In the complex therapy of cervical chondrosis (osteochondrosis), injection solutions, ointments, creams, tablets and dragees are used. The drugs well relieve pain, swelling, inflammation, loss of sensitivity, dizziness and increases in blood pressure.
Characteristic features of the disease
The course of cervical osteochondrosis is accompanied by slow, irreversible destruction of the intervertebral discs. Without the shock-absorbing cartilage padding, the bony vertebrae also begin to deform.When visiting a vertebral doctor or neurologist, patients complain of stabbing or aching pain, stiffness and dizziness when standing up suddenly. Therefore, the treatment regimens consist of drugs with various properties:
- external agents with local anesthetic, regenerating and warming effects;
- drugs that provide the brain with sufficient nutrients;
- chondroprotectors that trigger intervertebral disc restoration processes;
- local and systemic analgesics.
The pathology cannot yet be completely cured. The efforts of doctors are aimed at eliminating painful symptoms and preventing the spread of the disease to other parts of the spine. For this purpose, complex treatment regimens are created using drugs from different groups.
Signs of cervical chondrosis
In the initial stages of the disease, women and men experience practically no symptoms. Occasionally, a person may experience mild discomfort in the evening. He attributes it to fatigue after a day's work and therefore doesn't go to the doctor. Meanwhile, his intervertebral discs are gradually being destroyed. The vertebrae deform with the formation of bone growths and squeeze the vertebral artery.
After about a year, the discomfort is replaced by pain that increases when you turn or tilt your head.Chondrosis is manifested by the following symptoms:
- Clicking, crackling in the neck;
- limitation of range of motion;
- increases in blood pressure;
- rapid heartbeat;
- migraine-like one-sided throbbing headache;
- visual and hearing impairments;
- Dizziness, unsteady gait, sensations of imaginary rotation of objects;
- Attacks of nausea, rarely ending in vomiting.
Due to lack of oxygen in the brain, sleep disorders, weakness, apathy, fatigue and ringing in the ears occur. A person's psychoemotional state worsens - he becomes nervous and worries about little things.
Principles of drug treatment
Chiropractors, professional massage therapists, physiotherapists and physiotherapists are involved in the treatment of cervical chondrosis. In the final stage, the use of folk remedies is allowed. However, the main role in complex therapy belongs to pharmacological drugs.All dosage forms are in demand:
- Injection solutions are used in exacerbations of chondrosis to quickly eliminate their painful symptoms;
- Tablets, capsules and dragees are prescribed during remission to prevent destruction of the intervertebral disc, relieve mild or moderate pain and restore blood circulation;
- Ointments, gels, balms and creams are the safest and quickly cope with stiffness and uncomfortable grinding.
It is rarely possible to treat osteochondrosis with a single drug. Therapeutic regimens typically include at least 5 medications with different pharmacological properties. They are compatible and can be used conveniently at home.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
NSAIDs are used more often than other drugs to treat cervical chondrosis. They are indicated for acute, stabbing or distant, dull pain. The mechanism of action of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is based on the ability to inhibit enzymes responsible for the production of neurotransmitters. All NSAIDs have a complex effect on the human body:
- eliminate painful sensations;
- Avoid crunching and clicking noises that occur when you turn your neck.
- Stop the course of acute, subacute and chronic inflammatory processes affecting soft tissues.
- stimulate a reduction in swelling affecting sensory nerve endings;
- Increase range of motion for damaged cervical vertebrae.
In the treatment of chondrosis, drugs in the form of solutions for parenteral administration and tablets have proven themselves effective.
Long-term use of NSAIDs causes damage to the stomach lining. The simultaneous use of proton pump inhibitors helps to avoid this. The drugs reduce the production of aggressive 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 the "heavy artillery" of drug treatment of cervical osteochondrosis. Like natural hormones, glucocorticosteroids quickly relieve inflammation and swelling and almost immediately eliminate pain. They are used in the form of solutions for intramuscular administration. However, in acute pain there is the possibility of using them directlyinto the area of the destroyed intervertebral disc. Treatment of aggravated pathology is carried out with hormonal drugs.One injection is enough to prevent pain from occurring for 3-5 days. Glucocorticosteroids are prescribed to patients with osteochondrosis when NSAIDs are ineffective. It's about the wide list of their possible side effects. Taking hormones too frequently leads to damage to muscles, bones and the tendon-ligament system.
