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Pinched Nerve and Chiropractic

Ask the Chiropractor- Pinched nerve and chiropractic

Chiropractic care has been helping with pinched nerves since the profession started.  Chiropractors seek out helping this by attacking the cause.  First there is an injury that creates inflammation.  Since inflammation is painful, we tend to lean away from it.  Second is the posture change to avoid the pain from the inflammation.  Thirdly this results in extra stress to the joints.  Finally this extra stress will then effect the nerve from the joint and now there in a pinched nerve.

Disc

The disc between the two bones can often be the problem.  If you have inflammation, you will lean away from the swelling.  This will add more weight to one side of the disc.  Your disc are like sacks of gel.  If you squeeze one side of the sack the other side will swell out, or bulge.  As a result, on MRI this will be called a disc bulge or herniation.  This disc will now create stress on the exiting nerve.  This is one form of what people refer to as a pinched nerve.

Facet Joint

The disc makes up one side of the whole the nerve exits, the facet joint it the other side.  Here we have a small joint but can still be a major cause as well.  This joint is about the size of half a dime.  When the pain is in the neck, this joint is usually why.  There is a joint capsule around this joint.  First when you stretch or turn wrong you stress the capsule.  Secondly if the capsule is stretched out, you can pinch the capsule inside the joint.  Thirdly, this will create inflammation at the facet joint.  Next, this inflammation create stress.  Just like before, this stress will effect the outgoing nerve.  Now the nerve is upset and you will have your pinched nerve.

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