Many people over the age of 45 begin to experience pain in the area of the heart. This symptom makes people panic because it is not known exactly what caused this condition.
Often, thoughts come to mind that serious heart problems have begun and emergency help from cardiologists may be needed. After completing the cardiogram and receiving a completely satisfactory result, one's confusion only increases.
What can cause heartache? And most importantly, what should be done in such a situation? The answer is actually simple, although not everyone knows the answer. Heartache is often caused by other diseases. This situation occurs especially with thoracic osteochondrosis. Is it worth paying attention to this kind of pain?
How does osteochondrosis appear?
The mechanism is quite simple. A person performs certain physical activities throughout his life. Most of them "lie" on the spine. To make it easier for the vertebrae to cope with the tasks assigned to them, there are intervertebral discs between them. The latter act as shock absorbers, preventing the vertebrae from rubbing against each other.
Intervertebral discs tend to wear out. The main reason is too intense strain on the spine. Poor nutrition of the cartilage tissue can also cause its gradual destruction.
Microcracks appear on the surface of the cartilage, tissues are destroyed, and as a result, the vertebrae begin to touch. As a result of the friction, an inflammatory process occurs, which is quite painful.
In the case of thoracic osteochondrosis, active wear of the intervertebral discs occurs in the thoracic spine. As a result of the pathology, the patient not only loses stamina, but can no longer perform physical activity in the same volume. He begins to suffer from pain that grows stronger each time.
In order to alleviate the patient's condition, special treatment is required. If the therapeutic course was not completed on time, the patient may experience many health problems. In particular, various pathologies of the cardiac system may occur.
The main symptoms of osteochondrosis
There are certain signs that help to identify thoracic osteochondrosis against the background of other diseases.
- First of all, it is worth understanding where exactly the source of the pain is. In case of thoracic osteochondrosis, the pain comes predominantly from the chest. It can be sharp, as if squeezing from all sides. Difficulty breathing and even shortness of breath accompanied by coughing often occur. Sometimes the pain radiates to the area of the shoulder blades, where there is a feeling of dull pain. Unpleasant pain can "roll up" after exercise, but it can also be felt after sitting in an uncomfortable position;
- Sometimes thoracic osteochondrosis can manifest itself in the form of numbness of the arms, legs, shoulders and neck. Often the limbs freeze even in summer, when there is no reason for this;
- Sometimes headaches and dizziness occur.
These are the main signs of thoracic osteochondrosis that you should pay attention to. All these painful conditions are the result of compression of the blood vessels between the affected vertebrae as a result of thoracic osteochondrosis. It is believed that all these symptoms are more pronounced in women.
In addition to these three main symptoms, it is also worth paying attention to dorsalgia.This is a mild pain syndrome that occurs in the area of the damaged vertebrae.
These pains are not intense and sometimes cause muscle stiffness. In this case, there is a feeling that the source of the pain is in the stomach, liver or pancreas. In fact, it feels false. Thoracic osteochondrosis has nothing to do with the digestive organs.
Sometimes thoracic osteochondrosis develops parallel to the cervical form. Then it is very possible to feel a lump in the throat, especially after physical activity.
What is the difference between osteochondrosis and heartache?
How to distinguish thoracic osteochondrosis from heart diseases, if the symptoms are very similar in many ways? There are several signs that you should pay special attention to.
The nature of pain
First of all, you should try to analyze the nature of the pain. Many heart diseases also begin with discomfort in the heart area. In case of osteochondrosis, the pain is compressive.
At the same time, it either grows or recedes, but most often it does not let go for a long time and is stable. The heart rate is often increased, which is even more misleading. Sometimes there is a feeling of warmth inside the sternum.
In case of cervicothoracic osteochondrosis, the patient often complains of pain in the lower cervical vertebrae. Sometimes the weakness of the muscles of the left hand is observed, the use of the little finger is particularly problematic. Moving the arms does not bring relief, it only increases the pain.
Sometimes the painful feeling spreads to the left quarter of the body, not only to the chest, but also to the neck, left arm and sometimes the face. This condition can last quite a long time, from a few hours to a few days.
In the case of incipient angina and a heart attack, some pain sensations may be of a similar nature. The main difference is that in case of osteochondrosis, the pain increases during inhalation. A vein dilator or vasodilator tablet belonging to the group of nitrates relieves pain caused by heart problems. This method does not help against osteochondrosis in any way.
But when the anesthetic solution is injected into the VI, VII vertebrae of the neck and the I thoracic vertebra, the pain goes away. If distilled water is administered instead of anesthetic, a slight tingling sensation occurs in the chest area. This is a clear sign that the cause of the pain was thoracic osteochondrosis.
Duration of pain
This sign also requires more careful consideration. If you have heart problems, the pain in the area does not last long, usually a few minutes. While the painful feeling caused by thoracic osteochondrosis can last for several days.
But there is also a pitfall: if the pain persists for several days and there is obvious weakness in the whole body, see a doctor immediately.
It is very likely that the cause of the malaise was an acute heart attack.
A place of pain
The location of the pain is equally important. In the case of heart disease, the source of the pain is concentrated on the left side of the chest, and sometimes the pain radiates to the neck, the back of the head, and the shoulder. While in the case of osteochondrosis, the pain syndrome affects the thoracic, lumbar and cervical spine.
Associated symptoms
Pay attention to accompanying symptoms. In most cases, the heartache does not go away without an increased heart rate and breathing. Sometimes the veins in the neck can become swollen, for example with pericarditis.
In the case of osteochondrosis, such a symptom is not observed, but general stiffness of movements may appear.
