AGE-RELATED PAIN
Posted by recep on April 2nd, 2009Elongation of the styloid process and calcification of the stylohyoid ligament can result in intermittent, sharp pain along the distribution of the glossopharyngeal nerve (ie, in the hypopharynx and base of the tongue), known as Eagle’s syndrome. Glossopharyngeal neuralgia may be caused by scarring of the tonsillar bed from an old tonsillectomy, but tonsillectomy is usually not a precondition in the elderly. Curative treatment consists of resecting the elongated styloid process.
Carotodynia, neck pain associated with carotid bulb tenderness, is intensified by palpation and head movement. This self-limiting disorder may last for months; it responds to anti-inflammatory analgesics.
Cervical arthritis often produces chronic neck and occipital pain along the distribution of C-2 and C-3. However, in the elderly, this pain must be differentiated from atypical angina pectoris (intermittent, intense, exercise-related pain in the neck, throat, or jaw). For the pain of cervical arthritis, analgesics and a cervical collar are helpful.
