Visual disorders

Visual disturbances can present themselves in different ways. For example, there may be flickering, you may no longer be able to see clearly or there may even be a loss of visual field. Visual disturbances can also occur in the course of a slipped disc in the cervical spine.

In this case, the cause of the disturbances is again a constriction of a vessel, the arteria vertebralis. The blood circulation of the eye, like that of the brain, is dependent on the so-called carotid arteries and the arteria vertebralis. If the vessel at the spinal cord is constricted (usually on one side), the blood supply to the eye is reduced. However, these disorders occur very rarely.

Headaches

Headaches in connection with a herniated disc in the cervical spine can have different causes. On the one hand, the muscle tension or pain in the neck area can radiate towards the head. Another cause is a reduced blood supply due to an incarceration of the vertebral artery.

This leads to lower blood pressure in the vessels that supply the brain. As a result, less oxygen and nutrients reach the brain. Since the brain is very dependent on this supply, it signals with headaches, for example, that it cannot work properly at the moment.

Swallowing difficulties

The plexus cervicalis is a plexus of nerves that consists of the spinal nerve C1-3. These nerves supply, among other things, the chewing muscles, but especially the swallowing muscles. There are many muscle groups which are of decisive importance for our swallowing.

These include the infrahyoidal muscles. The hyoid is our hyoid bone, a small bone that lies between the neck muscles under the lower jaw. The infrahyoid muscles connect the hyoid to the sternum.

When these muscles contract, the hyoid is pulled down and the chyme can be transported through the gullet into the esophagus. If these muscles are paralysed by a herniated disc in the C1-3 region, this leads to swallowing difficulties. However, there will be many other muscles involved in swallowing, so swallowing will not be completely impossible.

Jaw complaints

There are many different muscles around the jaw that can cause different movements. The cooperation of all these muscles is important for flawless chewing movements and the opening and closing of the jaw. Almost all jaw muscles are innervated by different cranial nerves.

These come directly from the brain and therefore have nothing to do with the spinal cord. One muscle, however, the geniohyoid muscle, is supplied by nerve branches from the cervical plexus (C1-3) of the spinal cord. This muscle is involved in the act of swallowing on the one hand, but also in the opening of the jaw on the other.

A herniated disc in the area of C1 can therefore cause discomfort when opening the jaw. A herniated disc that causes pain in the upper part of the cervical spine can also cause pain in the jaw. Anatomically, the cervical spine and the jaw are close to each other, so that pain can easily radiate here.