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Dealing with the sharp pain and inconvenience of a pinched nerve can be a major hassle. Not only is the pain sometimes quite intense, but a pinched nerve can also lead to a significant restriction of your range of motion. So, not only are you in dire pain, but you’re virtually unable to move without making that pain even worse.
Nobody wishes to deal with the pain of a compressed nerve. Pinched nerve chiropractic care offers relief. Reducing pain from pinched nerves and addressing the underlying cause are among the many specialties in chiropractic treatment. Knowing that a nerve can become “pinched” or compressed in the back or any joint in the entire body is important. Most people have heard of cases where someone has a herniated, or bulging, disc in the back and ends up in a doctor’s office with severe pain from a pinched nerve.
Here’s a quick look at why a pinched nerve occurs, warning signs, chiropractic adjustments to relieve pain, and other information about pinched nerves.
Understanding What a Pinched Nerve Is
Compressed nerves are very common in the human body and can cause various pain, ranging from mild to severe. Whenever tissue in your body shifts out of place and presses on one of your nerves, your brain gets pain signals from that area. What types of tissues can move out of place? Tendons, muscles, cartilage, and bones or bone fragments can all shift due to factors like injury, illness, overuse, or aging.
Your body’s nervous system sends many types of signals to your brain. When a nerve is compressed for any reason, the nerve sends an immediate alert to the brain as a warning that something is wrong. As with many similar conditions, the symptoms and pain may range from mild to extremely severe or anywhere in between. When you feel the pain a pinched nerve can cause, don’t ignore it. You’ll have a much better chance of getting quick relief if you seek treatment as early as possible. Delaying treatment is unwise, Whether for pinched nerves or anything else. Even in severe cases where pinched nerve pain can’t be completely resolved, chiropractic care may help reduce the pain and other related symptoms. The key is to get professional help if you’re suffering from a compressed nerve as soon as possible.
What Causes Nerves To Become Compressed?
There are both direct and indirect reasons for pinched nerves. Direct reasons include a bone spur, repetitive movements, poor posture, herniated discs, or any condition that comes from an injury or a sudden event. Certain lifestyle choices also make people more likely to experience pinched nerves.
For instance, if you’re already dealing with osteoarthritis, you likely know about joint swelling that might lead to bone spurs. Additionally, your body weight, genetics, posture, age, and other long-term factors can make you more vulnerable to a compressed nerve. If you have a job or play a sport where you repeatedly use the same limb or joint, like factory work or tennis, your shoulders, arms, back, and neck can experience intense strain and eventually end up with pinched nerves.
In your spine, there are many facet joints. These crucial structures in your body help you twist and bend your back in various ways. If these joints become inflamed and press on a nearby nerve, you might experience a nerve impingement that leads to intense pain.
Symptoms of a Pinched Nerve
Here are eight of the most common symptoms you might notice if you have a pinched nerve:
1. Pain or burning sensations traveling down your leg
Sciatica is a usual type of lower back pain that occurs once the sciatic nerve is pinched or compressed as it leaves your lower spine, known as your lumbar spine. Since branches of the sciatic nerve stretch from your lumbar spine down through your buttock and into your leg, if the nerve becomes compressed or irritated, you may experience pain, burning sensations, or a dull ache anywhere along that nerve route.
2. Pain reaching from your neck to your arm
Like sciatica, nerve compression in the neck area of your spine (called your cervical spine) happens once a nerve in your neck gets compressed or pinched as it exits your spine to travel down to your arms or shoulders. Irritation of a cervical nerve can lead to pain and related symptoms anywhere along the nerve pathway, including in your shoulders, upper back, arms, and even hands.
3. Weakness in legs
When you move or engage your legs, the nerves in your legs relay information incredibly quickly to your brain, which then activates your muscles to respond appropriately. If your sciatic nerve or other leg nerves are compressed, it can disrupt these signals. Consequently, you might experience leg weakness or struggle with certain movements, including walking.