Taking hormonal drugs is prohibited during pregnancy, breastfeeding, adolescence and childhood.
All glucocorticosteroids have many contraindications. In clinical practice, withdrawal cases include severe damage to the liver, kidneys and stomach after long-term hormone therapy. They are not used for liver cirrhosis, stomach ulcers, kidney failure or osteoporosis.
Drugs with chondroprotective effects
All means used in the complex treatment of chondrosis simply eliminate its symptoms and temporarily improve a person's well-being. The only exception is chondroprotectors. These medications contain ingredients that can trigger the repair of damaged cartilaginous discs. The neck pain stops hurting after use and disappears not for a few hours but forever.
In pharmacies, chondroprotectors are offered in a wide range. These are capsules, substances for the preparation of solutions for injections, powders packaged in sachets.They must contain one of the following components:
- Glucosamine. Stimulates the synthesis of bioactive substances necessary for tissue construction and improves the composition of the synovial fluid. Increases the permeability of the joint capsule, restores enzymatic processes and inhibits the destruction of intervertebral discs.
- Chondroitin. Participates in the formation of cartilage and bone tissue, accelerates metabolic processes. Inhibits the destruction of intervertebral discs and blocks enzymes that damage cartilage tissue.
Products that improve microcirculation
A sought-after substance for improving blood circulation in cervical osteochondrosis is xanthinol nicotinate. This drug is used to treat pathologies of high severity, in which not only the intervertebral discs but also the bone vertebrae are deformed. Compression of the vertebral artery manifests itself as cervicocranialgia. This is the name for a whole complex of symptoms of an injury to the vertebral artery: headache, "swimming" in front of the eyes, temporary blurred vision, sweating, rapid heartbeat.
Thioctic acid helps to improve microcirculation and eliminate "vertebral artery syndrome". The disadvantage of such drugs is their indiscriminate action, as they accelerate the movement of blood through the body, which is not always advisable. Therefore, the list of their contraindications includes epilepsy, hyperthyroidism and stomach ulcers.
Preparations with B vitamins
Treatment of cervical osteochondrosis in the acute stage cannot be carried out without the use of drugs whose composition consists of B vitamins. The fact is that acute bone growths of the vertebrae affect not only the vertebral artery. They also put pressure on the sensitive nerve roots and thus disrupt the innervation. Nerve impulses reach the central nervous system with a delay and its reactions are inhibited.
A disruption in the innervation leads to paresthesia - a loss of sensitivity in certain areas of the body.
In the medical treatment of cervical chondrosis, drugs whose activity is determined by pyridoxine, thiamine and B12 have proven successful.
Many of these are available in the form of solutions for intramuscular administration. It contains B vitamins and an anesthetic. Therefore, the pain after the injection disappears immediately and mobility in the cervical vertebrae is restored.
At the same time, the product improves blood circulation, the functioning of the nervous, muscular and cardiovascular systems, relieves inflammation and nerve degeneration. There are contraindications to its use. These are periods of pregnancy and breastfeeding as well as hypersensitivity to ingredients.
The best muscle relaxers
Elimination of mild symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis and treatment of its exacerbations at home are often complicated by muscle spasms. The nerve root is compressed by displaced discs and inflammatory edema. A severe pain syndrome occurs, which the body tries to eliminate through muscle spasms. Thanks to this special protective reaction, a person's mobility is restricted and the symptoms disappear.
But often an increase in skeletal muscle tone leads to even greater pressure on the nerve endings.
Muscle relaxants are combined with all means of drug treatment of chondrosis, 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 therapy. The duration of treatment is a maximum of a week.
