Pinched Nerves
Nikki came to Macomb Township Chiropractic looking for a new approach to chiropractic care. She had been seeing a chiropractor for years but never felt like she was truly progressing. She was still experiencing neck pain and stiffness, shoulder pain, occasional low back pain, and she also had some swelling and painful joints. More recently she was experiencing worsening hip pain that was interfering with her sleep. In fact, her hip pain became so bad, it would often wake her up in the middle of the night. She would have to get out of bed, move around for about 15 minutes, and then return to bed, making it difficult to get the restful sleep she needed.
When Dr. Chris evaluated Nikki and took spinal X-rays, he found multiple spinal misalignments that were contributing to irritation and pinched nerves leading into her neck, back, and hips. A personalized care plan was created to address the underlying spinal misalignments and help reduce the nerve irritation contributing to her discomfort. Her care included regular chiropractic adjustments (to help restore proper spinal movement and alignment, and help promote healthy blood flow and circulation to the muscles and surrounding tissues, which supports the body’s natural healing process). She also received postural rehabilitation to help improve the alignment of her spine. This therapy also helps strengthen the muscles that support the spine and maintain proper posture.
What are Pinched Nerves?
A pinched nerve occurs when pressure or irritation affects a nerve, often resulting in pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, or other uncomfortable sensations. In the spine, changes such as restricted or misaligned joints, inflammation, or a bulging or herniated disc may contribute to pressure on nearby nerves, potentially causing symptoms in the neck, back, shoulders, arms, or legs. Nerve irritation can also occur in areas such as the wrist, where it may contribute to symptoms associated with conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome. Because nerves travel throughout the body and connect back to the spinal cord, identifying where and why a nerve is being irritated is an important part of evaluating these symptoms.
What are the Symptoms of Pinched Nerves?
Common symptoms of a pinched or irritated nerve can include sharp or aching pain, achy joints, numbness, tingling (“pins and needles”), burning sensations, muscle weakness, and pain that radiates from the neck or back into the shoulders, arms, hips, or legs. Symptoms may become more severe when nerve irritation persists or increases, potentially causing significant weakness, loss of coordination, worsening numbness, or difficulty using limbs. Common contributors include spinal or joint misalignment, bulging or herniated discs, inflammation, muscle tension, poor posture, repetitive movements, prolonged sitting, injuries or accidents, excess weight, pregnancy, and age-related changes in the spine.
What Kind of Problems Arise from Pinched Nerves?
Having pinched nerves can affect almost all your daily activities. Pain can affect walking, relaxing, working, and sleeping. If not treated, nerve pressure can cause chronic pain, loss of mobility, weakness in the hands and fingers, numbness and tingling in your extremities, and even permanent nerve damage. Pinched nerves can cause bladder or bowel incontinence, changes with reflexes, and if left untreated, permanent disability.
How Does Chiropractic Help?
Chiropractic is one of the best treatments you can seek for pinched nerves. Most pinched nerves are caused by misalignments in the spine, bulging or degenerated discs, or irritated pinched nerves are released with manual spinal adjustments and soft tissue massage works to relax tight muscles surrounding the nerves. Reducing pressure on the nerves relieves pain, increases blood flow, and improves proper communication between the brain and the body. Chiropractic reduces nerve irritation, restores joint motion, and decreases inflammation
What Does Macomb Township Chiropractic Offer?
Dr. Chris has helped many of our patients with pinched nerves. Misalignments in the neck and spine directly result in pinched nerves in the neck, shoulders, back, arms, hips and legs. Regular chiropractic adjustments, pulsating nerve gun, spinal decompression with our state-of-the art decompression table, postural rehabilitation (to correct the position of the spine), massage bed, and heat and cold therapy are treatment choices. Each patient will receive a care plan geared specifically to their individual needs for the best possible outcome to alleviate their pinched nerves.
