Treatment with mustard plasters for cervical osteochondrosis: mechanism of action, regimens of use

Mustard plasters for osteochondrosis of the cervical spine.
In the treatment of osteochondrosis, systemic and local drugs are used to improve blood circulation. The use of such drugs can significantly reduce the severity of neurological symptoms characteristic of pathology localized in the cervical vertebral structures. By normalizing blood circulation, you can get rid of headaches, dizziness, and surges in blood pressure. One of the most therapeutically effective remedies for osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is mustard plasters.

CT scan of the lumbar spine for osteochondrosis.

How do mustard plasters work for osteochondrosis?

The therapeutic effect of mustard plasters for cervical osteochondrosis is due to their active ingredient - mustard powder. Its chemical composition contains sinigrin in high concentration. After wetting the mustard plaster and applying it to the neck area, this glycoside is hydrolyzed. Allyl oil (allyl isothiocyanate) is formed, which irritates the receptors located in the subcutaneous tissue.

As a result, blood vessels dilate and trophism improves, and due to the distracting effect, the severity of neck pain is reduced. In response to impulses coming from the surface of the skin, endogenous biologically active substances are released - endorphins, kinins and histamine, which improve human well-being.

Recommendations for physical therapy

Procedures using physiotherapeutic methods can only be prescribed by the attending physician, who takes into account the degree of pathological changes in the lumbar spine, the general physical condition and age of the patient, and concomitant diseases.

If you follow the principle of regular visits to physical therapy, a positive effect is observed within a short period of time. There is an improvement in overall well-being, pain goes away, and the mobility of the vertebrae in the affected area increases.

In addition to physical therapy, it is recommended to visit the pool, adhere to a work and rest schedule, and moderate exercise.

Indications for use

Mustard plasters are not used for acute pain, often accompanied by inflammatory swelling and pinching of the spinal roots by osteophytes. It is advisable to use the drug to eliminate pain that occurs during the remission stage. Their appearance is usually preceded by hypothermia, excessive physical activity, and exacerbation of chronic pathologies.

Mustard plasters are also included in therapeutic regimens to reduce the intensity of vertebrogenic symptoms, which are caused by compression of the vertebral artery that supplies blood to the brain by displaced intervertebral discs. These are arterial hypertension, decreased visual and hearing acuity, and sensitivity disorders.

How to choose the right type

Pharmacies sell mustard plasters of various shapes and sizes, but they have the same therapeutic effect. Therefore, when choosing a medicine, you need to take the one that is most convenient to use. You should purchase small size products that do not need to be trimmed.

These drugs for external use are produced by many domestic pharmaceutical factories. Some manufacturers improve the composition of their products by adding new ingredients. For example, relatively recently mustard plasters with essential eucalyptus oil appeared on sale.

Mustard plasters in bags and plates.

Application diagram

Before applying the mustard plasters packages to the back of the neck, shake them and remove the protective film from the plates. Then they are lowered into a container filled with water at a temperature of 40 °C for 5-7 seconds, shaken off and applied to the skin. To enhance the local irritating effect, the medicinal product is covered with a thick cloth (scarf, towel). The duration of the procedure is from 5 to 15 minutes. Patients with dry, sensitive, irritation-prone skin should remove mustard plasters when a burning sensation occurs.

It should be borne in mind that redness of the skin surface is not a side effect of the topical drug. This effect is due to the expansion of blood vessels and blood flow. After completing the treatment procedure, the skin is wiped with a cloth soaked in warm water to remove the remaining mustard oil.

The dosage regimen and duration of treatment are determined by the doctor. It takes into account the characteristics and intensity of clinical manifestations, the stage of cervical osteochondrosis and the necessary action.

Antibacterial therapy

The basis of treatment for pneumonia is antibacterial therapy. At the Yusupov Hospital, pulmonologists use the latest drugs registered in the Russian Federation. When a sick patient enters a therapy clinic, the choice of antibiotic is made empirically. Doctors take into account the epidemiological and clinical situation, and lung radiography data.

Since the disease is most often caused by pneumococci, initial therapy begins with penicillins and aminopenicillins. Second-line drugs are cephalosporins. If you are allergic to β-lactam antibiotics, all these medications are not used. Alternative agents are macrolides.

In cases of severe pneumonia, doctors at the Yusupov Hospital choose broad-spectrum antibacterial agents for initial treatment. They use combinations of antibiotics to suppress the maximum number of possible infectious agents. The drugs are administered intravenously and intramuscularly.

In the therapy clinic, doctors widely use a new generation of fluoroquinolones to treat pneumonia:

• levofloxacin;
• moxifloxacin;
• sparfloxacin.

They are highly effective, suppressing gram-positive and gram-negative microflora, as well as intracellular microorganisms (mycoplasma, chlamydia, legionella).

In nosocomial pneumonia, the most common pathogens are gram-negative bacilli and staphylococci. In these cases, combinations of metronidazole with third-generation cephalosporins or ciprofloxacin are used to treat pneumonia. Patients after traumatic brain injuries are treated with monotherapy with IV generation cephalosporins or ciprofloxacin; if necessary, a combination of a III generation cephalosporin with ciprofloxacin or aminoglycosides is used.

Features of use for children

Osteochondrosis is extremely rarely diagnosed in adolescence or childhood. The cause of its development is usually congenital abnormalities of the spine or severe systemic pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, for example, rheumatoid arthritis. In the treatment of cervical osteochondrosis in children, mustard plasters are used, but with some restrictions. In a child, blood vessels are located closer to the surface of the skin, so the likelihood of a chemical burn is increased. How to use mustard plasters for children:

• plates or bags are placed not on the skin, but on dry sterile gauze;
• the duration of the procedure does not exceed 10 minutes;
• After removing and removing the remaining mustard oil, a small amount of moisturizer is rubbed into the skin.

