Dr.Reilly a Chippewa Falls Chiropractor describes
do I have a pinched nerve?
Diagnosing a pinched nerve is a very difficult thing to do without proper education and testing. In general, if you are having Neck Pain, Shoulder Pain, Arm Pain, Numbness and Tinling, pain going down the arm, or pain going down the leg most doctors and patients jump to the conclusion of a pinched nerve. I don’t know why we are so hard on the nerves especially considering that they are the actual lifelines of our body. We always seem to jump to conclusions and blame them for everything. More often than not or nerves our simply trying to tell us that something is wrong. I never recommend for anyone to take pain medications not because I enjoy seeing people in pain but because pain is a signal to us and whoever is examining you about what is going on in the body. If you simply mask the pain with pain medicine then you are covering up the clues to the actual problem. If you are truly wondering if you have a PINCHED NERVE then I would recommend having a professional check things out. However, if you are looking to do some self diagnosis then I would recommend trying these things:
- Review your symptoms do you have Numbness and Tinling?
- Try some easy at home tests like moving your head from side to side and then your shoulder forward and back and if you can make the pain worse or stimulate the Numbness and Tinling again you are coming up with something?
- Observe yourself…Do you see any swelling or redness?
•If you answered yes to these things then you likely have a pinched nerve, Great Work. Now for the bad news what are you going to do about it. Really you only have a few options.
- Do Nothing – Research shows that a large portion of people that do nothing in 3 months will not be experiencing pain anymore. The only issue with this is that your body typically adapts to pain and even if the pain disappears you likely still have problems which means that you basically threw a newspaper over the spilled milk.
- Pain Medication – Pain medicine like Tylenol, Aleve, Ibuprofen, and Aspirin can remove a lot of symptoms. As described earlier this isn’t the best solution, because your body typically adapts to pain and even if the pain disappears you likely still have problems which means that you basically threw a newspaper over the spilled milk.
- Physical Medicine / Chiropractic – Chiropractic care is another option however be weary when choosing from Chippewa Falls Chiropractors because they all treat differently. The same way mechanics, dentists, and hair stylists all have different methods some are just better than others. Check out Google Reviews and testimonials.
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