Pinched or trapped nerves can be very frustrating because they refer pain to other areas and can trick the patient into thinking the pain is coming from elsewhere. Not treating the root cause of the issue prolongs the suffering.
Trapped nerves are mostly found in the neck and lower back. Several reasons can cause them and will refer pain into the legs and arms.
A nerve can be trapped or pinched by:
When the nerve gets interfered with,, it will then refer pain down the arm or leg. This can feel like hand or foot pain. It is difficult to explain why the issue is in the neck or lower back.
It can be a deep ache, severe shooting pain and often pins and needles in the fingers and legs. If you can try to be aware of where the pain is through the arm, describe if it is on the front of the arm and which fingers are affected; this gives us information about which nerve is affected, and we can get the diagnosis a lot quicker.
Pain can also refer into the shoulder blade, buttocks and down the back and up into the head and cause headaches as well.
Sciatica is a pinched nerve in the base of the spine; this can cause severe shooting pain in the leg and buttocks, numbness in parts of the leg.
The first aim is to relieve pressure on the nerve so that it can function normally and relieve the pain from the leg or arm.
This is done by:
‘Sitting is the new smoking’ is the phrase in the Chiropractic sphere now. I’m not sure how true this is. What we can confirm is that sitting is NOT good for your spine. It compresses the neck and lower back, which can put you at risk of a trapped nerve.
Staying where possible and using your core to stabilise your spine will free the nerves from sustained compression.
Yes, Chiropractors are trained to locate, diagnose, and treat nerve issues in your spine. They spend 5 years training their skills in locating nerve interference and pinched nerves.
They use many tests, palpation and sometimes X-rays to build a diagnosis and treatment plan to give you the best prognosis and plan of care to get you back to your goals and full function.
Staying where possible and using your core to stabilise your spine will free the nerves from sustained compression.
This depends on how long the problem has been there and the severity of it.
If you have woken up that morning with a locked neck and you are in your 20’s and never had this issue before then it is likely this can be resolved quickly.
Often, within 24 hours of Chiropractic treatment, the patient will feel better and looser, with less pressure on the trapped nerve.
If the patient is in their 60s, the back pain has been present for 20 years, and this is a common reoccurrence, then it is unlikely to be fixed in one session. If there is osteoarthritis and degeneration in the spine, it takes longer to free the nerve.
If the reason for the trapped nerve is a disc bulge, this can also take time; discs can take anywhere from 6-18 months to fully heal due to the poor blood supply.
If it is left for too long, it can cause irreparable damage to the nerve. If you think of the nerve like an electrical wire with a coloured casing around the outside, if there is damage to the casing the copper gets exposed, this can then become damaged, and it interferes with the reliability of the wire carrying the current.
The same principle applies to nerves in the body. If they are pinched for long periods, months, or years, then messages cannot pass through the nerves to the cells or muscles.
Symptoms you may see are foot drops and foot scuffs along the floor, as the nerve cannot pick the foot up when the patient walks. If you do have signs of this, please seek professional help immediately, as it can become permanent.
Most of the time, nerves can be treated without permanent damage; don’t leave it for too long.
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