Neuropathies are incredibly common. Often they present as aching pain, tingling or numbness in the arms, hands, feet and legs, as well as in patches around the spine. A lot of the time they get fancy names; thoracic outlet syndrome, piriformis syndrome, pronator terms syndrome (a lot of syndromes) but really they’re just compression/irritation of a nerve that causes specific pain, numbness or tingling.
As mentioned before, neuropathies occur when nerves outside of the spinal cord are compressed, inflamed or damaged in any way. This is why when googling neuropathy, the results are generally very broad in their definitions. Tingling, numbness or pain can occur just about anywhere in the body as a result of a neuropathy, however the most common forms are generally due to compression.
The most common forms of neuropathies we deal with are:
Thoracic outlet syndrome (compression of a nerve deep in the shoulder)
Carpal tunnel (compression of a nerve in the wrist)
Pronator teres syndrome (compression of the medial median nerve at the elbow)
Cubital tunnel syndrome (compression of the ulna nerve at the elbow)
Meralgia paresthetica (tingling at the outer thigh)
Get ready for a frustrating answer; yes and no. The referred pain from a disc bulge works in a similar way. The disc compresses a nerve root as it exits the spine creating pain away from the spine. These are mostly different in the way they are managed. Discs require time, exercise and treatments that promote space for the disc to become less inflamed and eventually move back toward the disc space they initially bulged out from (yes. Disc bulges can go back on their own!). Neuropathies however are often managed by treating the site where the pain actually is.
Except in cases of extreme trauma (nerves actually being damaged in an accident or during surgery) there is usually associated weakness, range of motion deficits and often postural issues that lead to the compression/irritation. Their will be hands-on treatment to reduce the amount of local inflammation the nerve is causing, as well as exercise and mobility work to improve anything that led to overuse of whatever regions led to the neuropathy in the first place.
These types of conditions can be initally approached by any of our practitioners, however Matt our Myotherapist and Dr. Jack our Chiropractor are probably the best first step.
So if you’d like to make a booking today, simply book an appointment here or use the contact form below if you have any more questions 🙂
All of the team here at Rock Therapy are avid rock climbers and train regularly. So we know firsthand all about muscle strains, joint and ligament pain and all types of injuries. Your treatment will be tailored specifically to your body, your injury and the pain you’re experiencing. No standard treatments here, we’ll also listen to your problems. So! If you want to get back to work, sport or just living without pain, Rock Therapy can help, click the “Book Now” button below.
