Many people over 45 years old begin to feel pain in the heart area. This symptom puts a person in a state of panic because they do not know exactly what causes this condition.
Often, the thoughts that come to mind are that serious heart problems have begun and that urgent help from a cardiologist may be needed. After performing an electrocardiogram and receiving completely positive results, a person's confusion only increases.
What can cause pain in the heart? And most importantly, what to do in such a situation? The answer is actually very simple, although not everyone knows the answer. Heart attacks often occur due to other diseases. This condition occurs especially with osteochondrosis of the chest. Is it worth paying attention to pain of this nature?
How does osteochondritis appear?
This mechanism is quite simple. Throughout life, a person performs a certain amount of physical activity. Most "lie" on the spine. To help the vertebrae easily perform their assigned tasks, there are intervertebral discs between them. This in turn acts as a shock absorber, preventing the vertebrae from rubbing against each other.
Discs tend to wear out. The main cause is excessive tension on the spine. Poor nutrition of cartilage tissue can also cause its gradual destruction.
Small cracks appear on the surface of the cartilage, tissues are destroyed, and as a result of this process, the vertebrae begin to touch each other. Due to friction, an inflammatory process occurs, which is quite painful.
With thoracic osteochondrosis, active wear and tear of the intervertebral discs in the thoracic spine occurs. As a result of the pathology, the patient not only loses stamina, but also cannot perform physical activities in the same volume. He began to suffer pain, which became more and more intense.
To alleviate the patient's condition, specialized treatment is required. If the treatment is not done on time, the patient may experience some health problems. In particular, many different pathologies of the cardiac system may arise.
Main symptoms of osteoarthritis
There are certain signs that will help identify thoracic osteoarthritis against the background of other diseases.
- First of all, it is necessary to understand exactly where the source of pain is. When osteochondrosis occurs in the chest area, the pain mainly comes from the chest. It can be sharp, as if pressed from all sides. Often there is a feeling of difficulty breathing and even shortness of breath when coughing. Sometimes the pain spreads to the shoulder area, where there is a dull ache. Unpleasant pain can "curl" after exercise, it also appears after sitting in an uncomfortable position;
- Sometimes thoracic osteochondrosis can appear as numbness in the arms, legs, shoulders and neck. Often the limbs become stiff even in the summer, when there is no reason;
- Headaches and dizziness occur periodically.
These are the main signs of degenerative breast cartilage disease 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 osteoarthritis. It is believed that in women all these symptoms are more pronounced.
In addition to these three symptoms considered main, it is also reasonable to pay attention to back pain that occurs.This is a mild pain syndrome that occurs in the damaged vertebrae area.
These pains are not intense, sometimes causing a feeling of muscle stiffness. In this case, it feels like the source of the pain is in the stomach, liver or pancreas. In fact, this is a false feeling. Osteochondrosis of the chest has nothing to do with the digestive organs.
Sometimes thoracic osteochondrosis develops parallel to the cervical form. At that time, you can definitely feel a lump in your throat, especially after physical activity.
What is the difference between osteoarthritis and a heart attack?
How to distinguish thoracic osteochondrosis from heart disease, if in many ways the symptoms are very similar? There are some signs you need to pay special attention to.
The 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 osteoarthritis, the pain is compressed.
At the same time, it grows or recedes, but most often it does not let go for a long and stable period. The pulse is often increased, which is even more misleading. Sometimes there is a feeling of warmth inside the sternum.
When suffering from cervical spondylosis, patients often complain of pain in the lower cervical vertebrae. Sometimes people note weakness of the muscles of the left hand, the use of the little finger is especially problematic. Moving the arm does not bring relief but only makes the pain worse.
Sometimes the pain spreads throughout the left quadrant of the body, affecting not only the chest but also the neck, left arm and sometimes the face. This condition can last quite a long time, from a few hours to a few days.
With angina and a recent heart attack, some pain sensations may be similar in nature. The main difference is that with osteoarthritis, the pain increases when you inhale. A nitrate or vasodilator varicose pill will relieve pain caused by heart problems. This method will not help in the fight against osteonecrosis.
But when anesthetic solution is injected into the cervical vertebrae VI, VII and thoracic vertebra I, the pain will disappear. If distilled water is used instead of anesthetics, a slight tingling sensation will appear in the chest area. This is a clear sign that the cause of the pain is osteochondrosis in the chest.
Time hurts
This sign also needs to be looked at more closely. If you have heart problems, the pain in that area does not last long, usually a few minutes. While the pain caused by osteoarthritis in the chest can last for several days.
But there is also a pitfall here: if the pain does not go away within a few days and there is obvious general weakness, consult a doctor immediately.
Most likely, the cause of the discomfort is an acute myocardial infarction.
Painful location
Equally important is the location of the pain. In case of heart disease, the source of pain is concentrated in the left chest, sometimes the pain spreads to the neck, back of the head and shoulders. During osteoarthritis, the pain syndrome affects the thoracic, lumbar and cervical spine.
Related symptoms
Pay attention to accompanying symptoms. Heart pain in most cases does not go away without an increase in heart rate and breathing rate. Sometimes the veins in the neck can swell, for example with pericarditis.
