What Can Be Done for a Pinched Nerve?

The human body contains almost 46 miles of nerves, and a pinched nerve can develop most anywhere along this extensive network, though some areas are far more common. If you’re struggling with a pinched nerve in your neck, back, wrists, or another part of your body, the good news is that there are several roads to relief.

At Valiant Life Medical, our interdisciplinary team of medical providers, including chiropractor James Matthew Jernigan, approaches a pinched nerve with two goals in mind: 1) remedy your symptoms, and 2) prevent the problem from recurring. Here’s a look at how we go about this.

Defining a pinched nerve

As the name implies, a pinched nerve is a condition in which surrounding tissues, which could be tendons, muscles, ligaments, bones, or cartilage, press up against a nerve. While pain is an obvious result, you can also experience symptoms that fall under radiculopathy, which include:

• Numbness
• Tingling
• Weakness

These symptoms can develop directly in the area where your nerve is pinched or radiate out along the length of the nerve. A classic example of this is sciatica, a condition in which the large sciatic nerve in your lower back is compressed. Sciatica often leads to pain, numbness, and tingling that radiate down one of your legs and even into your foot.

The same problem can develop in your neck with symptoms radiating down through your shoulder and into your arm.

While pinched nerves along your spine are common and typically due to problems in your intervertebral discs, a pinched nerve can develop in other areas, such as your wrists. An example of this is carpal tunnel syndrome.

No matter where your compromised nerve is located, we can help restore function and relieve your symptoms.

Treating a pinched nerve

Before we design a treatment plan, we first fully evaluate the problem to determine the best course of action. For pinched nerves along your spine — in your neck or back — one of our first lines of defense is a chiropractic adjustment, which helps resolve misalignments along your spine. By addressing these subluxations along your spine, we relieve the pressure on your pinched nerve.

Another approach is physical therapy (PT), which helps you gain both immediate and long-term relief. PT can help strengthen the surrounding tissues so that they’re less prone to inflammation.

During your chiropractic treatments and physical therapy, we typically recommend that you take nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medications, which can reduce the swelling and take the pressure off your nerve.

We also provide several treatment avenues that can help relieve any primary or secondary pain caused by your pinched nerve, including:

• Joint injections
• Trigger point release
• Myofascial release

As you can see, there are any number of ways in which we can provide relief from your pinched nerve, and we often use them in combination for best results.

To resolve your pinched nerve and get back to moving freely again, contact our office in Fort Worth, Texas, to set up an appointment.