How A Nerve Gets Irritated

Whenever someone experiences pain shooting down a leg or arm their first question is what is this coming from. It can be scary, being unsure of why this is happening to you. I understand that fear and can hopefully explain it a bit better. Typically it is a spine issue and a sign that a nerve is being agitated causing radiating symptoms. There are only a handful of ways that the nerve could be irritated and we need to figure out which one it

is so we can make it better. Once we deal with the nerve irritation, then you will begin to experience relieved pain. These can be chronic conditions or acute.

1. Compression - squeezing of the nerve can cause pain to shoot down a limb. This can come from disc herniations or muscles entrapments. This is something we treat in the office with hands on treatment. 

2. Pulling - The nerve can get tight after poor healing from a previous injury and not allow movement. This is also something we treat in the office

3. Chemical - the nerve can be inflamed causing pain. This can happen for a few days after an acute injury or if this is a longer standing inflammatory issue. This usually does well with medication from your doctor. 

4. Temperature - outside of burning a nerve in a surgical setting this is unlikely

5. Behavioral - If you expect something to hurt then it probably will. Even if an injury has healed you can still get some nerve pain if you are expecting it. This can respond well to movement therapy. 

Figuring out which category you fall into can help decide who can help you the most. Then an exam can help get down to the specific mechanism and start to treat your pain. Some level of manual therapy can help depending on the reason for the irritation. As the nerve begins to feel better you will notice less pain, significant relief and increased mobility. If one of these sounds like you then reach out and schedule a professional and kind evaluation or phone consult.