Vibration disease: causes, clinic and treatment

With the development of the industry, vibration sickness is increasingly registered. This disease is characterized by diversity (polymorphism), so the clinical symptoms and the course of the disease can be different.

Vibration disease is a professional pathology. As a rule, it is observed among workers in the mining, metallurgical, ship-, aircraft and machine-building industries.

Vibration disease: etiology

Production vibration is the main cause of the development of the disease. From the point of view of physics, vibration is mechanical oscillatory movements that systematically recur through certain periods. People who work with a manual mechanized rotary or percussive tool (polishers, moulders, drillers, grinders) are exposed to prolonged vibration. The contributing factors in the development of this pathology are noise, abrupt cooling, tension of the muscles of the shoulder girdle. Vibration causes heart and vascular disease. In addition, it provokes metabolic disorders.

Vibration Disease: Clinical Symptoms

It should be said that vibration is perceived by all cells and tissues of the body, but bone and nervous tissues are the most sensitive to mechanical vibrations . The effect of vibration on the receptors (lateral surface of the feet, as well as the skin of the distal parts of the hands) provokes the development of increased excitability of the corresponding parts of the central nervous system. Record violations in the digestive organs and heart.

With a local vibration disease, patients usually complain of pain in the limbs, which, as a rule, disturb at night. Patients suffer from headaches, dizziness, increased irritability, poor sleep. Perhaps the main clinical sign of the pathology are vascular diseases (peripheral circulation is disrupted, asymmetry of arterial pressure develops). Some complain of pain in the heart, stomach and intestines. Hypersensitivity is a marker of vibration sickness.

At visual examination of the skin of the upper extremities, thickenings, multiple cracks, turbidity, deformation and thinning of the nails. Due to dystrophic processes, hyperkeratosis (thickening of the skin), pachydermia (convexity on the interphalangeal joints). Dystrophic disorders can also be detected in deep tissues: subcutaneous fatty tissue, muscle tendons. Also, the deforming arthrosis of the joints of the upper limbs is recorded. Due to the combined effect of vibration and noise, workers often have an auditory nerve.

One of the characteristic syndromes of vibration disease is vestibulopathy. This pathology is accompanied by severe headaches and dizziness. In many patients, the increased excitability of the vestibular analyzer is observed . Vibration fluctuations have a negative impact on the female genitalia. This effect manifests itself in the form of hypo- and dysmenorrhea, inflammatory processes in the genital organs become aggravated. With combined exposure to local and general vibration, patients notice significant changes in the CNS.

Treatment of the vibration disease is best to begin at the early stages of the development of this pathology. First of all, it is necessary to exclude the effect of the pathological factor on the organism. In severe pain, spasmolytics with ganglion blocking agents are prescribed. To improve microcirculation, prescribe such drugs as "Angiografine", "Complamine", "Riboxin", "Thiamin", "Cyanocobalamin", nicotinic and ascorbic acid. As an anesthetic, the drugs "Indomethacin", "Baralgin" are used. Good results are obtained with a combination of physiotherapy methods (electrophoresis, diathermy, laser therapy, ultrasound in combination with hydrocortisone).