With osteonecrosis, such symptoms are not observed, but general stiffness during movement may appear.
Why do tachycardia and arrhythmia occur in osteonecrosis?
Arrhythmia is perhaps the most common consequence of untreated thoracic osteoarthritis. With this disease, compression of the artery 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" blood through the bend. Against the background of this phenomenon, heart rate increases.
Arrhythmia can manifest in different ways. Additionally, it can lead to sinus tachycardia. But how to find out exactly what causes tachycardia - heart disease or thoracic osteoarthritis?
- Tachycardia accompanied by spinal problems is a frequent phenomenon. The number of beats is about 90 per minute. It is observed even in a state of complete rest, while in diseases of the cardiac system, tachycardia occurs with increased physical activity;
- Heart rate can increase when a person takes an uncomfortable position, especially if the spine at this time is under greater stress;
- When suffering from osteoarthritis, the tachycardia maintains a certain rhythm, the distance between contractions does not change, always the same;
- Immediately after starting targeted treatment for osteoarthritis, the tachycardia begins to disappear and the problem resolves on its own.
If a symptom such as tachycardia is not monitored and treatment is not started promptly, the heart muscle may not be able to cope with the increased load.
As a result of such neglect, extrasystoles can develop.
Extrasystole due to degeneration of chest cartilage?
This disease can occur due to rapid heart rate. It occurs less frequently than tachycardia and occurs in advanced forms of osteonecrosis. The disease is also a consequence of abnormal heart rhythm. The cause is premature accelerated contraction of the myocardium, followed immediately by normal contraction.
A person may not feel well at all. Sometimes you may feel like your heart has stopped beating for a moment or, conversely, that your heart has beaten faster. In this case, a very weak pulse is noted. It may not be traceable.
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 myocardium. And this is already fraught with more serious problems.
For example, insufficient oxygen supply to the brain will also lead to some serious disruptions in the functioning of the central nervous system.
The first signs of extrasystole are observed only during physical activity. When resting, the heart rate will return to normal on its own. What signs can be used to determine the presence of extrasystole in osteonecrosis?
- Tachycardia with illegible pulse;
- The muscles between the shoulder blades are constantly tense;
- People often feel lightheaded, weak and dizzy;
- Often feel hot, sweat a lot;
- Don't let go of the uncomfortable feeling inside;
- The increase in heart rate is cyclical, unstable and operates on a wave principle - sometimes intensifying, sometimes almost completely extinguishing;
- Ectopic ejection volume exceeds the norm - this indicator can be determined using a tonometer.
These symptoms may be felt continuously, but they are often worse at night or when the patient is in a horizontal position. Basic movement of the limbs adds to the symptoms.
This feeling can last several hours. All efforts to stabilize the heart using cardiac drugs did not bring positive results. Attempts to determine the cause of heart disease through ECG also fail to answer the question.
If the attempt at anesthesia 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 precisely osteoarthritis in the chest.
When trying to palpate the thoracic vertebrae, the heart attack also increases.
The consequence is increased blood pressure
Very often, osteochondrosis of the chest goes hand in hand with high blood pressure. The cause of this duet is compression of the vertebral artery. This can occur due to muscle spasms, leading to significant muscle tissue swelling. The cause of arterial compression can also be displacement of the vertebrae - such a violation also occurs with thoracic osteoarthritis.
For the simple reason that the vertebral artery is responsible for supplying oxygen and other useful components to the brain, it lacks the substances necessary for normal functioning. Brain cells are in a state of starvation.
To provide the brain with proper nutrition and "push" blood flow through the bend, the body is forced to increase the speed of blood circulation. With this mode of action, the body begins to automatically release substances that help increase blood pressure.
This allows adequate nutrition to the brain but leads to increased blood pressure.
If you do not compare osteochondrosis and high blood pressure and start treating hypertension as an independent phenomenon, then such treatment is unlikely to bring long-term sustainable results. Such experiments can only aggravate the situation, causing more problems in the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
How to identify hypertension caused by osteonecrosis?
- Periodically, the patient experiences dizziness, most often when overwork;
- Often sleepy, due to not providing enough oxygen to the brain, the body tries to "save" nutrients to maintain the functioning of important organs. Sleep state helps save energy;
- Constant weakness is also a consequence of the brain not receiving enough oxygen;
- Harassment, confusion;
- The appearance of "floaters" before the eyes - this symptom is often noted by people with high blood pressure, without knowing that the cause of this pressure most likely lies not in the poor condition of blood vessels, but in the diseaseosteonecrosis;
- Periodically, all objects begin to see double;
- Vision impairment often occurs, the causes are the same - low oxygen;
- Deaf;
- With significant lack of oxygen, fainting may occur - this is a protective reaction of the body.
Diagnose
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 simplest and most reasonable way is to conduct an ECG. This research will allow us to quickly determine whether the cause of pain in the heart area is due to malfunctions of the cardiovascular system or whether the disease has another pathology.
If the ECG confirms that the heart is functioning normally, an MRI is reasonable. This method allows you to obtain layer-by-layer images of the entire spine or its parts. These images will allow you to quickly and accurately determine whether a person has a spine problem or not.
If osteochondrosis is suspected, treatment should be initiated immediately.