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 unknown what exactly caused this condition.
Often thoughts come to mind that serious heart problems have begun and that emergency help from cardiologists may be required. Having done a cardiogram and received a completely satisfactory result, a person’s bewilderment only increases.
What could cause the 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 pain often occurs due to other ailments. This situation occurs in particular with thoracic osteochondrosis. Is it worth paying attention to pain of this nature?
How does osteochondrosis appear?
The mechanism is quite simple. Throughout life, a person performs a certain physical activity. Most of it "lies" on the spine. To make it easier for the vertebrae to cope with the tasks assigned to it, there are intervertebral discs between them. The latter, in turn, act as shock absorbers, preventing the vertebrae from rubbing against each other.
Intervertebral discs tend to wear out. The main reason is too intense stress on the spinal column. Poor nutrition of cartilage tissue can also cause their gradual destruction.
Microcracks appear on the surface of the cartilage, tissues are 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 discs in the thoracic spine occurs. As a result of the pathology, the patient not only loses endurance, he is no longer able to perform physical activity in the same volumes. He begins to suffer from pain, which becomes more intense each time.
To alleviate the patient's condition, specialized treatment is required. If the therapeutic course was not carried out on time, the patient may experience a number of health problems. In particular, various pathologies of the cardiac system may arise.
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 pain is. With thoracic osteochondrosis, pain predominantly comes from the chest. It can be sharp, as if squeezing from all sides. Often there is a feeling of difficulty breathing and even shortness of breath with coughing. Sometimes the pain radiates to the area of the shoulder blades, where there is a feeling of dull pain. Unpleasant soreness can "roll up" 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 the limbs freeze even in the summer, when there is no reason for this;
- Headaches and dizziness occur periodically.
These are the main signs of thoracic osteochondrosis that you need to 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 to be the main ones, it also makes sense to pay attention to the dorsalgia that occurs.This is a mild pain syndrome that occurs in the area of damaged vertebrae.
These pains are not intense, 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. In fact, this is a false feeling. Thoracic osteochondrosis has nothing to do with the digestive organs.
Sometimes thoracic osteochondrosis develops in parallel with the cervical form. Then it is quite possible to feel a lump in the throat, especially after physical activity.
What are the differences between osteochondrosis and heart pain?
How to distinguish thoracic osteochondrosis from heart diseases, if in many respects the symptoms are very similar? There are a number of 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 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 pulse often increases, which is even more misleading. Sometimes there is a feeling of warmth inside the sternum.
With cervicothoracic osteochondrosis, the patient often complains of pain in the lower cervical vertebrae. Sometimes weakness of the muscles of the left hand is noted, the use of the little finger is especially problematic. Movement of the arms does not bring relief, only aggravating the pain.
Sometimes the painful sensation spreads throughout the 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 long time, from a couple of hours to several days.
With incipient angina and heart attack, some pain sensations may be similar in nature. The main difference is that with osteochondrosis, the pain intensifies when you inhale. A tablet of a venodilating agent from the group of nitrates or a vasodilator will relieve pain caused by problems in the heart. This method will in no way help against osteochondrosis.
But when the anesthetic solution is injected into the area of the VI, VII vertebrae of the neck and the I thoracic vertebra, the pain goes away. If distilled water is administered instead of an anesthetic, a slight tingling sensation appears 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 closer consideration. If you have problems with the heart, pain in its area does not last long, usually a couple of 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, consult a doctor immediately.
It is quite possible that the cause of the malaise was acute myocardial infarction.
Location of pain
Equally important is the location of pain. In the case of heart diseases, the source of pain is concentrated in the left side of the chest, sometimes the pain radiates to the neck, back of the head and shoulder. 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 increased heart rate and breathing. Sometimes the veins in the neck may swell, for example, with pericarditis.
With osteochondrosis, such a symptom is not observed, but general stiffness in movements may well appear.
Why does tachycardia and arrhythmia occur in osteochondrosis?
Arrhythmia is perhaps the most common consequence of unattended thoracic osteochondrosis. With this disease, compression of the artery running along the entire spine often occurs.
Compression can occur both from bone growths and from hypertonic muscles. As a result, the pressure inside the vessels increases. The body requires more effort to "push" blood through the bend. Against the background of this phenomenon, heart rate increases.
Arrhythmia can manifest itself in different ways. Alternatively, it may result in sinus tachycardia. But how to find out what exactly caused the tachycardia - heart disease or thoracic osteochondrosis?