Why does tachycardia and arrhythmia occur in osteochondrosis?
Arrhythmia is perhaps the most common consequence of unattended thoracic osteochondrosis. With this disease, the artery running along the entire spine is often compressed.
Compression can occur from both bone growth and hypertonic muscles. As a result, the pressure in the vessels increases. The body needs more effort to "push" the blood around the bend. Against the background of this phenomenon, the heart rate increases.
Arrhythmia can manifest itself in different ways. Alternatively, it can cause sinus tachycardia. But how to find out what exactly caused the tachycardia - heart disease or thoracic osteochondrosis?
- Tachycardia associated with spinal problems is a constant phenomenon. The number of strokes is about every 90 minutes. It can be observed even at complete rest, while in diseases of the cardiovascular system, a rapid heartbeat occurs with increased physical activity;
- The heartbeat can increase if a person takes an uncomfortable position, especially if the spine is under increased stress at that moment;
- In osteochondrosis, tachycardia maintains a certain rhythm, the interval between contractions does not change, it is always the same;
- As soon as the targeted treatment of osteochondrosis begins, the tachycardia disappears, the problem disappears by itself.
If a symptom, such as tachycardia, is ignored and treatment is not started in time, the heart muscle may not be able to cope with the increased load.
As a result of such neglect, extrasystole may develop.
Extrasystole due to thoracic osteochondrosis?
This disease can occur by bypassing tachycardia. It occurs much less often than tachycardia and occurs in advanced forms of osteochondrosis. The disease is also a consequence of heart rhythm disorder. It is caused by a prematurely accelerated contraction of the heart muscle that immediately follows normal.
A person does not feel bad at all. Sometimes you may feel that your heart has stopped for a moment or, on the contrary, accelerated. In this case, a very weak pulse is observed. It may not be traceable at all.
If you do not pay attention to these symptoms in time, it is likely that chronic myocardial hypoxia will develop - this is one of the most serious diseases characterized by insufficient oxygen saturation of the heart muscle. And this is already fraught with more serious problems.
For example, insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, which leads to many serious disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system.
The first signs of extrasystole can only be observed during physical activity. At rest, the heart rate normalizes by itself. What signs can be used to determine the presence of extrasystole in osteochondrosis?
- Rapid heartbeat with barely readable pulse;
- The muscles between the shoulder blades were constantly tense;
- A person often feels dizzy, weak and dizzy;
- There is often an increased feeling of heat, increased sweating;
- He does not let go of the feeling of inner discomfort;
- The increase in heart rate appears periodically, is unstable and works on the basis of a wave principle - sometimes it intensifies, sometimes it almost dies out;
- The extrasystolic ejection volume exceeds the norm - this indicator can be determined with a tonometer.
These symptoms are constantly felt, but most often intensify at night or in a horizontal position. Elementary movement of the limbs increases the symptoms.
This feeling can last for several hours. All attempts to stabilize the heart by taking cardiac drugs do not give positive results. An attempt to identify the causes of heart disease via EKG also does not answer the question.
If the cervical spine VI. and VII. the anesthesia experiment between his vertebra and the 1st vertebra of the thoracic spine yielded a positive result, no doubt. The cause of heart disease in this case was precisely thoracic osteochondrosis.
When palpating the thoracic vertebrae, the heartache also increases.
Hypertension as a consequence
Very often, thoracic osteochondrosis is associated with high blood pressure. The cause of this duet is the compression of the vertebra of the artery. This can occur due to muscle spasm, which results in significant swelling of the muscle tissue. The reason for the compression of the artery can also be the displacement of the vertebrae - such a violation also occurs in the case of thoracic osteochondrosis.
For the simple reason that the vertebra of the artery is responsible for supplying the brain with oxygen and other useful components, the substances necessary for normal functioning are missing. Brain cells are in a state of starvation.
In order to supply the brain with the right amount of food and "push" the blood flow around the bend, the body is forced to increase the speed of the blood flow. By doing this, the body begins to automatically release substances that increase blood pressure.
This allows the brain to be properly nourished, but leads to high blood pressure.
If you do not draw a parallel between osteochondrosis and hypertension and start treating hypertension as an independent phenomenon, such treatment is unlikely to give long-term sustainable results. Such attempts can only aggravate the situation, causing further problems in the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
How to determine high blood pressure caused by osteochondrosis?
- Sometimes the patient experiences dizziness, most often in moments of overload;
- Due to frequent sleepiness, insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, the body tries to "save" nutrients to keep the vital organs in a functional state. The state of sleep helps to save energy;
- Constant weakness is also the result of the brain not getting enough oxygen;
- Confusion, confusion;
- The appearance of "floaters" in front of the eyes - this symptom is often noticed by people with high blood pressure, not knowing that the cause of this pressure probably lies not in the bad condition of the blood vessels, but in osteochondrosis;
- Every now and then every object begins to see double;
- Deterioration of vision often occurs, the reasons are the same - little oxygen;
- Hearing loss;
- Fainting may occur in case of significant oxygen starvation - this is the body's defensive reaction.
Diagnostics
Knowing the signs of diseases is good, but only a doctor can make the most accurate diagnosis with modern diagnostic tools. The easiest and cheapest way is to do an EKG. This study allows us to quickly determine whether the cause of pain in the area of the heart is a malfunction of the cardiovascular system, or whether this disease has another pathology.
If the EKG confirms that the heart is working properly, an MRI should be ordered. This method allows you to get a layer-by-layer image of the entire spine or parts of it. These images allow you to quickly and accurately determine whether a person has spinal problems.
If the suspicion of osteochondrosis is confirmed, the treatment should be started immediately.