“Cure” is a word that fascinates me.
The reason is because in my experience the people that I have interacted with who have been searching for a cure for their problems often have very different definitions for what the “cure” is.
It’s only when you scratch the surface and dig deeper do you really get to the source of the problem, and that is where I believe the true cure lies.
Can a pinched nerve go away on its own?
Well it really depends on where it is being impinged meaning what is the cause of the pinched nerve.
Think of a pinched nerve as a hose pipe, where the impingement will stop normal nerve flow. The pinched nerve may be impinged along any part of it’s route.
Common symptoms caused by a pinched nerve include pins and needles sensation, shooting pain, weakness and/or tingling.
So you’ve probably seen my videos where I am adjusting my patients and you may wonder “what is actually making that pop sound?”
I’m not actually caring about the sound effects. That’s the least of my worries. It really comes down to the cause. What I’m actually doing is more movement, therefore allowing the body to function normally again, at its optimum, rather than being stuck, and over working in certain areas more than others.
So I’ll be really looking for those joints that are not functioning optimally, that have a bit more stiffness in them or a reduction in range of movement.
When I find those joints, by putting a specific movement through there, it may create a little popping sound often. The reason is because in those joints, if they haven’t been moving for a while, some gas builds up in the joints. Those tissues are still alive so they release gases in the body anyway. So when I put that movement through the joint, some of the gas can get released and it makes a popping sound.
Often that popping sound has been misunderstood, and instead described as a cracking. I get asked “Can you crack my bones?”
Hopefully not! Because if I do crack your bones, that’s technically a fracture.
So by moving those bones we are adjusting the joint thereby improving its range of movement and achieving optimal function.
Now you may often hear some different pops when you’re moving around some cracks and clicks. In those cases it may be due to some tight tendons flicking over a bone. That’s not quite the same as what we often create in our patients. The noise that you hear is often that the popping sound is created from the joints moving, and the gas releasing from between the joints.
But then also when I put a movement through a joint and I don’t hear a pop it doesn’t mean it didn’t work.
The sound is not the important part. What is important is the movement that we have now achieved in that joint, i.e. the function.
I also have some people tell me that tell me they crack their joints themselves.
But you to avoid doing that yourself, because even for me, I can’t, and it’s impossible for me to align or adjust my own joints that need them the most.
It’s impossible for me to actually generate the force required on those stiff joints that needs that movement.
Instead I will often go to see my own colleagues to get adjusted, rather than attempt it myself.
I would encourage you to do the same. If you are trying to adjust yourself, it is not really an adjustment. That movement is likely to go through space or a joint has already got too much movement anyway. So all you are doing in the long term is exacerbating the problem.
I often get asked if I can help someone suffering with a trapped nerve.
In short – YES!
However, how do we know exactly what the “trapped nerve” is?
A lot of people may experience pain, numbness, tingling, pins and needles, loss of power – all these types of symptoms if it is a trapped nerve.
But the real question is where is it being trapped?
Until you find the exact point where the nerve is being trapped, there is no proper way of resolving it. These types of conditions are biomechanical meaning it’s a physical problem, so no tablet, no cream, no drug is going to change the biomechanical challenge of pinch.
To resolve it, there needs to be a physical movement to that area to untrap or unpinch the affected nerve.
I prefer calling it pinched rather than trapped.
It’s very much like when you have lights in a building, to turn a light on that’s in the ceiling, you need to go to a switch on the wall. The reason that works is because we all know there is a wire that goes from the switch to the light communicating what to do. If that wire was pinched somewhere when you go to turn the light on by pressing the switch on the wall, it won’t turn on.
Other causes could be the light bulb itself may need replacing, or the fuse in the fusebox may have been tripped, or there may be a power outage at the mains for the whole street.
That’s just like what happens with our body.
When you look at the spine, the nervous system that is housed inside, and those nerves that exit the spine supply everything in the body.
The nerves in the lower back (lumbar spine) supply the legs
Those nerves in the mid back (thoracic spine) supply most of your organs.
And the nerves in the neck (cervical spine) supply the head and arms.
If you experience any pain, numbness, tingling, loss of power, pins and needles, it may not be a local problem, i.e. where you are experiencing those symptoms. There may be a link back to somewhere else in the spine where the nerves are coming from. Or it may be higher up in the central nervous system.
So until you find that mechanical challenge your body is experiencing on those nerves, no drugs, no tablets, no cream is going to relieve that pressure. Not even some exercises, because they may aggravate the issue if you haven’t dealt with the root cause.
Although there isn’t an exercise that I can give you to relieve a trapped nerve, what I can say with confidence is that it well worth visiting a local professional who specialises, like a chiropractor or an osteopath, in finding the source of your problem.
It’s really important to find the source of the trapped nerve, because only then can you release the pinching of the nerve, allowing the nerve flow to correctly supply the body again.
We have to also consider how long you have had the pinched nerve. Because the longer the nerve has been pinched, the more potential weakness you can get, with regards to the signals into those areas.
Before I treat any patient, or even examine them, we go through a full case history. This helps me find out more information about their symptoms, their health history, their lifestyle goals.
I then will also carefully examine the patient. You can often see in my videos where I treat my patients, that I check which specific level in the spine needs the adjustment, which releases the tension in the joints, the pressure on the nerves, restoring normal nerve function back in the body.
Research has also found that by adjusting a level in the spine that is affecting a nerve supplying a part of the body, that the body then sends messages back to the nervous system, further strengthening the connections – it’s like a complete electrical circuit.
Very similar to your broadband. Although your internet service provider sends the bulk of the data to your building, your modem will fire back little messages letting the ISP know it’s there. So our body is like the building, and the ISP is our nervous system, which are sending messages back and forth to each other.
Like most things, once things are working well, there is always a risk that the pinching may return, or a new injury may occur. Regular check ups reduce the risk of recurrence.
For longer term relief we need to also consider lifestyle choices along side regular maintenance where appropriate.
TRISHUL VADI 