As a chiropractor I see many different presentations of pain every day in my office. And while many cases present with the most typical kinds of pain associated with musculoskeletal injuries (dull, achy and tight pain) often patients present with symptoms that immediately make me suspect a more severe nerve injury as well.

Injuries causing dull, aching pain indicates muscle injury. Since many muscles attach directly to the vertebrae in the spine treating them is important to insure proper healing of the area involved. However, when a patient presents with one of the major 3 types of nerve pain things can escalate quickly if the condition is not treated promptly.

The big 3 types of nerve pain are

Burning Pain

Numb/Tingling Pain

Shooting Pain

When one or more of these types of pain is present it usually means that a nerve exiting the spine is being pinched by a vertebra that is out of alignment.  Have you ever hit you “funny bone”? What happened is you hit your unprotected ulnar nerve and the weak, numb burning feeling you experience is the result of direct nerve injury. The same thing happens in the spine when nerve tissue is compressed by a subluxation (bone out of place).

The good news is that these conditions are readily treatable with chiropractic care since chiropractic adjustments gently move the problematic joint back into its proper alignment.  This usually must be repeated several times as the muscle tissue needs time to heal and will usually pull the bone back out somewhat but typically the problem resolves quickly with appropriate care.

Nerve injury is significant not only because of the pain it causes but also because the nerves do not only go to muscles.  They also go to the organs as well.  If you have a subluxation bad enough that you are experiencing one of the 3 types of pain above rest assured, it is affecting the organ associated with those nerves as well.  An example of this I see often is the nerves exiting the middle back go the stomach.  I see some patients simply to make their stomach stop hurting because whenever their mid back is out, they experience upset stomach and increased stomach acid.

Getting the spine adjusted not only gets rid of pain. It also helps the whole-body work better.  Since some degree of degeneration occurs when a subluxation persists for more than a month or two regular adjusting is also recommended to make sure the spine ages gracefully thereby preventing many of the symptoms listed above.

*To make an appointment call either my Glenwood City or 4 Corners office or message the clinic on Facebook.