Teen’s cervical crunch

Teen’s cervical crunch: reasons, treatment, and preventive measures

Nowadays cervical crunch is often observed with adolescents. Usually parents do not know how to react to such phenomena: wait until everything passes by itself or immediately ring the alarm? Let’s consider the reasons of cervical crunch in adolescents, the diseases it may indicate and the ways of its treating.

The reasons of cervical crunch in teenagers.

Сervical spine is the most vulnerable part of the human spinal column, due to the anatomical features of cervical vertebrae. The cervical spine vertebrae are characterized by an increased mobility; they are easily displaced as a result of loads or injuries and quickly undergo the degenerative-dystrophic changes as well.

Cervical crunch in adolescents can occur for a variety of reasons, including when it is not a symptom of a serious illness yet. For example, when a child leads a sedentary lifestyle, he/she spends a lot of time in a static position or vice versa, when a teenager keeps his/her neck of an increased exercise. Also, the reasons of cervical crunch may be the following:

• inherited predisposition;
• sleeping on unsuitable pillows or mattress;
• violation of metabolic processes;
• overweight;
• consequence of injury.

By nature, joints crunch is often the sonic response of joint fluid and air bubbles movement in the joint cavity. There are about 300 joints in the human body, and each is given a certain portion of synovial (lubricating) fluid. And if it is not renewed for some reason – the joints remind of themselves with a telltale crunch.

Such a crunch indicates the initial manifestations of degenerative-dystrophic processes in the musculoskeletal system. The reasons of its occurrence are: infections, dynamic sport activities, preservatives and flavor intensifiers, excess consumption of meat or high protein diet, as well as innate peculiarities of skeleton structure and connective tissue.

If cervical crunch in adolescents is accompanied by pain, this may indicate the development of such diseases as spondylarthrosis or cervical osteochondrosis.

First of all, postural disorders lead to spondylarthrosis. Due to the spinal cord malposition the cracks between joints are narrowed, which leads to the intervertebral foramen shrinkage. They focus on receptive neurons that respond with pain in reply to squeezing. In the metamer joints, under pressure, less synovial fluid is produced, and the joint begins to crackle. If not treated, further compression of the nerve and vascular structures leads to generalized pain, reflex (vascular muscle tone) and trophic (tissue condition) disorders.

Juvenile (adolescent) cervical osteochondrosis

Cervical osteochondrosis brings a lot of unpleasant sensations, and this is due to the nearby vessels and nerve trunks involvement in the pathological process. Therefore, except cervical crunch, the first symptoms include headache, dizziness and fatigue. Also, the child may have fainting, pain in the neck, shoulder or arm areas.

Characteristic features of cervical osteochondrosis may be motor dysfunction, impaired hearing or vision. These symptoms indicate a deficiency of molecular oxygen in the brain, due to the clamping of the displaced cervical vertebral artery.

The juvenile cervical osteochondrosis is hampered by the fact that initially children develop vascular disorders, and sometime after that pain in the cervical spine is added. Therefore, before the correct diagnosis establishing the child already has time to visit many specialists and fail “to undergo treatment”. Meanwhile, osteochondrosis continues to develop; and very often the intervertebral discs hernias are diagnosed in adolescents. Therefore, if a child often complains of headaches, fatigue or dizziness, this should alert the parents.

If cervical crunch is observed in adolescents, which is accompanied by the above mentioned symptoms, he/she needs to consult a neurologist. In degenerative diseases, it is very important to identify the problem as early as possible and begin treatment in order to stop the disease development and restore the work of the affected region of spine.

Treatment and prevention of cervical osteochondrosis in teenagers.

Prevention of cervical osteochondrosis should be carried out yet from an early age, taking into account the sedentary lifestyle of modern children and their attachment to computers and tablets.

Particular importance should be paid to preventive measures in case of a certain liability to spinal diseases. These factors include abnormal development of the spinal column, degenerative-dystrophic diseases of the musculoskeletal system in parents, innate or acquired functional insufficiency of the cartilaginous tissue.

It is recommended to make a regular thing of recreative gymnastics, moderate physical therapy, swimming; great attention should be paid to strengthening the spinal pectoral muscle sling, which will allow spine to be in the correct physiological rest position, thereby removing the excessive load from it.

As for the cervical osteochondrosis treatment, it is a long and laborious process. It should be complex and include methods of both drug- and physiotherapy.

In the Bersenev’s Medical Centre the unique metameric technologies are used to treat juvenile osteochondrosis. The specialists of our clinic have developed an individual comprehensive treatment program for each child.

The metameric treatment sessions, which are carried out by specialists of our clinic, are repeated punctures of certain areas with neurotrophic properties medicine. As a result of this therapeutic effect, the sensory, reflex and trophic disorders in the affected area are normalized. The complex treatment program also includes the metameric acupressure, which directly affects the main reflexogenic zones of the compromised metamer.

Do not delay your visit to the doctor. The earlier you start the treatment, the better health outcome you will get.

To make an appointment for a consultation or a treatment session, please, call (044) 272-11-82 (children’s department) or (044) 238-22-31 (call centre).