Many people over the age of 45 begin to experience pain in the heart area. This symptom puts a person in a state of panic, because it is not known what exactly causes this condition.
It often comes to mind that a serious heart problem has begun and emergency help from a cardiologist may be needed. Having performed a cardiogram and received a completely satisfactory result, one's confusion only increased.
What can cause pain in the heart? And, most importantly, what to do in such a situation? The answer is actually simple, although not everyone knows the answer. Heart disease often occurs due to 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. Throughout life, a person does certain physical activities. Most of them "lie down" 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, in turn, acts as a shock absorber, preventing the vertebrae from rubbing against each other.
Intervertebral discs tend to wear out. The main reason is too much pressure on the spine. Poor nutrition of cartilage tissue can also cause its gradual destruction.
Microcracks appear on the cartilage surface, tissue is destroyed, and as a result of this process, the vertebrae begin to touch. As a result of friction, an inflammatory process occurs, which is quite painful.
With thoracic osteochondrosis, active abrasion of the intervertebral disc in the thoracic spine occurs. As a result of the pathology, the patient not only loses endurance, he is no longer able to do the same amount of physical activity. He began to experience pain, which became more intense each time.
To alleviate the patient's condition, special treatment is required. If the therapeutic course is not carried out on time, the patient may experience some health problems. In particular, various pathologies of the heart system may arise.
The main symptoms of osteochondrosis
There are certain signs that will help identify thoracic osteochondrosis against the background of other diseases.
- First of all, it is worth understanding where exactly the source of the pain is. With thoracic osteochondrosis, the pain mostly comes from the chest. It can be sharp, as if squeezing from all sides. There is often a feeling of difficulty breathing and also shortness of breath with coughing. Sometimes the pain radiates to the shoulder blade area, where there is a dull ache. Unpleasant pain can "roll" after physical exercise, it also makes itself felt after sitting in an uncomfortable position;
- Sometimes thoracic osteochondrosis can appear in the form of numbness in the arms, legs, shoulders and neck. Often limbs freeze even in summer, when there is no reason for this;
- Headaches and dizziness occur periodically.
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 due to thoracic osteochondrosis. It is believed that in women all these symptoms are more pronounced.
In addition to these three symptoms, which are considered the main ones, it also makes sense to pay attention to dorsalgia that occurs.This is a mild pain syndrome that occurs in the area of the damaged vertebrae.
This pain is not strong, sometimes causing a feeling of muscle stiffness. In this case, there is a feeling that the source of pain is in the stomach, liver or pancreas. Actually, this is a false feeling. Thoracic osteochondrosis has nothing to do with the digestive organs.
Sometimes thoracic osteochondrosis develops in parallel with the shape of the cervix. Then it is quite possible to feel a lump in the throat, especially after physical activity.
What is the difference between osteochondrosis and heart disease?
How to distinguish thoracic osteochondrosis from heart disease, if in many respects the symptoms are very similar? There are some signs that you should pay special attention to.
Nature of pain
First of all, you need to try to analyze the nature of the pain. Many heart diseases also begin with discomfort in the heart area. With osteochondrosis, the pain is compression.
At the same time, it either grows or recedes, but often it does not release it for a long and stable time. The pulse often increases, which is even more confusing. Sometimes there is a feeling of heat in the sternum.
With cervicothoracic osteochondrosis, patients often complain of pain in the lower part of the cervical vertebrae. Sometimes the weakness of the muscles of the left hand is observed, the use of the little finger is very problematic. Arm movement does not bring relief, it only worsens the pain.
Sometimes the painful sensation spreads to the entire left quadrant of the body, affecting not only the chest, but the neck, left arm, and sometimes the face. This condition can last quite a while, from a few hours to a few days.
With the onset of angina and a heart attack, some pain sensations may be of the same nature. The main difference is that with osteochondrosis, the pain increases when you inhale. Tablets of ventilation agents from the group of nitrates or vasodilators will relieve pain caused by problems in the heart. This method will not help fight osteochondrosis at all.
But when the anesthetic solution is injected into the area of VI, VII cervical vertebra and I thoracic vertebra, the pain disappears. If distilled water is given instead of anesthetic, a slight tingling sensation appears in the chest area. This is a clear sign that the cause of the pain is thoracic osteochondrosis.
Duration of pain
This sign also requires more careful consideration. If you have a problem with the heart, pain in the area does not last long, usually a few minutes. While the painful sensation caused by thoracic osteochondrosis can last for several days.
But there is also a pitfall here: if the pain does not go away for several days, and there is obvious weakness throughout the body, see a doctor immediately.
It is quite possible that the cause of malaise is an acute myocardial infarction.
Location of pain
Equally important is the location of the pain. In the case of heart disease, the cause of pain is concentrated in the left side of the chest, sometimes the pain spreads to the neck, back of the head and shoulders. While with osteochondrosis, the pain syndrome affects the thoracic, lumbar, and cervical spine.
Associated symptoms
Pay attention to accompanying symptoms. Heart pain in most cases does not go away without an increase in heart rate and breathing. Sometimes the veins in the neck may swell, for example, with pericarditis.
With osteochondrosis, such symptoms are not observed, but general stiffness in movement may appear.
Why does tachycardia and arrhythmia occur in osteochondrosis?
