A pinched nerve occurs when an object, or a part of the body, compresses a nerve and interferes with the nerve’s ability to function properly. This pressure can cause a variety of symptoms, including pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, soreness, stiffness, and can even affect your organs and glands.
The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord, while the peripheral nervous system consists of over 100 million nerve fibers. These nerve fibers have three main functions.
The first function is to send signals from the brain to the muscles to contract and relax. This could be telling your shoulder when to fire in order to throw a baseball. It could be telling your leg to move quickly so that you don’t fall.
The second function is to send signals from the muscle and joint receptors back to the brain and spinal cord. These fibers are telling the brain and spinal cord where the body is in space. These fibers can also sense things like pressure, texture, heat, and cold.
The third function is to monitor and control your organs and glands. It could be telling your heart to beat faster while you exercise. It could be telling your adrenal glands to release adrenaline when you are in a threatened situation. These functions are monitored automatically without having to think about it.
A chiropractor’s role is to take pressure off of the nerves and allow the nerves to function properly. By affecting the nerves, chiropractic adjustments can have a multitude of effects, including reducing pain, reducing tension, improving immune function, improving coordination, improving balance, improving digestion, balancing hormones, and helping you focus better.
$49 New Patient Special
First visit includes a consultation, case review, careful exam, X-rays (if necessary) and initial adjustment. Second visit includes a doctor’s report of findings, care plan recommendations, and treatment if you decide to move forward. Not valid with any other offers or promotions. Restrictions apply. Must mention this coupon at the time of scheduling.
How Our Care Protocol Works
First, we perform a thorough chiropractic exam and x-rays to determine exactly where the lack of proper movement is in your spine and which specific vertebrae need to be addressed.
Second, we restore proper motion to your spine and take stress off of the nerve by performing biomechanically and neurologically correct chiropractic adjustments.
Third, we teach you specific exercises to strengthen and stabilize your spine. These exercises are carefully designed to get you great results and NOT aggravate your condition.
Fourth, as clinically indicated, we perform non-surgical spinal decompression to take pressure off of the disc and off of the nerve giving you relief like you haven’t felt in years!
How We Treat A Pinched Nerve In Centennial, CO
Comprehensive Consultation and Exam
At Lovett Family Chiropractic, we start with a thorough consultation, which enables us to get to know you and what might be causing your pinched nerve. It’s essentially a fact-finding mission. We find out how long it has been going on, what makes it better, what makes it worse, what you have tried that didn’t work, what it feels like, and if it radiates up your head, down your neck, up your back, down your back, around your ribs, or into your arms or legs, etc.
Most importantly, we discuss what would change or improve if we could eliminate your pain. Learning about your symptoms and goals is very important because it puts everything into perspective. Most people can deal with or ignore a high amount of pain caused by a pinched nerve. They might even take pills to mask the pain. What they can’t deal with is how it affects their lifestyle. They want to be doing the things they enjoy with the people that they care about. They never want to feel limited, and we do everything that we can to help them live a life without limits
Digital X-rays
Our next step is to take digital spinal X-rays. These are high-frequency X-rays that use very little radiation. We can analyze your X-rays during your initial visit to determine how the alignment of your spine might be causing your symptoms. These X-rays also show us the condition of your spine. They show us how much decay and degeneration has taken place over your lifetime. Understanding decay and degeneration is helpful because it informs us about the extent of damage in your spine and how long it will likely take to see improvements.
Specific Chiropractic Care in Centennial, Colorado
There are several modalities that we may use to treat your pinched nerve. First, there are specific chiropractic adjustments. During the course of your consultation, exam, and X-rays, we are working to identify the problem vertebrae. We recognize the vertebrae which are stuck and not moving as well as they should. These are called subluxations. The only way to correct subluxations is with specific chiropractic adjustments.
The adjustments are relatively gentle and may involve Dr. Lovett using his hands to make the adjustments, or he may use an instrument called the Impulse. These adjustments help the spine move more easily, allowing the nervous system to function optimally. When your nervous system functions properly, typically the pain from your pinched nerve will decrease in frequency and intensity. You will feel better and be able to function better.
The adjustments that we perform in our office are precise. Many other providers will do everything they can to get a “pop” out of your neck or back. That pop feels good because it releases endorphins. However, if it is not performed biomechanically and neurologically correctly, it can cause further damage to the spine. Rather than causing damage to the discs by applying excessive force in the incorrect direction, which can be likened to wringing out a wet towel, our adjustments are precise and target the exact vertebra that is subluxated. This is more akin to folding a shirt with clean fold lines.
Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression
In certain situations, we recommend Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression (NSSD). NSSD is an excellent modality and can provide tremendous relief in a variety of conditions related to a pinched nerve, including bulging discs, herniated discs, numbness, tingling or weakness in the arms or legs, neuritis, neuropathy, radiculitis, radiculopathy, muscle spasms, spondylolisthesis, spinal stenosis, and the list goes on.
