
• correctly lift the gravity, distributing the load evenly;
• normalize weight;
• eat right;
• does not engage in sports that increase the compression processes in the vertebrae( running, cycling, skiing and others).

If these simple rules are observed in combination with correctly selected methods of treatment, the patient will feel the improvement almost immediately.

Treatment: objectives of

The main tasks of treating the chondrosis of the thoracic spine are as follows:

• to eliminate pain syndrome;
• restore the patient's physical activity;
• prevent the exacerbation of the disease;
• normalize the patient's quality of life;
• to prevent possible complications;
• normalize blood circulation;
• restore muscle tone.

Methods traditional

In the treatment of chest chondrosis, specialists prescribe the following drugs:

• muscle relaxants , allowing to reduce muscle tension;
• non-steroid preparations , relieving inflammation;
• vitamins , allowing to activate tissue repair and normalize their nutrition.

For external use, anti-inflammatory, warming and anesthetic ointments are recommended. Physiotherapy, massages and physiotherapy exercises are also prescribed.

In addition, it is necessary to restore metabolism in the body and the sugar content in the blood, and normalize blood pressure and get rid of excess weight, if any.

In addition to treatment with medications, the patient must also perform a set of physical exercises.

Folk remedies

In folk medicine, there are many methods of treating chondrosis, which are no less effective than medications and ointments. Here are a few recipes.

Medical syrup

To prepare the product you will need:

• dandelion flowers( not less than 300 pieces);
• lemons( 2 pieces);
• pear( 1 piece);
• sugar( 2 kg).

The flowers are combined with finely chopped lemons and cooked over low heat for 5 minutes.

Then you need to add grated pear and sugar, boil and cook over low heat for half an hour. Take syrup should be 1 tablespoon 3 times a day.

Therapeutic compress with turpentine

From 200 g of rye flour, a stiff dough is kneaded, which is wrapped in gauze and left for two days. Then, put the dough wrapped in gauze to the sore spot, after having rubbed the skin with turpentine turpentine. Compress wrapped with cellophane, tie a scarf and leave for a half to two hours.

Infusion for grinding

In order to prepare this remedy you will need:

• wheat flour( 1 tablespoon);
• softened butter( 100 g);
• raw egg;
• vinegar( 1 tablespoon).

It should be noted that vinegar is needed, not essence. All components are mixed and cleaned in a dark place for two days.

Then remove the formed film and rub into a sore spot. Treatment should be continued until complete recovery.

The main difficulty a patient faces in treating chest chondrosis is that the disease is very persistent and will require a lot of effort and patience to restore health.

For successful treatment, it is necessary to comply with all the prescriptions of the doctor, apply traditional remedies and not forget about physiotherapy and physical therapy.

Possible complications of

If the treatment of chest chondrosis is not started on time, it can lead to serious complications. The most common consequences of a neglected disease include the appearance of a hernia in the intervertebral discs.

The main problem is that in the treatment of hernia the therapeutic method is ineffective and in most cases surgical intervention is necessary.

No less dangerous consequence of untimely or incorrect treatment of chondrosis in the chest area is that the deformed intervertebral discs damage the internal organs, leading to the development of various diseases.

Preventive measures

In order to prevent the occurrence of chondrosis of the breast, it is recommended:

• moderate physical activity;
• active way of life;
• reception of oxalic acid for the protection of bone and cartilaginous tissues;
• before lifting the weight, it is necessary to warm up a little;
• to avoid dangerous sports.

It must be remembered that any disease must be treated with the appearance of the first symptoms, since delay is fraught with serious complications.