About the dangers of alcohol said and written quite a lot. You can often hear that taking alcohol is contraindicated in diseases of the heart, brain, pregnant and nursing woman.
And how about the intake of intoxicating beverages to those who suffer from osteochondrosis?
How can there be a connection between alcohol and back pain? According to statistics, up to 85% of the population suffer from diseases of musculoskeletal system, so the question of the impact of alcohol on low back pain is very relevant.
The arguments about the benefits
Constant chronic pain can ruffle anyone. Patients experience discomfort, emotional tension, they have disturbed sleep. And some people are in a hurry to take a dose of alcohol in order to alleviate their condition.
Alcohol dulls the pain. In the period of exacerbation of osteochondrosis, patients reported relief after taking alcohol. It is worth remembering that we are talking about a reasonable dose: up to 200 ml dry red wine or 100 ml of cognac.
But do not forget that the analgesic effect is temporary, but a back issue remains unresolved. Patients are not in a hurry to the doctor, the disease progresses causing more and more often to resort to such “treatment.”
The arguments in favor of alcohol osteochondrosis end.
Arguments against
At first glance, back pain and intake of alcohol have nothing to do with each other. However, the doctors established the adverse effects of alcohol on low back pain.
This is due to the following reasons:
- Alcohol tends to cause blood clots. Violation of the flow of blood in small vessels leads to the cessation of the nutrient supply to the muscles, joints, cartilage and spinal discs. A lack of the trophic and oxygen starvation of the spinal pain signals.
- Alcoholic drinks, particularly beer, lead to the leaching of calcium ions from the bones, making bones less dense and more brittle and fragile. Including suffer and vertebrae of the skeleton, reduced their resistance to static and dynamic loads, which further aggravates the pathological process.
- From alcohol is the liver that suffers. Is the body governing all metabolic processes in the body. Metabolic disorders in the intervertebral discs leads to dystrophic and degenerative changes in them, the consequence may be the formation of a herniated disc.
- The intake of intoxicating beverages to the treatment with painkillers may lead to development of side effects of drugs. For example, the joint use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and alcohol twice increases risk of development of acute gastric ulcers and even gastrointestinal bleeding.
- Especially dangerous alcoholic drink for people suffering from osteochondrosis of the cervical spine. Intake of alcohol causes increased blood pressure, which is dangerous in lesions of the cervical vertebrae. On the background of intoxication intensify symptoms of compression of the vertebral artery: vertigo, nausea, vomiting, intense headache.
- Alcoholic beverages greatly decrease the effect of the vitamins, chondroprotectors, drugs that improve the microcirculation. These drugs are prescribed for accelerating the recovery of cartilage. So, the effect of the treatment will not.
- Indirectly, the adverse effect of alcohol on low back pain says property of alcoholic drinks to enhance appetite that leads to overeating, obesity and even greater load on the spine. And eating snacks, salted and pickled foods lead to the accumulation of salts and progression of the disease.
Thus, alcohol has an adverse effect on the course of degenerative disc disease or a complication of a herniated disc. Treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system eliminates all the harmful habits. It should be remembered that the effect of therapy will be reduced to zero if for the patient to drink.
