If you have a pinched nerve, you should seek treatment immediately.
Because nerves are incredibly important to how you feel and move throughout the day. When your body is aligned, your nerves can easily send signals throughout your body to and from the brain.
You can think clearly, work productively, and move without any discomfort.
When your body is out of line, however, the nerves are inevitably affected as well. If your spine or other bones and ligaments are out of line due to injury, your nerves are at risk of being pinched, which can ultimately affect your entire lifestyle.
The central nervous system in the spine doesn’t just affect your sense of touch but can also impact your heart, digestion, mental health, and your kidneys. A compressed nerve can have severely painful effects on your body. The nervous system runs through your entire body and it is crucial that it is working efficiently.
Common Symptoms and Conditions
Because pinched nerves often create a radiating feeling of sharp pain or numbness, it can be challenging to decide how to treat it.
In order to develop a proper strategy for your care, it is important to be able to identify and understand your symptoms.
The common signs of nerve damage is numbness, muscle spasms, sharp radiating pain, tingling, and muscle weakness.
The cause of this pain can be herniated discs, inflammation from arthritis, bone spurs, misaligned vertebrae, or repeated movements from work or exercise. The nerves most impacted by these injuries are the sciatic nerve, cervical radiculopathy, carpal tunnel, and peroneal nerve.
The sciatic nerve is located in the leg and runs from your hips to your toes, and the pain can radiate from your lower back downward. The lower back, where the nerve begins, is responsible to holding the weight of your upper body. Damage here can make even the simplest of tasks like sitting up straight or walking your dog very difficult.
The peroneal nerve, which is a branch of the sciatic nerve, runs in the lower leg and damage here primarily affects the foot and ankle. Just as pain in the lower back, pain in the foot can make it extremely hard to walk, as it is actually possible to lose feeling in the foot if not treated.
Cervical radiculopathy is damage in the neck, or cervical spine. A pinched nerve here can create pain in the shoulder blade and arm, therefore affecting your grip and upper body strength.
Carpal tunnel has a similar effect on the body as pinched nerves in the neck. This injury is due to a compressed nerve that passes into the hand and into your palm. When this nerve is not blocked or inflamed, it provides feeling in your fingers.
The most common cause of carpal tunnel tends to be repetitive actions that come with jobs like manufacturing, typing, construction, or assembly line work.
Besides interfering with your job, burning and sharp pain can interfere with your sleep as well as your productivity. Pain is beyond a physical burden and is a huge stressor.
While taking pain killers for this offers temporary relief, in the long run, it isn’t healing you. You need to see a chiropractor so that your body can begin to heal naturally.
What a Chiropractor Does to Heal Nerve Pain
The basis of all chiropractic care is realigning the body so that the body can actually heal itself.
The treatment is specialized to meet your individual needs and wants, so that you leave the care feeling healthier and stronger than ever.
During the first consultation, the physician will ask about your medical history to understand how the injury may have occurred. After this, they will perform a physical exam, which will most likely be Tinel’s Test.
This test was developed by French neurologist Jules Tinel. It is a way to detect if nerves are inflamed or pinched and most often used to determine pressure in the foot, ankle, and hand.
The way the doctor determines if the nerve is compressed is if when lightly tapping on the nerve, there is pain or some tingling sensation. If patient experiences pain, this means their nerves are being irritated, and therefore adjustments are needed.
Because the central nervous system is found in the spine, adjustments for pinched nerves throughout the body can actually be made just through spinal manipulation. These adjustments have a domino effect in healing.
One example of this phenomenon is in a recent study that looked at 71 women’s carpal tunnel syndrome. It specifically looked at their range of motion when they moved their necks, which they found was very restricted. They found that limited neck movement is directly proportional to the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome.
This data confirmed that the pain experienced in this condition stems from the upper spine and then moves into the arm and wrist. With this new information, physicians could now treat conditions that resulted from pinched nerves through spinal manipulation.
Another reason that spinal manipulation is used is because it provides faster healing. When the spine and the joints are aligned, blood flow is restored and vital signals can be easily carried throughout the body.
Visit a Chiropractor Today
Chiropractic care is not only a faster way for your body to heal but a safer way.
Several studies have shown that medication often worsens pain and those who get surgery often experience their symptoms once again after the procedure.
Chiropractic goes beyond setting your body back into its proper alignment but also working with you individually to ensure that you don’t get injured again. Whether it’s a nutrition plan, stretches, or even the proper shoe wear for a workout, chiropractic is a sustainable way to treat your injuries.
When your body is misaligned, it can feel like your entire lifestyle is too. But with chiropractic care it does not have to be this way. You can heal your nerve pain.
Don’t let nerve pain numb your love for life.
Call 513-247-9045 to schedule a visit with your local Montgomery chiropractor, Dr. Scanlon.