08 Sep What To Do with Nerve-Racking Neuropathy
According to the NIH, an estimated 20 million people live with peripheral neuropathy, or some form of damage to the peripheral nerve system. Nerves help the body to feel and interpret pain. With nerve damage, many patients feel symptoms such as numbness, tingling, weakness and more. Some of these problems stem from chronic conditions, however, there are many causes that have simple fixes as well. At Mile High Spine & Pain Center, we can help find the cause of your neuropathy symptoms and help reduce your symptoms today with our effective treatments. Nerve damage does not have to be nerve-racking or interfere with your life. You can be stronger today and live better with our neuropathy treatments!
Neuropathy: What Is It?
Neuropathy is an umbrella term for damage to the peripheral nerve system. This damage encompasses the nerves of the body that transmit information to your spinal cord and brain. Your body is made up of two primary nervous systems: the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system. The central nervous system consists of the spinal cord and brain, and all the rest of the nerves lie in the peripheral nervous system. This is why neuropathy problems are also referred to as “peripheral neuropathy”. Nerves tell the body when it’s in pain or when something is amiss.
When pressure on a major peripheral nerve blocks its signal, you can end up with a wide variety of seemingly unrelated symptoms. These symptoms can stem from permanent nerve damage or can be the result of daily activities that simply need to be changed (such as your posture).
Symptoms of Neuropathy
With neuropathy, damage generally occurs in the hands and feet, especially with conditions such as diabetes. Patients with diabetes are more prone to have damage to the blood vessels that assist the nerves in sending information to the spinal cord and brain. This can result in numbness and tingling, which are some of the most common symptoms patients experience.
A large portion of patients experience nerve-racking pain that can seriously affect their day-to-day life. Common symptoms include:
- Foot and ankle pain
- Numbness and tingling in the extremities and limbs
- Chronic pain and fatigue
- Stiff neck muscles as well as headaches and migraines
- Weakness or tremors
- Limited range-of-motion
- Inflammation in the knees, calves, shoulders and joints
Serious cases of nerve damage of compression can cause paralyzation, loss of consciousness or breathing problems. That’s why you never want to brush off your symptoms of neuropathy. The cause can be a simple problem with a quick fix, or your symptoms could stem from a serious condition.
Soothing Therapies
There are many causes of neuropathy, but there are also many services that can help improve symptoms. Some of our most effective treatments have been electrostimulation and massage therapy. Patients dealing with permanent damage or chronic conditions that won’t go away often find regular electrostimulation and massage therapy keeps their symptoms under control without medication. What are these services and what can they do for you?
- Electrostimulation – We stimulate the muscles with small doses of electricity that helps them to contract and relax. This contraction helps speed up circulation and sends more nutrient-dense blood flow to the area that is damaged. Better circulation helps to decrease inflammation, which can help relieve pain and pressure on a nerve.
- Massage Therapy – Massage therapy is used extensively for compressed discs and trigger points. Trigger points are nodes or knots of pressure in the muscles that can compress nerves and cause pain, loss of range-of-motion and more. Massage and deep-tissue massage can decompress the areas of tension and help relieve symptoms in just one session.
- Physical Therapy – Physical therapy consists of therapeutic services that seek to heal the body physically. Our therapy encompasses exercises and treatments that work your muscles and helps keep them strong. Physical therapy can help people recovering from injuries and can help strengthen patients who simply want to prevent problems in the first place.
- Chiropractic Care – Chiropractic adjustments and spinal decompression seek to relieve problems with the back that cause pain. We can gently realign the spine and decompress areas of tension and pressure without the use of invasive procedures or narcotic pain management.
- Anti-inflammatory Joint Injections – The pain and inflammation caused by neuropathy can make it hard to move. However, as you go through our treatments, we can provide you soothing pain relief through anti-inflammatory injections. These injections are perfect for helping patients feel soothing pain relief as they work to heal and rehabilitate their bodies. Pain relief lasts several weeks with each injection.
- Nutritional Consultation – Nutritional imbalances or dehydration could be causing your neuropathy symptoms. With some patients, it takes a simple fix in their diet to relieve their symptoms. We have nutritional assessments that can find the nutrients your body lacks and can pinpoint what your body needs to be healthier.
Relieve Your Nerve-Racking Neuropathy
We always seek to find natural solutions to healing that our patients can incorporate into their lives and benefit from without turning to surgery or narcotics. If you have neuropathy pain and symptoms, you can benefit from our specialized treatment plans. We can help you understand where your symptoms are coming from and how you can improve them. To schedule your appointment or for a free consultation, call Mile High Spine & Pain Center today at (720) 507-0080!