Nerve pain can be debilitating, but there is always hope to improve your symptoms and make sure they don’t get worse. The first and most important step is to get down to the root cause of your nerve pain before the proper treatment can be determined. This blog will discuss:
- What doctor to see for nerve pain
- Nerve pain vs muscle pain
- The common treatments
- And something you may have not tried yet… Nerve Flossing!
Which Doctor to See for Nerve Pain?
Understanding your nerve pain and getting down to the root cause will require an examination with your doctor, but who should you see? In cases of nerve pain, I don’t suggest seeing your primary care physician because this is not their field of expertise and unless referred out, will not give you the answer to what is causing your issues.
Chiropractors, however, are experts when it comes to diagnosing and treating musculoskeletal conditions, especially those related to the spine and nerves. Getting down to the root cause of your issue can require any combination of the following:
- Functional assessment
- Range of motion
- Postural neurology exam
- X-ray
- MRI
- Nerve conduction study
All of these can help determine whether the symptoms you are experiencing are from an actual nerve problem or something else. Find out what else could be causing your symptoms in the next section.
Nerve Pain vs Muscle Pain
Not every tingling, burning, or radiating pain is caused by a nerve issue or pinched nerve. There are other musculoskeletal conditions that can mimic the symptoms of a pinched nerve, but actually have to do with the soft tissue in the area.
If you want to find out if your symptoms are actually from the nerves or are from an imposter, you can always contact the office and make an appointment so we can find out what’s going on. Meanwhile, I suggest you check out this blog, Is Your Pain from a Nerve or Something Else? And watch the video below.
Common Treatments for Nerve Pain
The common treatments for nerve pain depend on the cause, given that many conditions can result in nerve pain. For example, there can be an issue at the vertebrae of your spine that may result in the nerve being impinged or irritated. Common treatments for nerve pain can include:
- Physical therapy
- Chiropractic adjustment
- Surgical invention (which should be reserved for life-threatening scenarios and after all over options have been explored)
- Nerve block
Unfortunately, with most of the generic treatments, there is typically only relief of symptoms for a short period of time, no improvement, or a partial improvement. Why? Because instead of seeing the body as a whole unit that is not just one piece, but many different parts working together to achieve a goal (which is movement), they only look at the area of complaint and treat that area, and maybe sometimes look at the area close by. What happens when you treat the issue but leave the feeders of the problem the pain returns. This is just like cutting down a tree and the next year a new shoot is sprouting… because you cut the tree but the roots and was feeding them still existed.
The missing link in most of these treatments is what is called Postural Neurology and Developmental Kinesiology. You see, every baby on the planet was born and developed movement learning to crawl, walk, stand, and run all following the same developmental sequence. This is the natural functional movement pattern that we are all hardwired with. We know what this map of your movement and body parts in your brain is supposed to look like, so assess the quality of your map and movement and see what doesn’t match up. You can learn more about this in the video below.
Nerve Pain Relief Using Nerve Flossing
There are different types of tissue that make up your different body parts, and your muscles and nerves fall under the category of soft tissue. Just like you can stretch a muscle you can also stretch a nerve. This is a gentle technique that complements the work of Postural Neurology and Neuro-Kinesiology, but does not address the root cause of your problems.
The video below shows an example of nerve flossing for the sciatic nerve.
These types of exercises can be helpful in relieving symptoms of nerve pain, but wouldn’t you want to know why you’re having this pain in the first place? I can assure you it’s not a normal part of life and getting older, and you don’t have to just put up with it.
If you’ve tried other treatments for your nerve pain and nothing seems to provide relief or is long-lasting contact the office and make an appointment.
Dr.Shakib