NSSD can be performed on the cervical or lumbar spine to provide incredible relief from a pinched nerve. We set you up by having you lie on a specialized table that has an attachment for your neck or low back. We adjust the table so that the machine is pulling your neck or back at the correct angle. We set the parameters of the protocol that will work best for your situation. We start the machine and it gently pulls on your neck or back. This creates a decompression effect in the spinal disc.
NSSD works by creating a negative pressure in the disc. By pulling on the neck or back at a specific angle, we can target the particular disc that is causing your symptoms. We think of NSSD like an accordion. When you pull an accordion apart, it creates a negative pressure, which causes air to flow into the accordion. We are doing the same thing, but instead of air, we are providing hydration, nutrition, and oxygen to the disc, allowing it to heal.
Custom Therapeutic Exercise Plan
Lastly, everyone’s care plan includes specific exercises to help strengthen and stabilize the spine. These are not the most challenging exercises in the world, but they are essential in helping to provide strength and stability to the spine. The exercises we provide to our patients are designed not to aggravate their symptoms, but rather to strengthen and stabilize the spine in a way that allows it to handle future adverse stresses.
Common Causes Of A Pinched Nerve in Centennial, CO
Subluxation
Chiropractors are the only health professionals trained to diagnose and treat subluxations. Subluxations occur when a joint, commonly in the spine, doesn’t move properly. This irritates the nerves, which can lead to symptoms. Subluxations are a structural problem which commonly results in neurological symptoms, like pain. The best way to treat this structural problem is with a structural solution: chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractic adjustments restore normal spinal movement, which allows the nerves to work properly again.
Bulged and Herniated Disc
Our spinal discs sit between each of our vertebrae to provide a cushion between the spinal bones. The discs consist of a gel-like center and a fibrous outer layer. As the discs wear down, this outer layer can tear and the gel-like center can ooze out. This pushes on the nearby nerve root, pinching it and disrupting its function. It takes the weight of a dime to change how well a nerve functions. Decompression therapy creates a negative pressure in the disc, which allows hydration, nutrition, and oxygen to reach the disc. These nutrients are necessary for the disc to heal.
Arthritis
Damaged joints are more susceptible to injury, especially when they have lost cartilage and lubrication. In addition to causing joint pain, arthritis can cause pinched nerve symptoms, neck pain, and back pain. When the spine is damaged due to arthritis or injuries, the vertebrae can rub together to cause a pinched nerve. It can also cause an abnormal curvature of the spine, leading to pinched nerves.
Check Out Our Location Near You
12201 E Arapahoe Rd B10, Centennial, CO 80112
Frequently Asked Questions About Pinched Nerve
Is a chiropractor good for a pinched nerve?
Absolutely! Chiropractors get incredible results with pinched nerves. They can provide short-term relief from pinched nerves, as well as long-term stability to prevent pinched nerves in the future.
Can a chiropractor make a pinched nerve worse?
While not impossible, this would be a very rare case. The vast majority of the time, patients who seek chiropractic care for a pinched nerve are going to experience tremendous relief from their chiropractic visits. Chiropractors are the most highly trained professionals to deal with pinched nerves and only on very rare occasions make a pinched nerve worse.
How do chiropractors know where to adjust a pinched nerve?
By performing a thorough consultation, examination, and usually X-rays, chiropractors know where to, and how to, properly adjust your spine so that you can get the best results.
How long does it take for a pinched nerve to heal?
This can depend on a variety of factors, like what the root cause is and how long it has been going on. It is also important to identify daily activities that might be exacerbating your pinched nerve.
How often should you see a chiropractor?
At first, if you are having some type of symptoms like a pinched nerve, you may need to see the chiropractor a few times a week, because it takes time and repetition to make improvements. Once you get to a truly stabilized condition, it will likely be less often. Some patients don’t have pain, but know that they overall feel their best if they are getting adjusted once every week or two. Some people prefer to spread it out a bit more, but, just like brushing your teeth, it’s important to maintain the health of your spine with regular tune-ups.
What happens if you let a pinched nerve go untreated?
If a pinched nerve is left untreated, or treated incorrectly, it can lead to serious problems. An untreated pinched nerve becomes harder and harder to fix over time. It is important to listen to your body anytime it is trying to tell you there is a problem, just like the check engine light on your dashboard. You need to address it before it causes irreparable damage.
$49 New Patient Special
First visit includes a consultation, case review, careful exam, X-rays (if necessary) and initial adjustment. Second visit includes a doctor’s report of findings, care plan recommendations, and treatment if you decide to move forward. Not valid with any other offers or promotions. Restrictions apply. Must mention this coupon at the time of scheduling.