4. Reduced grip strength
The nerves in your hands play a major role in your ability to grasp and hold items. They send essential sensory information about objects you touch to your brain, directing your muscles to respond. When a nerve in your cervical spine is irritated or compressed, it may not be able to transmit all that information to your brain. This can lead to reduced muscle function, resulting in a weak grip and challenges with writing or other fine motor tasks.
5. Numbness
Nerve compression basically “turns off” communication between the nerves in your arms, legs, or other body parts, so your brain can’t “sense” those areas. As a result, you might “feel” numbness in those regions or experience a complete loss of sensation, similar to sleeping with an arm in an awkward position.
6. Pins and needles sensations (paresthesia)
Like numbness in the surrounding tissues, paresthesia (a prickling feeling) occurs when a nerve is compressed or irritated. The communication between the nerve and the brain isn’t fully blocked, but it’s disrupted just enough to cause these unpleasant symptoms. Paresthesia is often an early sign of carpal tunnel syndrome.
7. Bowel or bladder incontinence
The nerves in your back don’t only help with moving your legs and feet. They also manage your bladder and bowel functions. When a nerve in your lower back is seriously compressed, you may leak urine or stool or have other difficulties with these functions.
8. Pain that changes when you adjust position
It’s common for pain to either lessen or increase when you adjust your position, but the way it changes can vary depending on the cause. For many people with sciatica, pain may feel less intense when leaning forward in a seated position or lying flat on their back. However, if you lie on your side, the pain often worsens, making it difficult to sleep with a pinched nerve in your back.
Pinched Nerves: How are They Identified?
If you have pinched nerve symptoms, speak to your healthcare provider. They will inquire about your current symptoms, medical history, and any activities or work you do. This information can offer clues about the source of your pain. Your provider might also conduct a physical exam for a more accurate diagnosis.
In addition, you might have one of these imaging tests done to identify the root cause of pinched nerves:
X-ray: An X-ray uses high-energy beams to produce an image of your bones. Your doctor can look at these images to check for fractures or signs of arthritis. However, X-rays don’t reveal soft tissues, like muscles or tendons.
CT scan: A CT scan takes several X-ray images to produce a cross-sectional view of your body. This allows your doctor to see soft tissue damage, fractures, bone spurs, or other reasons for a pinched nerve.
MRI: Like an X-ray, an MRI produces an image of your bones. But MRIs also show soft tissues, including muscles, tendons, and ligaments, allowing your provider to detect inflammation or ruptured disks.
High-resolution ultrasounds: During an ultrasound, high-energy sound waves bounce off tissues, producing echoes that create an image on a screen. Ultrasounds can be employed to diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome in specific areas, such as the wrist.
Chiropractic Care: Effective Pinched Nerve Treatment
Even if you are experiencing pain that is not tolerable, seeking chiropractic care for compressed nerves is essential for an effective healing process. Once adjusted, your nerves can return to normal functioning and blood flow without needing pain medication. If left without treatment for pinched nerves, prolonged compression can cause too much pressure on the nerves, lasting shooting pain, and nerve damage.
Chiropractic care and massage therapy offer natural relief for pinched nerves by easing muscle weakness and tension with controlled force and aligning the spine. During your session, the chiropractor will locate the troubled area and discuss your health and lifestyle history to pinpoint possible causes.
Your chiropractor will align your vertebrae through gentle spinal adjustment and spinal decompression to alleviate pressure on your nerve roots. The chiropractor will also teach you some light stretches for home, which may help prevent future spinal cord injuries and keep you flexible.
A pinched nerve may result from tense muscles and inflammation around the area. Gentle massage techniques help relax tight muscles and stretch them to boost circulation and movement.
Find Relief Today from Pinched Nerve Pain!
You don’t have to tolerate the pain of a pinched nerve. Aligning your back and body can fix a pinched nerve, help improve your spine’s health and avoid nerve compression and other issues. Heart of Texas Chiropractic offers physical, non-invasive treatment, spinal decompression therapy and techniques designed to provide relief starting from your first session.