Symptoms

A dislocated vertebra initially causes back pain in the affected area. Later, complaints of the adjacent joints and extremities, such as hip pain, can also occur. In most cases, a dislocated vertebrae results in restricted movement and pain, which tempts the patient to adopt a relieving posture.Often the pain is also intensified by certain movements, which are avoided by the person concerned as much as possible.

In most cases, acute vertebral blockage severely restricts mobility to one side due to pain. Frequently, the spine can be better turned to the opposite side. Relaxed postures in turn lead to one-sided muscle tension and hardening.

They can usually be felt as single painful points. If the pain radiates into the arms or legs, for example, or if tingling or numbness occurs, a doctor should be consulted immediately. In this case, nerves may be constricted, which may be an emergency situation.

Due to the vertebral blockage in the lumbar spine area, symptoms of a so-called lumbago with strong, shooting pain in the lumbar region may occur. The sciatic nerve is often particularly affected. This large nerve moves towards the leg and can be constricted by the vertebral blockage (see: Sciatic nerve constricted), which leads to severe back pain radiating to the hip and leg. Vertebral blockages in the area of the cervical spine can cause severe headaches as well as neck and shoulder pain. Pain when moving the head (turning, nodding, tilting), as well as pain radiating into the arms are also possible symptoms of vertebral blockages in the cervical spine area.

Diagnosis

For the diagnosis of a vertebral blockage, it is mainly the collection of the medical history (anamnesis), the physical examination and the exclusion of serious diagnoses that play a role. A vertebral blockage and the associated instability or malposition of the spine is initially compensated by the surrounding back muscles. This initially prevents stronger pain, but this results in a relieving posture that leads to muscle tension.

The cramped muscles feel hard (muscle hard tension) and in turn cause pain. Long-lasting malpositions of the spine (e.g. scoliosis) due to pelvic obliquity can often be detected by inspecting the patient with the naked eye. If a vertebral blockage remains untreated for a long period of time, chronic pain occurs because the muscles of one half of the body are overstretched while the other is shortened. With the help of imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging of the spine (MRI) or computed tomography (CT), a herniated disc can be diagnosed. Inflammations and tumors can also be visualized and thus excluded as a possible differential diagnosis.