Pinched Nerve Treatment in Rome, GA

Is That a Pinched Nerve? Here’s How to Tell

Imagine waking up in the morning and you’re like, “Man, my arm is really numb.” Or maybe you have this pain that shoots in your shoulder blade when you turn your head. Maybe that’s a sign of a pinched nerve. Maybe that isn’t. We hear that all the time in Rome; people are coming in here and they say, “You know, I don’t know, I think I slept wrong, or maybe I pulled my shoulder.” You can’t get away from the pain and it doesn’t even go away from the shoulder area. It just starts showing up elsewhere. That’s kind of the first clue.

A pinched nerve occurs when there’s too much pressure on the nerve root from the structures around it. It could be a bone, it could be a disc, or it could be muscle swelling or even tendons that just get tight. It can be difficult to pinpoint the exact site because a lot of times someone comes in and says, “Hey, I got this shooting pain that travels all the way down to my hand burning in my arm.” When we explain that the source may be from the neck, people don’t make the connection immediately. That’s something we see all the time.

Just because you’re having pain or discomfort, that doesn’t mean you have a pinched nerve. But there are some symptoms that can indicate that there’s more going on, something that we can pick up on quickly with a doctor who’s had many years of practice.

• A shooting or burning pain down the arm or down the leg
• Sensations of “pins and needles” or tingling in the fingertips or toes
• Numbness in an arm, leg, or a certain part of the body
• Weakness in the muscles of an arm or leg
• Pain that’s aggravated when sitting for long periods, coughing, or sneezing

We’re going to get patients coming in with similar descriptions of their symptoms. We often ask people, “Is there any shooting pain, kind of like an electric shock?” That kind of sharp shooting or “pinched nerve feeling” is different from a normal muscle pull.

A lot of people don’t know this, but if you let a pinched nerve go, it can get even worse. It can start off with just a little pain or you’re just going to have that little tingling feeling in your foot. It can go on for years and then all of a sudden you may notice that the numbness won’t go away, maybe you’re starting to have a hard time with walking or you’re having trouble with your grip or your grasp.

According to the Mayo Clinic, chronic pain and permanent nerve damage are potential complications of a pinched nerve [1]. That’s why it’s a problem that’s best to fix, ASAP. But how do you know if you have a pinched nerve? Well, you can’t really know that unless you come into our offices and we run through a series of tests. But it is something that you can pay attention to. If there are certain parts of your body that are numb that are getting worse and worse and it’s not something that’s going to improve, just go to the doctor.

Pinched Nerve Treatment in Rome

When you come in for your first visit, that’s how we start: We’ll talk through your history. Before we go touching your spine, we need to know your pain history, where you’re feeling it, how long it’s been since you started feeling pain and what’s making it worse or better. Many patients who visit us in Rome complain about what they think is a pulled muscle, but they are actually experiencing a pinched nerve within the spine. So, this first step, the initial discussion, is actually pretty important after all.

We follow up the patient’s story with a hands-on exam, looking at their range of motion, reflexes, and looking for areas that are tight and out of position. More often than not, the nerve that’s the problem will be obvious after this first series of tests. If we need a bit closer look though, we’ll take X-rays within our Rome office.

Your exam will typically include the following steps:

• The chiropractor will go over your symptoms and health history with you.
• We do orthopedic and neurological tests to help us identify the problem nerve.
• Posture and spinal alignment will be assessed.
• If our findings suggest them, X-rays will be done.
• We will go over what we found and create a detailed treatment plan.

There will be no guessing and no vague answers, we’ll show you exactly what we see, so that you understand exactly why your body is reacting to its symptoms in the way that it is.

You’ll likely be surprised how quickly the process moves. Your first trip to our Rome office will most likely take around 45 minutes. Depending on the condition we find, we may even perform gentle chiropractic adjustments that same day. However, we don’t want to rush it. In some instances, if a nerve is highly irritated, a better strategy is to begin with cold laser therapy to reduce that irritation before we attempt adjustments.

This happens to us on a regular basis. Someone will walk in a bit uncertain, not exactly sure what to expect, and will leave the office with a sense of understanding they didn’t have an hour ago. That is what we want to accomplish at your first appointment.

The Chiropractic Treatment for a Pinched Nerve

There are no guesses in our Rome office. Every treatment for a pinched nerve starts with a hands-on exam and an honest conversation about what the patient has been feeling. Where does it hurt? When did it begin? Does it get worse sitting, standing, or rotating your head? All of that is relevant.

