Pinched Nerve | Chiropractic | Ravenswood Chiropractic
Chiropractic Care for Pinched Nerves
Think of nerves as insulated cables that allow informational messages to flow from one point in the body to another.
Nerves begin in the brain and run down the length of your spinal column. Some nerves connect to muscle tissues and organs, but the bulk of the nerves in your body are in your brain and spine.
The nerves’ role is to transmit informational signals back and forth between the brain and the targeted body part. In other words, nerves make it possible for you to function normally each and every day.
The Role of Nerves
Nerves are the foundation of everyday functioning, and we all take for granted how important they are. Eating, falling asleep and waking up, scratching an itch, swatting a fly, or becoming sexually aroused – all the domain of nerves.
Here are some more examples of the importance of healthy nerves:
Let’s say that you touch a hot stove. It is nerves that tell you to remove your hand before you get burned.
Is it winter and cold outside? Nerves tell you whether you need to put on a jacket.
Nerves tell the muscles in your fingers to contract to grip a fork and knife or write with a pen or kick or catch a soccer ball.
Nerves are responsible for communicating the automatic, autonomic signals that keep your lungs breathing, your heart beating, and your stomach digesting.
Whether conscious or unconscious, voluntary or involuntary, every action and reaction you take is the function of your nerves. Therefore, any damage or disease to the nerves can profoundly affect how you live your day-to-day life.
What is a Pinched Nerve?
A pinched nerve is precisely what it sounds like. It’s what happens when a nearby bone, cartilage, muscle, or tissue pushes on the nerve, essentially “pinching” it or compressing it.
Also called nerve impingement, a pinched nerve causes inflammation of the nerve, disrupting the signals going to and from the brain and blocking the flow of nutrients meant to nourish the nerve and keep it healthy, active, and strong.
When this happens, it progressively impedes the nerve’s ability to transmit those electrical signals to and from the brain, prompting symptoms ranging from weakness to numbness and tingling to severe pain. If left untreated, a pinched nerve fiber could eventually die.
Symptoms of a Pinched Nerve
The symptoms of a pinched nerve tend to be localized to the body’s area that the affected nerve supplies.
Here are the most common symptoms:
- Muscle weakness
- Numbness and tingling (“pins and needles”)
- Feeling of an appendage (typically the hand or foot) “falling asleep.”
- Twitching
- Burning or hot/cold sensation
- Radiating pain
- Painful muscle spasms
When a nerve in the neck becomes pinched, symptoms are usually felt in the hands, arms, or shoulders. When a nerve in the lower back becomes pinched, symptoms are typically felt in the legs and feet.
Sciatica, for example, or pain radiating down the back of the leg, is caused by a nerve root in the lower spine becoming pinched by a herniated disc.
Another example is carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). CTS is responsible for numbness and pain in the fingers and hand, which is caused by a pinched nerve but this time in the wrist.
When the pinched nerve is coming from the spinal cord, pain may be exacerbated by sneezing or coughing. Regardless of where the pinched nerve is located, symptoms may also intensify while you are sleeping.
Causes of a Pinched Nerve
Any nerve in your body can become pinched. The nerves most susceptible to being pinched pass through or nearest to bones and other tissues. Causes of this excessive nerve compression, constriction, and stretching vary greatly and may include:
- Poor posture
- Overuse/repetitive motion
- Stress
- Sports or other physical hobby or activity
- Obesity
- Injury
- Heredity/genetics
- Medical conditions including osteoarthritis, bone spurs, and ganglion cysts
Common Examples of Pinched Nerve Conditions
Having a pinched nerve is an umbrella term that often has a more specific medical condition, depending on the location of the symptoms and the cause. Here are some of the most common examples of pinched nerve conditions:
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Tarsal tunnel syndrome
- Cubital tunnel syndrome
- Radial tunnel syndrome
- Thoracic outlet syndrome
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Tibial nerve entrapment
- Sciatic neuropathy
- Common peroneal neuropathy
- Distal peroneal neuropathy
How to Treat a Pinched Nerve
Studies show that one of the most effective, natural, and safe methods to heal a pinched nerve is chiropractic care.
One study found that the treatment of nociceptive pain should involve the following:
Spinal Manipulation: Also known as chiropractic adjustments, this is the intentional movement of the joints by a chiropractor to restore healthy function.
Muscle Stretching: This can be done as part of Active Release Technique or rehabilitation or sports massage; this is the deliberate lengthening of muscle tissue to alleviate excessive pressure from adhesions or muscle knots.
Trigger Point Therapy: Like a deep tissue massage, trigger point therapy locates troublesome points in muscle tissue and applies firm pressure for up to several minutes to release the cause of the pain.
Physical Therapy Modalities: Interferential Electrotherapy: small patches are placed in the areas where you feel tension and experience muscle spasms. Electrical pulses are sent to the patches, causing the muscle tissue to contract and release. This helps to loosen the tissue, stop spasms, and alleviate soreness and pain. [1]
All of these modalities of care are available here at Ravenswood Chiropractic & Wellness Center. Your local chiropractor can determine which of the types of treatment are ideal for you and your condition.
Chiropractic Care for Pinched Nerves: What to Expect
When you come to our office because you are experiencing pain from a pinched nerve, your chiropractic physician will perform a physical exam to determine the pinched nerve’s cause. A treatment plan will be created to address both the cause and your symptoms.
If a muscle spasm causes the pinched nerve, physical therapy and massage may address the problem. If the muscle spasm is caused by a joint that is out of place, chiropractic adjustments may be recommended.
If a disc injury or something more serious is involved, a different treatment may be needed to address your pain and the cause of your symptoms. In some cases, additional testing such as nerve conduction velocity studies may be indicated to detect signs of nerve injury.
Ordinarily, whatever the cause, proper function returns to the affected nerve once the compression is relieved, which results in the reduction of pain and other symptoms.
Short-term nerve compression rarely leads to complications; however, long-term nerve compression or severe compression left untreated may lead to severe complications, such as chronic pain, permanent nerve damage, and loss of function.
That is why, as with most other medical conditions, early diagnosis and treatment are imperative, not only for quick and complete healing and pain relief to occur but to avoid more severe damage.
Take Control Over Your Pinched Nerve
At Ravenswood Chiropractic & Wellness Center, we specialize in the treatment of pinched nerves. Our chiropractic office is located in Andersonville on the North Side of Chicago. We are open six days a week, and we accommodate same-day appointments for the diagnosis and treatment of pinched nerves. Schedule an examination today with one of our expert team members: 773.878.7330.
References
- Seaman DR, Cleveland C 3rd. Spinal pain syndromes: nociceptive, neuropathic, and psychologic mechanisms. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1999 Sep;22(7):458-72. DOI: 10.1016/s0161-4754(99)70035-7. PMID: 10519563.
