Can Your Neck Cause Sleep Apnea?

Can Your Neck Cause Sleep Apnea?

Dr. Centeno reviews the links between neck instability or loss of curve and sleep apnea or snoring.

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Please watch: "Cervical Disc Replacement Movement vs Normal Disc"
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[BKNew]

I just finished getting a body massage in Taiwan. The masseuse looked at my neck and said I probably don’t sleep very well. Fascinating!

[toscadonna]

Per your discussion with the surgeon, I used to work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center when I was a cadet in the summer. I worked in the Neurosurgery Dept, and one afternoon, the Chief Neurosurgeon and I were there after work going thru films. He told me to never have neck surgery unless I was going to be paralyzed or if I couldn’t hold my pee. He said that 95% of their surgery patients felt just as bad and most of them were worse 5 years out from the surgery. I remembered his words, and when I had my parachute accident, I refused surgery several times due to their being way more issues than could be fixed by surgery. That’s why I went outside the Army Medical system and to civilian prolotherapy and PRO doctors.

[jeffconsiglio]

As a serious weight training enthusiast, who suffers from sleep apnea, I do find it interesting/disturbing that many bodybuilders and powerlifters apparently have sleep apnea. Even when LEAN, and NOT fat.

I've heard different theories as to why this is so.

- Such as having a large neck - even if it's all muscle. I guess that can somehow still restrict air flow?

- Or being "obese" according to BMI charts - even if LEAN. I find this one especially interesting in a counterintuitive kinda way. It's been theorized that, because lean muscle tissue requires a lot more oxygen than fatty tissue, a lot of muscle, beyond a certain point, may exacerbate the hypoxia of sleep apnea, if not cause it outright. Even more so than fatty tissue, since, again, fatty tissue doesn't use up as much oxygen as muscle tissue. Of course we all know lean muscle mass is generally a LOT healthier than excess fat mass, but interesting that, at least in the case of those with sleep apnea, "too much" muscle may not be a good thing at all.


There still seems to be some debate as to whether or not sheer body size, even if it's all muscle, is actually causative of sleep apnea, or perhaps just exacerbates it, depending upon what other risk factors may also be present.

I had been doing direct neck training, but am really rethinking that now, as my overall health and ability to sleep is much more important to me than carrying x-amount of muscle.

I also have a professional interest in this topic, because I'm a personal trainer, who works mostly with overweight, middle-age clients, and I want to make sure my exercise protocols don't increase their chances of suffering from sleep apnea.

[Sara-world]

Love watching your videos! Hopefully I'll catch it live on Mon. Waiting for my telehealth consult...

[allisong]

I’ve started wearing hearing aids that track heart rate. I work as an audiology assistant but am a speech language pathologist. I have been having increased issues especially since 2019. I have noticed that my heart rate goes down into the 40’s and sometimes up into the 150-160 and the only thing I have changed is my neck position. I have a lot of neck pain, headaches, swallowing problems nauseous all sorts of symptoms. I just don’t feel well. I am having trouble getting to or staying at work during the day, just found out we have EDS. I am getting desperate and am starting to wonder if my neck positions are causing some of my symptoms!

[twooneaction]

Aloha Dr Centeno! Mahalo for all the helpful videos. How do we participate in your show ? Facebook?

[toscadonna]

When I take my neck brace off, I get very sleepy within about 5 minutes. It’s really weird how exhausted I get from holding up my head. When I first had this accident, I stopped being able to properly swallow at night. Saliva will go down into my lungs and not be properly swallowed. I think this comes from the horrific muscle spasms I have all down the front of my neck, jaw, and even in my tongue. I don’t have sleep apnea, nor do I snore, but I have problems swallowing when I’m asleep. It used to happen 4 to 5 times per night when I’d be awakened by the saliva going into my lungs. Twenty years after the accident, it happens about once per night probably due to the Botox the doctors put into my neck to stop the spasms.

[babuely]

Hi Doctor,
Having a degenerative discs at C4 and C5 can cause headaches and sleep apnea? I have neck pain all the time . Thank you

[versewriter]

Would wearing a surgical collar help? I have severe sleep apnoea & also cervical vertebrae problems

[tonyatwintowers]

I got 2 and 3 bugling disk a reverse neck curve having sleep apnea since age 22

[Anon-xdcf]

Thank you so much for this video...I feel vindicated.

Have yet to look up all the relevant papers but I'll get to that.
I have a bunch of seemingly different unconnected issues which I thought were connected but couldn't get my healthcare provider to connect the dots on.
Put off dental surgery for years while I seek answers about my undiagnosed sleep apnoea and cervical spine pain which has been causing headaches...
I am slowly piecing the evidence together to present my case, and I think the information here will be quite helpful.

If there is disc dessication and degeneration in c2 - C4 and damage to the vertebrae structure, it could easily be the contributing factor coupled with position which is causing the otherwise inexplicable sleep apnoea. Certain neck positions seem to also cause an autonomic response such as irregular heartbeat and irratic breathing.
Until I get to the bottom of this mystery dental surgery and the GE and likely neck trauma associated with difficult extraction is just not worth the risk of furth spinal damage.

Can't get dental surgeons to take the necessary precautions until there are formal diagnosis regarding the neck and associated nerve and breathing problems.


A complicated mess but I think this video helps me tie it all together.

[marionharris]

What’s the research paper for cervical kyphosis and osa?