Once we have identified the problem we’re facing, we create a plan centered on the pinched nerve. This is an example of a typical treatment plan:

• Full spinal assessment and range of motion, reflex, and strength check.
• Identification of the precise location where the nerve is being compressed, whether the neck, middle back, or low back.
• Chiropractic adjustments to bring things back in alignment and decrease the pressure being placed on the nerve.
• Spinal traction to assist if the pinch is persistent, or if it’s linked to a disc problem.
• Exercise therapy, which you can do at home to add to what we’re doing here in the office.
• We will recheck it over a couple of follow-ups and confirm that the nerve is responding well.

Usually a pinched nerve starts calming within the first handful of visits with us. Many here in West Rome will come in barely able to turn their head, then show up two weeks later able to do all their normal stuff. We love to see it.

Cold laser therapy is another tool we use in cases where the nerve keeps getting inflamed. Laser works on the cellular level to accelerate healing without any pain involved. A lot of our patients report very little sensation when it’s being applied, other than feeling better afterward.

Another important thing to note: A pinched nerve will very rarely exist as a single issue. Your posture may not be right, your spine may be out of alignment, or tight muscles may be pulling your spine out of proper form, contributing to the irritation you’re feeling. With that in mind, we tend to treat the patient as a whole, not just the specific area where it hurts. We’ll likely work in chiropractic adjustments with the other treatments we’ve described so that it is not re-irritated once it is healed. Check out all of our services that our chiropractor has to support you.

We do our best here in Rome to tailor treatment options to each patient and get them out of pain as fast as possible. We want them to stay pain-free, not just to wait and see if the pain goes away.

Why Waiting It Out May Make Pinched Nerves Worse

We hear it all the time here. “I thought it would just go away.” Most of the time when someone from the Rome area comes into our office to get some treatment for a pinched nerve, it has been bothering them for weeks or sometimes months.

The issue is that a pinched nerve does not like to be ignored. It is only going to get more inflamed over time and increase inflammation surrounding the area as time passes, and that swelling will increase the pressure on the nerve even further. In short, a pinched nerve will not improve with just rest alone.

The longer the compression goes on, the more the nerve is at risk of developing chronic pain and even permanent damage. We’re not trying to scare you! What starts as a slight tingling in your arm or a dull pain around your shoulder blade can eventually progress to numbness, muscle weakness, or sharp shooting pain that will make it difficult to sleep or even move comfortably.

That is a common trajectory we see with West Rome patients throughout the whole of Rome:

• Mild tingling may lead to numbness in your fingers or toes
• Slight neck pain and stiffness may develop into pain that radiates down your arm
• A sore spot or “tight spot” in your lower back might develop into sciatica shooting down your leg
• Muscular weakness and lack of mobility that make it difficult for you to do simple things like turn your neck or grasp a cup

It’s normal for your body to attempt to compensate. You change the way you sit or sleep to compensate. You lean a little to one side. These compensations then lead to secondary symptoms like muscle imbalances, making a problem that was once simple into two or three problems.

What’s more, the longer you wait, the longer it will take to heal. Some pinched nerves respond quickly, needing only a handful of visits, while those waiting six months will require much more time. If you believe it really isn’t quite that bad just yet, that’s actually the best time to come in. It’s easier to relieve a condition sooner rather than later. Your body has already let you know the nerve has become pinched, so take action now.

How We Help Prevent Pinched Nerves From Returning

Avoiding pain is one thing, while maintaining pain relief is the true goal.

This is what we teach the majority of the patients we treat once their pain has subsided: the nerve has calmed down, however the factors that caused it to become pinched have not disappeared. It could be a change in posture from years of sitting at a desk, or an old injury could have caused your spine to move slightly differently. No matter the cause, pinching the nerve will likely happen again if the root cause isn’t handled. We observe this on a weekly basis: someone begins feeling well for some time but soon falls back into old habits and returns to our office once again with that familiar pain and paresthesia traveling down their arm.

This is what does work toward long-term prevention:

• Rehabilitation exercises to condition the muscles supporting the problematic area
• Posture reconditioning to lower the daily stress placed on your spine
• Regular wellness care to address small misalignments as they arise
• Easy exercises and stretches you can do at home daily

None of these is difficult, yet it does take commitment. Those in Rome that remain pain-free do so by adhering to exercise plans and visiting our office every other week initially and then monthly.

You wouldn’t stop brushing your teeth after a cavity is filled.

Your lifestyle is just as important. Those patients who live in West Rome and commute long distances have more emphasis placed on maintaining mobility of the neck and upper back. Those with physically active occupations must work on maintaining core strength. We create a preventive program that is relevant to your daily activity.

What actually works best for long-term adherence? Once the irritation is lifted from the pinched nerve and you’re moving freely, you have no desire to return to your old ways. Your own experience speaks more loudly than any message we can offer, and once your chiropractor shows you how to maintain these results, you become more responsible in the process. If a problem flares up again later, you will be aware of the steps necessary to handle them and how to contact your chiropractor immediately.