Intercostal neuralgia: symptoms and treatment

Thoracalgia, or as it is also called intercostal neurolgia, is a disease that causes severe exhausting pain, arising from irritation or squeezing of nerves located in the intercostal space.

Intercostal neuralgia can be caused by existing diseases, such as:

• Diabetes mellitus;
• Hypovitaminosis( lack of vitamins in the body);
• Various chronic diseases that reduce immunity and affect the supply of nerves with oxygen.

In addition, this disease can cause:

• Injuries( of any kind);
• Poisoning( regardless of the nature);
• Viral infections;
• Allergies;
• Diseases of the central nervous system;
• Tinea;

How intercostal neuralgia, symptoms and treatment manifests itself - let's talk about this in more detail.

Manifestation of intercostal neuralgia

The main sign that will let you know that you have intercostal neuralgia is a severe pain in the intercostal spaces. Patients can not fully breathe, as the inhalation pain intensifies, and the inhalation of a full chest and does not have to dream. The patient is hard to move, cough, turn his torso, speak with a loud voice, and generally just live. Even at the moment when the person is in a state of complete rest. Sometimes the pain subsides, but then grows with renewed vigor. Skin over the place where the affected nerve is - dumbs and ceases to feel anything.

Since the nerve branches from the intercostal nerves to the heart, stomach and kidneys, the pain can be given and there too. Heart pains from intercostal neuralgia are easily distinguishable from pains in the heart. If the pain in the heart does not subside when you take the nitroglycerin pill, then you have intercostal neuralgia. The same can be said about the pains in the stomach, which certainly subsided after taking antispasmodic.
Often pain in the rib area is confused with a heart attack, because they also do not pass from nitroglycerin. In order not to risk, you need to call an ambulance immediately after sudden pains in the heart. The doctor will better understand what these pains were caused.
For an accurate diagnosis, an electrocardiogram is required.
After an infarction is excluded, do a chest X-ray, a tomography to exclude spine diseases and several additional methods of investigation.

How is intercostal neuralgia treated?

Neurology, the symptoms of which are not very diverse, despite the large number of possible causes of its appearance, has quite a variety of forms and types of treatment.
The main goal of the treatment is to eliminate irritation of the nerve end with ligaments, muscles, ribs or intervertebral disc. Modern medicine has learned to successfully solve this problem using complex therapy, which includes methods:

• of the traditional drug treatment
• osteopathy
• manual therapy,
• physiotherapy
• therapeutic massage

Let's talk about each of them in more detail.

Medications

As medications for intercostal neuralgia firstly prescribed analgesics for blocking the pain syndrome and acetylsalicylic acid. If necessary, these drugs are combined with barbiturates, antihistamines and neuroleptics.
If neuralgia is found against a background of a viral infection, it is acceptable to prescribe antiviral drugs, such as, for example, arbidol and antibiotics. When lichens use ointments based on antibiotics for topical application.
During the period when the disease is in acute stages, the use of antidepressants and tranquilizers is justified.

Osteopathy
Osteopathic techniques and techniques are used as restorative treatment to establish the correct position of all the elements of the anatomical chest. As a result of this treatment, lymph formation and blood circulation improve, and an equilibrium is achieved between all the systems and organs available in the body. This allows you to adjust the body to the correct working state.

Acupuncture
This method of treatment is widely used for the treatment of diseases of the central nervous system and neuralgia of various kinds. This therapy is aimed at the complex effect of using needles on acupuncture points, which are responsible for the work of all organs of the human body.

Manual therapy and massage
Manual therapy and massage is aimed at mechanical release of the compressed nerve end. By affecting the soft tissue and skeleton of a person. The effect of using this type of therapy in the treatment process is aimed at the development of recovery processes that ensure the correct position of the entire spine and its cervical and thoracic parts in particular.

Therapeutic physical training
The complexes of physiotherapy exercises, selected by the physiotherapy specialists, will have a restoring effect on the chest and its movements during breathing. Due to the lack of experience of a specialist, exercise therapy can be not only useless, but even harmful treatment. Since it is important to properly set the load, and even more important is the adoption of certain poses during exercise. These exercises are designed taking into account the nature of the disease, as well as the age and physical capabilities of the patient.

Physiotherapy
Releases the nerve endings of the chest by exposing it to electric shock. Especially effective in alternating interaction and laser therapy.