Arrhythmia is probably the most common consequence of unattended thoracic osteochondrosis. With this disease, compression of the arteries running along the entire spine often occurs.
Compression can occur both from bone growth and from hypertonic muscles. As a result, the pressure inside the vessel increases. The body needs more effort to "push" the blood through the bend. Against the background of this phenomenon, the heart rate increases.
Arrhythmias can manifest themselves in different ways. Alternatively, it can result in sinus tachycardia. But how to find out what actually causes tachycardia - heart disease or thoracic osteochondrosis?
- Tachycardia with problems with the spine is a constant phenomenon. The number of pulses is approximately 90 per minute. It is observed even in a state of complete rest, while in diseases of the heart system, a rapid heartbeat occurs with increased physical activity;
- Heart rate may increase when a person takes an uncomfortable position, especially if the spine is currently receiving increased pressure;
- With osteochondrosis, tachycardia maintains a certain rhythm, the interval between contractions does not change, it is the same all the time;
- As soon as targeted treatment for osteochondrosis begins, tachycardia begins to disappear, the problem dissolves itself.
If symptoms such as tachycardia are left unattended and timely treatment is not initiated, 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 bypass tachycardia. It occurs less often than tachycardia and occurs in the form of advanced osteochondrosis. This disease is also a result of an abnormal heart rhythm. It is caused by premature accelerated contraction of the heart muscle, which immediately follows the normal one.
A person may not feel unwell at all. Sometimes you may feel as if your heart has stopped for a moment, or, on the contrary, has accelerated. In this case, a very weak pulse is noted. It may not be detected at all.
If you do not pay timely attention to these symptoms, it is possible 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 will also lead to some serious disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system.
The first signs of extrasystole are observed only during physical activity. During rest, the heartbeat returns to normal on its own. What signs can be used to determine the presence of extrasystole in osteochondrosis?
- Rapid heartbeat with barely legible pulse;
- The muscles between the shoulder blades are always tense;
- A person often feels dizzy, weak and dizzy;
- Often there is an increased feeling of heat, increased sweating;
- Does not release a sense of inner discomfort;
- An increase in heart rate occurs periodically, it is unstable and works on the principle of waves - sometimes it gets stronger, sometimes it almost dies;
- The amount of extrasystolic discharge exceeds the norm - this indicator can be determined using a tonometer.
These symptoms can be felt continuously, but often they increase at night or at times when the patient is in a horizontal position. Basic limb movement improves symptoms.
This feeling can last for several hours. All attempts to stabilize the heart by taking cardiac drugs did not give positive results. Attempts to identify the cause of heart disease through ECG also do not answer the question.
If an attempt to administer anesthetic between vertebrae VI and VII of the cervical spine and vertebra I of the thoracic spine gives a positive result, there is no doubt. The cause of heart disease in this case is thoracic osteochondrosis.
When trying to palpate the thoracic vertebrae, heart pain also increases.
Hypertension as a result
Often, thoracic osteochondrosis goes hand in hand with high blood pressure. The reason for this duet is compression of the vertebral artery. This can occur due to muscle spasms, resulting in significant swelling of the muscle tissue. The cause of arterial compression can also be displacement of vertebrae - such a violation also occurs with thoracic osteochondrosis.
For the simple reason that the vertebral artery is responsible for supplying the brain with oxygen and other useful components, there is a lack of substances necessary for normal functioning. Brain cells are in a state of starvation.
To provide the brain with the right amount of nutrition and "push" blood flow through the bend, the body has to increase the speed of blood flow. With this method of operation, the body starts to automatically release substances that help increase blood pressure.
This allows proper nutrition to the brain, but leads to hypertension.
If you do not make the equation between osteochondrosis and high blood pressure and start treating hypertension as an independent phenomenon, such treatment is unlikely to provide long-term sustainable results. Such experiments can only worsen the situation, add more problems in the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
How to determine hypertension caused by osteochondrosis?
- Periodically, the patient experiences dizziness, most often in moments of overwork;
- Frequent sleepiness, due to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, the body tries to "save" nutrients to keep vital organs in working condition. The state of sleep helps save energy;
- Persistent weakness is also a result of the brain not receiving enough oxygen;
- Disturbance, confusion;
- The appearance of "floating" in front of the eyes - this symptom is often observed by people with high blood pressure, not knowing that the cause of this pressure most likely lies not in the condition of weak blood vessels, but in osteochondrosis;
- Periodically, all objects begin to see double;
- Visual impairment often occurs, the reason is the same - little oxygen;
- Hearing problem;
- With significant oxygen starvation, fainting may occur - this is the body's protective reaction.
Diagnostics
Knowing the signs of the disease is good, but the most accurate diagnosis can only be made by a doctor using modern diagnostic tools. The easiest and most affordable way is to conduct an ECG. This study will allow us to quickly determine whether the cause of pain in the heart area is damage to the cardiovascular system or whether the disease has other pathologies.
If the ECG confirms that the heart is working well, it makes sense to order an MRI. This method allows you to obtain a layer-by-layer image of the entire spine or part of it. These images will allow you to quickly and accurately determine whether a person has a problem with the spine.
If the suspicion of osteochondrosis is confirmed, treatment should be started immediately.