- Tachycardia with problems with the spine is a constant phenomenon. The number of beats is approximately 90 per minute. It is observed even in a state of complete rest, while in diseases of the cardiac system, rapid heartbeat occurs with increased physical activity;
- The heartbeat may increase when a person takes an uncomfortable position, especially if the spine at this moment receives increased stress;
- 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 of osteochondrosis begins, tachycardia begins to disappear, the problem self-liquidates.
If a symptom such as tachycardia is left unattended and timely treatment is not started, the heart muscle may not be able to cope with the increased load.
As a consequence of such neglect, extrasystole may develop.
Extrasystole due to thoracic osteochondrosis?
This disease can occur bypassing tachycardia. It occurs much less frequently than tachycardia and occurs in advanced forms of osteochondrosis. The disease is also a consequence of 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, conversely, has accelerated. In this case, a very weak pulse is noted. It may not be traceable at all.
If you do not pay timely attention to these symptoms, 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 will also lead to a number of serious disruptions in the functioning of the central nervous system.
The first signs of extrasystole are observed only during physical activity. At rest, the heart rate returns to normal on its own. What signs can be used to determine the presence of extrasystole in osteochondrosis?
- Rapid heartbeat with a barely readable pulse;
- The muscles between the shoulder blades are constantly tense;
- A person often feels lightheaded, weak and dizzy;
- Often there is a feeling of increased heat, sweating increases;
- Does not let go of the feeling of internal discomfort;
- The increase in heart rate occurs periodically, it is unstable and works on the principle of a wave - sometimes intensifying, sometimes almost dying out;
- The volume of extrasystolic ejection exceeds the norm - this indicator can be determined using a tonometer.
These symptoms can be felt constantly, but most often they intensify at night or at times when the patient is in a horizontal position. Elementary movements of the limbs intensify the symptoms.
This feeling can last for several hours. All attempts to stabilize the heart by taking cardiac medications do not give a positive result. An attempt to identify the causes of heart disease through an ECG also does not answer the question.
If attempts to administer an anesthetic between the VI and VII vertebrae of the cervical spine and the I vertebra of the thoracic spine gave a positive result, there is no doubt. The cause of heart ailments in this case was precisely thoracic osteochondrosis.
When trying to palpate the thoracic vertebrae, heart pain also increases.
Hypertension as a consequence
Very 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 spasm, resulting in significant swelling of muscle tissue. The reason for compression of the artery can also be displacement of the vertebrae - such a violation also occurs with thoracic osteochondrosis.
For the simple reason that it is the vertebral artery that is responsible for supplying the brain with oxygen and other useful components, there is a lack of necessary substances for normal functioning. Brain cells are in a state of starvation.
In order to provide the brain with the proper amount of nutrition and "push" the blood flow through the bend, the body is forced to increase the speed of blood flow. With this mode of operation, the body begins to automatically release substances that help increase blood pressure.
This allows proper nutrition to the brain, but leads to hypertension.
If you do not draw a parallel between osteochondrosis and high blood pressure and start treating hypertension as an independent phenomenon, such treatment is unlikely to give a long-term sustainable result. Such experiments can only aggravate the situation, adding further 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 drowsiness, due to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, the body tries to "save" nutrients to maintain vital organs in working order. The state of sleep helps to save energy;
- Constant weakness is also a consequence of the brain not receiving enough oxygen;
- Disturbance, confusion;
- The appearance of "floaters" before the eyes - this symptom is often noted by people with high blood pressure, not knowing that the cause of this pressure most likely lies not in the poor condition of the blood vessels, but in osteochondrosis;
- Periodically, all objects begin to see double;
- Vision deterioration often occurs, the reasons are the same - little oxygen;
- Hearing impairment;
- With significant oxygen starvation, fainting may occur - this is the body’s protective reaction.
Diagnostics
Knowing the signs of diseases is good, but the most accurate diagnosis can only be made by a doctor using modern diagnostic tools. The simplest 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 a malfunction of the cardiovascular system or whether this ailment has another pathology.
If the ECG confirms that the heart is working properly, it makes sense to prescribe an MRI. This method allows you to obtain a layer-by-layer image of the entire spine or its parts. These images will allow you to quickly and accurately determine whether a person has problems with the spine.
If suspicions of osteochondrosis are confirmed, treatment should be started immediately.