Changes in Bone Density in Patients with Osteochondrosis of the Cervical Spine

Osteoporosis and osteochondrosis have common clinical manifestations: poor posture, reduced flexibility and mobility of the spine, joint pain, fatigue, weakness; both diseases appear most often in old age. Having a lot in common in symptoms, osteoporosis and osteochondrosis differ in etiology, treatment and prognosis. The development of osteoporosis is based on impaired bone remodeling, but it has been established that this process is also important in the pathogenesis of osteochondrosis. The results of previous studies indicate that there is a relationship between the functional state of the neuromotor apparatus and the violation of the structure of bone tissue in the spinal canal stenosis of the lumbar spine. There is data on the study of the nerve conduction and bone mineral density in patients with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine in a small sample. To study the functional state of peripheral nerves and the presence of disorders of bone tissue structure in 2018, 25 patients of the neurosurgical department of Irkutsk Scientific Centre of Surgery and Traumatology were observed with the diagnosis "Dorsopathy, Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine" (М50.1) and 25 volunteers of the control group, representative of the main sex and age. As a result of the examination, all patients of the main group showed sufficiently deep afferent-efferent dysfunctions of the segment apparatus of the cervical spine, while in the control group changes in ENMG indicators showing initial changes in the function of the neuromotor apparatus were observed in 20 % of the examined. The change in bone density was observed in most of the main group examined (72 %), in the control group the decrease in bone density was less frequent (54 %, of which 29 % registered osteopenia). The results of the examination indicate the existence of a relationship between osteochondrosis and osteoporosis - the more symptoms of sensory-motor dysfunction of the root increase in osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, the more often the change in bone density - osteoporosis or osteopenia - is diagnosed.