Do you suffer from a pinched nerve in your neck or lower back? Are you experiencing pain into your arms and/or legs as a result? If so, we may be able to help you.
Hurts Like a Toothache
Few things are more painful than a pinched nerve in the neck or lower back. Patients often compare the feeling that radiates into their arms or legs to a toothache.
Pinched nerves are exactly what they sound like…pressure applied to a delicate nerve in the spine creating any number of sensations that spread out into the arms or legs such as burning, throbbing, numbness and tingling sensations to sharp, electrical and stabbing pains.
Loss of Strength
If the pinched nerve occurs in your neck, it can also lead to a loss of strength in your arms and hands. Patients with a pinched nerve here will often complain of dropping things all the time or having to use their ‘good’ arm for most daily tasks.
If a pinched nerve occurs in your lower back it can also lead to difficulty in walking, sitting, standing and balance. If left untreated it may further lead to foot drop, where you lose all ability to flex and extend your ankle requiring the need for some type of walking device, like a cane.
If left untreated, a pinched nerve in your lower back may eventually lead to infection if you happen to cut yourself on the bottom of your foot and remain unware of it for too long.
Diagnosing the Cause of a Pinched Nerve
A thorough examination in our Chiropractic office can often diagnose a pinched nerve. We will perform specialized orthopedic testing on your muscles, bones, discs and/or ligaments to help us identify what is pinching the nerve.
For closer inspection, X-rays may be taken to see if the pinched nerve is coming from any alignment issues in your spine. If necessary, we may send you out for an MRI or CT to get a better look at the discs to see if nerve pressure is coming from any herniations, protrusions, bulges or degeneration.
Treating a Pinched Nerve
Treatment of a pinched nerve comes first by trying to remove the physical interference on the nerve. If the interference is coming from a herniated disc, then we can perform spinal decompression therapy on you which creates space between the vertebrae giving the nerves room to breathe.
If pressure on the nerve is coming from a misaligned bone, then spinal adjustments can be performed to realign the spine and remove this pressure. Other therapies may be recommended such as electric muscle stimulation, cold therapy and ultrasound to help.
If you are still experiencing arm or leg pain after these conservative types of treatment, we may recommend laser therapy. On rare occasions, surgery may be considered to fix the pinched nerve.
If you suffer from a pinched nerve in your neck or back and need treatment from a qualified chiropractor, call our office today to schedule an appointment.