Millville Cervical Spine Motion, Osteophytes, and Agings Effect

Aging gets blamed for a lot of ills…including limited neck movements. You’re not alone if you find that you do not turn your head quite as effortlessly or as far as you used to or that you don’t flex or extend it in the same way as you once did. Degenerative discs and vertebrae and associated osteophytes contribute to limiting movement. Wilson Family Chiropractic is here to help your neck motions with gentle chiropractic treatment!

CERVICAL SPINE MOTION

Physiological motion of the spine has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? It does! In the cervical spine, researchers have noted how a consistent sequence of cervical segmental contributions function when the neck moves. This sequence is common in 80-90% of young healthy persons. But what about the motions in aging spines of older folks? Decreased motion has been linked to aging. A newer study by some inquisitive researchers designed a study to determine 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 Millville chiropractic friends and family age along with us, we’re not alone in noticing motion changes. Wilson Family Chiropractic delivers gentle Cox® Technic treatment in order to bring as much movement to spinal segments as possible. If you see limitations in your neck motions, let us know! We can look for the usual sources that may be the cause.

WHAT COMES WITH AGING THAT LIMITS NECK MOTION: Osteophytes

Osteophytes are frequently seen in vertebral bones of the cervical and lumbar spines of elderly folks. Anterior osteophytes keep developing and eventually produce 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 happens in these vertebrae based on data from following patients’ osteophytes for 9 years. (2) We know our Millville chiropractic patients with osteophytes are not 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 resolved her issues. (3) Chiropractic care works!

CONTACT Wilson Family Chiropractic

Listen to the PODCAST with Dr. Shay Corbin on the Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes 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 Millville chiropractic appointment with Wilson Family Chiropractic. Bring your aging spine, your less-than-flexible cervical spine, your immobile neck to our clinic. We can work toward better motion!