Testing is carried out before using the medicine. A small piece of the plate or 1 package is applied to the wrist area. If within 10 minutes, in addition to redness, swelling or irritation of the skin appears, then mustard plasters cannot be used to treat cervical osteochondrosis.

When not to use

Many people are interested in whether it is possible to put mustard plasters on at a fever if the neck hurts. Just like for colds, mustard should not be used at high temperatures. The question is often asked about why the product should not be used for skin diseases. I will answer that mustard easily eats away small ulcers or other lesions.

This method also cannot be used in the following cases:

• during pregnancy;
• oncological diseases;
• tuberculosis.

The list also includes other contraindications.

Contraindications

If you are hypersensitive to mustard powder, this remedy should not be used. A contraindication for therapy is a violation of the integrity of the skin on the back of the neck (scratches, abrasions). Mustard plasters cannot be used if there are moles, papillomas, or warts at the places where they were placed. They are not prescribed to patients if external clinical manifestations of neurodermatitis, dermatitis, pyoderma, and furunculosis are detected. Treatment is not carried out at high temperature, chills, or fever.

Doctors told what to avoid when treating Covid at home

Antibiotics, immunomodulators, cough suppressants, antipyretics and vitamins—all these remedies are used by people who decide to self-treat for coronavirus infection. However, doctors warn: thoughtless use of drugs can aggravate the severity of the condition and cause even greater harm to health. “Gazeta.Ru” is about what people who are sick should not do.

When treating coronavirus on an outpatient basis, Russians often make mistakes that not only reduce the effectiveness of therapy, but can also lead to serious deterioration in health. Doctors say: there are a number of drugs that can only be used as prescribed.

Thus, immunologist Maria Polner reported that the most common mistake is the uncontrolled use of immunomodulators. “Patients believe that since there is a prefix “immuno”, it means that the drug is certainly useful and does not cause any harm. But that's not true. It is impossible to simulate only part of the immune system; this may entail consequences, for example, in the form of the development or exacerbation of autoimmune diseases,” the doctor explained to Gazeta.Ru.

Also, according to her, at the first symptoms of the disease, patients begin to take antibacterial agents. “And they do this uncontrollably, due to which resistance (resistance - Gazeta.Ru) of pathogenic bacteria may develop, and when there is really an urgent need, antibiotics may be powerless,” the immunologist emphasized.

Doctors insist: antibiotics can be taken strictly as prescribed by the doctor. “If you start taking antibacterial drugs and then quit them, this will lead to resistance in the body, internal microorganisms will stop responding to the drug, and we will never be able to cure the disease,” general practitioner Anastasia Tarasko warned fans of self-medication.

You should not take antibiotics on your own also because they are generally not effective against viral infections in general and COVID-19 in particular.

“Indications for the use of antibiotics for Covid are only clinical and laboratory signs of a bacterial infection. It is impossible to determine this on your own - only a doctor can do this,” explained Mikhail Kagan, Honored Doctor of Russia, leading scientific editor of Vrachu.ru.

According to him, the uncontrolled use of these drugs can be dangerous, since many of them have side effects and, in addition, can lead to modifications of resistant bacteria, which themselves can cause a separate infectious process. Antibiotics are dangerous due to such consequences as nausea, vomiting, bronchospasm and ari, said Maria Polner. She explained that by doing so, patients disrupt the natural microbiota of the mucous membranes, which leads to a decrease in their protective properties, which means the virus can more easily penetrate the body. “Literally today, a patient came in with a fungal infection of the mouth, candidiasis, resulting from treatment with such drugs,” noted the immunologist.

Often, when treating coronavirus at home, patients independently use drugs with unproven effectiveness - in particular, arbidol, oseltamivir, hydroxychloroquine - doctors also advise avoiding them.

“We must remember that we cannot be guided by the principle “there will be no harm, but what if it helps?” There are no absolutely harmless medications.

The development of side effects in the absence of a therapeutic effect of the drug can not only significantly worsen the patient’s condition and can significantly “confuse” the clinical picture of the disease, which makes it difficult to make the right decisions regarding rational treatment tactics,” explained Mikhail Kagan.

Even vitamins should not be thoughtlessly taken to treat coronavirus - according to Maria Polner, patients with COVID-19 often drink vitamin complexes in large doses, but this can cause an allergic reaction. And the danger is not only in allergies. “People forget that the consumption of vitamins and microelements has the same medicinal effect as other drugs,” warned Anastasia Tarasco. “For example, uncontrolled consumption of vitamin D seriously affects the kidneys. And taking vitamin C in large doses is fraught with the formation of stones, edema, disruption of the pancreas and even an increase in leukocytes in the blood.”

You should also pay attention to the use of adaptogens – drugs of natural origin. “Remedies such as ginseng work cumulatively. If the dose is exceeded, there will be no improvement in immunity. Only the effect on the liver, kidneys and gastrointestinal tract, which can lead to exacerbation of existing chronic pathologies,” Tarasco explained.

An equally common mistake is the desire of people to lower their temperature when feeling unwell - this was recently noted in the health program “About the Most Important Thing” on the Rossiya 1 TV channel. Experts noted that in the absence of chronic diseases, a temperature of up to 38.5 °C is considered normal - it is this that helps the body cope with the virus, so you should not knock it down, it is better to call an ambulance.

And finally, do not overuse cough suppressants. The problem is that such drugs stimulate the production of sputum, thereby making breathing difficult and exacerbating oxygen starvation characteristic of COVID-19.