Nerve pain of any sort can be a real killer. If you’ve ever known someone that suffered from sciatica (or a similar nerve condition) or suffer with it yourself, you’ve seen how badly it can work its way into every nook and cranny of your life. You can’t move without pain. You can’t sleep properly because of pain. You sit down, pain. Stand up, pain. Everywhere you look, it’s just pain. What the heck are you supposed to do?
At Living Well Medical, my practice (it's a pain relief center in NYC), we see patients with nerve problems all the time. It’s not uncommon under certain circumstances. Trauma like in traffic accidents can cause spinal discs to tear and herniate. A herniated disc is just one way that people find themselves suffering from sciatica. Age and level of activity play a role in spinal health too, of course, but injuries will often catalyze the actual pain. Nerve pain of this sort can be described as a burning sensation that may radiate to other areas of the body like the legs and buttocks; the lower back isn’t going to be the only part that hurts necessarily.
Once we’ve determined that the source of pain is indeed related to a nerve problem like impingement or sciatica (technology like EMG and NCV is used for this purpose as well as MRI’s and x-rays), we put together a plan to get you back on track. Your personalized plan often includes elements like spinal decompression therapy as a portion of multidisciplinary rehabilitation. Spinal decompression therapy is a potent therapeutic technology that works to relieve pain associated with disc-related nerve pain like sciatica. In concert with other non-surgical treatments, we have seen patients make massive improvements in range of motion, quality of life and, really, overall wellness. Combining spinal decompression with important measures like physical therapy and postural training to try and prevent re-injury is also commonly part of a plan. This varies, of course, from patient to patient as needs will differ greatly.
Nerve pain is a major issue, but with the right help, lots of people can get better without surgery and without pain medication, and that’s a big deal. If you are hurting, give my office a call today at (212) 645-8151 and make an appointment to come in and see us.
- Dr. Shoshany, NYC Chiropractor
