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Pinched nerves and how to unpinch it

A pinched nerve can occur at several sites within the human body and usually occurs when there is too much pressure applied to a nerve by surrounding tissues; such as bones, tendons, cartilage and muscles. The nerve may be compressed, stretched or constricted, which results in abnormal pressure, which in turn disrupts the nerve’s normal function and can cause many symptoms. A pinched nerve, for example, a herniated disc in your lower spine which may put pressure on a nerve root resulting in pain radiating down the back of the leg.

As a pinched nerve is most commonly caused by compression of surrounding tissues a number of conditions can contribute to this such as;

  1. Injury
  2. Sporting activities
  3. Rheumatoid arthritis
  4. Stress from repetitive work
  5. Poor posture
  6. Obesity
  7. Carpel tunnel syndrome

The symptoms associated with a pinched nerve include:

  1. Numbness or a decrease in sensation of the area supplied by a particular nerve which is affected (often the leg or arm)
  2. Sharp, aching or burning pain which may radiate outward.
  3. Tingling sensations also known as paraesthesia.
  4. Pins and needles
  5. Constant severe pain
  6. Muscle weakness in affected area

Un-pinching a nerve that has been compressed can provide a huge benefit to the patient as ultimately it reduces/prevents the pain that is occurring. Pain relief can occur by taking pressure of the affected nerve through a chiropractic manipulation/adjustment. A doctor of chiropractic is trained to discover these displacements in your backbone and use their educated fingers to discover and reveal the source of irritation causing the “pinched nerve”.

Other treatment options include a variety of stretches and exercises to strengthen the back or core muscles to decrease pressure on the nerve roots can be prescribed by the chiropractor, Flexion distraction, a decompression technique that requires a specially designed table, to take pressure off your spine/discs and help with alignment, blocking to reduce pressure on nerve and dry needling to reduce tight muscles compressing the nerve. Chiropractic adjustments to open up and free joints to release the pressure off the nerves.

Rest and anti-inflammatories can be another option adopted in the treatment of a pinched nerve if the other conservative care is failing to make a difference. At Lakeside Chiropractic we incorporate all of the techniques as mentioned above and aim at returning you back to normal functioning in the shortest amount of time possible.

Lakeside Chiropractic is located in Joondalup, central to Perth’s Northern Suburbs. We have many visitors from various surrounding suburbs including Kingsley, Wanneroo, Burns Beach, Kallaroo, Beldon, Heathridge, Greenwood and North Beach. We also have on site HICAPS Facilities for all major health insurance providers in addition to being a Medibank Preferred Practitioner and BUPA first provider. We also accept Medicare referrals from General Practitioners. If you are in need of any further information or wish to book an appointment please give us a call on 9300 0095 or check out our website at www.lakesidechiro.com.au.

January 08, 2020
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