Can a Chiropractor Help With a Pinched Nerve?
A pinched nerve is a condition most people face at some point in life. Some people believe they need a surgical procedure to release the pinched nerve, but this isn’t always the case. One of the primary treatments for a pinched nerve is chiropractic adjustment. But people ask, can a Chiropractor help with a pinched nerve? Yes! A chiropractor can help with this and many other conditions. Let us look at what exactly is a pinched nerve, how it happens, and how a chiropractor can fix it.
What is a Pinched Nerve?
A pinched nerve is simply a compressed nerve. Surrounding tissues press on the nerve, causing pain, numbness, and tingling in various body areas. To explain further, a pinched nerve happens when tissues such as muscles, tendons, bones, or cartilage apply too much pressure to the nerve roots.
Your body uses nerves to send signals from the brain throughout the body. Moto signals leave the brain and travel down the spinal cord, following the nerve paths to their final destination. Next, the sensory commands come from outside the body and travel through the spinal cord and back to the brain for processing. The long nerves can get pinched, trapped, or compressed along the way.
What Causes Pinched Nerve?
In most cases, a compressed nerve is caused by a herniated disk that slips in the spinal cord between the vertebrae and presses on the spinal nerve going down the leg. Most pinched nerve cases originate in the upper back, neck, or lower back.
Other conditions can cause bone or tissue to compress, causing pinched nerve symptoms. They include:
- Aging
It leads to wear and tear on the spine and its discs. Over time, the spinal discs might lose their water content and flatten. The bones in the spinal cord (vertebrae) then move close together. As a result, the body responds by forming bone growths or spurs, which can compress the nerve.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
It causes severe joint inflammation that might pressure the surrounding nerves, causing a pinched nerve.
- Injury
An accident or sudden sports injury can also result in a pinched nerve. Abnormal pulling, lifting, or twisting movements might cause a herniated disk, resulting in a pinched nerve.
- Repetitive Motion Tasks
A good example is spending too much time typing on a keyboard. It can cause stress in your hands and wrists, which might result in carpal tunnel syndrome. This is tendon inflammation, which pressures the median nerve in the arm.
- Obesity
Excess weight can lead to swelling of the nerve pathway, which puts extra pressure on the nerves.
- Diabetes
High sugar levels in your body damage the nerves. It weakens the capillaries supplying oxygen and blood to the nerves.
Can a Chiropractor Help With a Pinched Nerve?
Yes! A chiropractor can help fix a pinched nerve through chiropractic adjustments. A professional chiropractor deeply understands the body and the central nervous system. Chiropractors intimately understand the spine and all its movement. They know where to apply pressure and how much pressure to reduce pain, relieve tension and quicken your recovery.
One might be tempted to consider medication alone for a pinched nerve. While it is not unusual, it only helps mask the pain. Chiropractic adjustments for a pinched nerve help address the root cause of the problem.
The results are outstanding when a chiropractor uses chiropractic care for a pinched nerve. It is a natural and holistic way to help release pressure from the nerves. The body loves healing itself naturally. The chiropractor only helps it do its job by doing chiropractic movements to relieve pressure.
Why Consider Chiropractic Adjustment For A Pinched Nerve
- Pinched Nerve Experts
Chiropractors study the spine and spend a lot of time learning about the effects of the spine on the nervous system. When doing chiropractic adjustments, the aim is to remove any nerve compression in the body. When you have pinched nerve symptoms, the chiropractor can diagnose it accurately through a physical evaluation. This helps them determine the affected nerves and the parts of the spine that might be adjusted to help relieve pinched nerve pain.
- Chiropractic Care is Natural
Chiropractic adjustment for a pinched nerve is a natural, healthy and conservative way to allow the body to heal. With chiropractic care, you won’t be put through surgeries or any harmful treatment for a pinched nerve. It involves gentle adjustments that release the pressure and let the body do its job.
- Addresses The Root Cause Of The Problem
This is one reason most people believe when you say a chiropractor can fix a pinched nerve. Because they identify the affected nerve and use spinal manipulation to help ease or remove the compression. A chiropractor makes an adjustment that helps return a misaligned bone, muscle or joint that might be causing a pinched nerve to its proper position.
- A Chiropractor Does More Than Adjustment
On top of chiropractic care and adjustments, the chiropractor uses different treatment methods to achieve greater results. They can incorporate physical therapy to help strengthen the affected muscles and guide you on exercises to do at home for your treatment for pinched nerve.
Chiropractors are well suited to treat pinched nerves for a range of reasons. They have deep knowledge of the musculoskeletal system and the central nervous system. This helps them diagnose and treat issues like nerve compression. In addition to treating the problem at hand, they go the extra mile and provide a more enhanced approach by identifying and addressing the root cause of the pinched nerve.