Drugs that improve the psycho-emotional state
Of all chondrosis, it is cervical chondrosis that especially worsens the psycho-emotional state of a person. It is about the injury of the vertebral artery due to bone growth, which leads to hypoxia of the brain.The patient suffers from symptoms that are atypical for diseases of the musculoskeletal system:
- panic attacks;
- depression, neurosis;
- visual and hearing impairments;
- dry, unproductive cough;
- Shortness of breath;
- Anxiety, apathy, fatigue;
- various sleep disorders.
What you don't need to do when they occur is use cough suppressants and eye or ear drops. Symptoms can often be eliminated by taking medications with a mild sedative effect: Tenoten, Novo-Passit, feverfew tinctures, valerian, peony. Sedatives, antipsychotics and antidepressants are only prescribed for severe neuroses and depression.
Vitamin balanced complexes
Most vitamins, essential micro and macro elements enter the human body through food. However, food cannot always meet physiological needs or is absorbed and distributed incorrectly. For example, in circulatory disorders that are characteristic of cervical osteochondrosis. There is a lack of bioactive substances, which negatively affects the functioning of all vital systems.
In order to quickly cover the body's daily needs for vitamins, micro- and macroelements, their balanced complexes must be included in the treatment plans.
Magnesium forms muscle and bone tissue, and iodine regulates metabolism. Manganese, molybdenum, chromium, potassium, chlorine, selenium, zinc stimulate the strengthening of the tendon-ligament system and copper stops inflammatory processes. These minerals are present in all of the above complexes.
The correct way to take medication is to take 1 tablet per day - this amount is enough to improve the blood supply to the brain with useful substances.
A week later, the signs of anemia that occur at stage 3 of the development of cervical chondrosis disappear. The person no longer feels sleepy and does not suffer from impaired coordination of movements. Double vision of objects before the eyes disappear.
Ointments, gels, balms
In case of exacerbations of chondrosis at home, external remedies are always used. You cannot endure severe pain, injections or painkillers are required. Ointments, creams, gels and balms are used to eliminate pain that occurs with hypothermia and changing climates.Which of these help cure a chronic disease:
- Anti-inflammatory. Medicines have a gentler effect on the human body than other NSAIDs.
- Vasodilators. The active ingredients have a local irritant effect and dilate the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain.
- Painkiller. The medications help relieve pain immediately after use. They are well absorbed and do not leave greasy stains on clothing and bed linen.
- Heat. Products containing pepper extract are only applied with an applicator. Medication has a pain-relieving effect just a few minutes after being applied to the neck.
Products for external use are effective and very rarely cause the development of local allergic reactions. However, caution should be exercised during treatment. If ointments come into contact with mucous membranes, rinse them quickly with water. Especially those that contain essential oils, natural poisons and turpentine.
Therapeutic plasters
A proven remedy for exacerbations of osteochondrosis is the pepper plaster. Its composition is represented by phytoextracts of red pepper, belladonna and dimexide. The active ingredients of the patch gradually penetrate the area of the damaged intervertebral disc and have a pain-relieving effect for 3-5 hours. If your neck hurts, the external remedy is used whole or cut into small pieces.
The pepper patch can be conveniently used for treatment at home, at work or while traveling. But there is also a contraindication - an individual intolerance to one of the components. And women with sensitive skin can get a chemical burn.
The plasters have an anti-inflammatory, decongestant and chondroprotective effect. They are intended for the treatment of all pathologies of the cervical spine. Their use helps to reduce the pharmacological burden on the human body by reducing the dose of systemic drugs.
How to properly treat cervical chondrosis?
Only with a holistic therapeutic approach can the destruction of the intervertebral discs be stopped. It is practiced to wear orthopedic devices (Schanz collars) that fix the vertebrae in an anatomical position. Applicators are needed to improve the blood supply of damaged tissues with nutrients and bioactive substances. Daily physiotherapy classes, yoga, swimming and walks in the fresh air are shown.
Most medications are recommended to relieve symptoms during exacerbations. They have many side effects, including damage to liver tissue. Chondroprotectors, agents to improve blood circulation and balanced vitamin and mineral complexes are suitable for regular use.