Can you Unpinch A Spinal Nerve?

Category: Spine | Author: Stefano Sinicropi

Spinal Retrolisthesis

A pinched nerve can be an extremely painful experience that can bring even the strongest of people to their knees in discomfort. The condition occurs when a spinal nerve becomes pinched between two hard areas, like a disc, vertebrae or bone spur. Once that nerve becomes pinched by these segments, is it possible to “unpinch” the area, or will you need medical intervention? In today’s blog, we explain if it’s possible to unpinch a spinal nerve and the best ways to treat pinched nerves.

Unpinching A Nerve

Once a nerve is pinched, is it possible to unpinch it on your own, or will you need a doctor to step in? While we can’t speak for every single pinched spinal nerve, the good news is that most nerve impingements can be successfully managed without the need for surgery. It will likely benefit you to connect with a spine specialist so that you know exactly where the pinched nerve is located and the best ways to go about freeing the nerve, but you can likely alleviate pain and treat the nerve without surgical intervention.

With that said, it’s not always going to be easy to decompress the nerve. You’re not going to be able to take medication or just lay around and the nerve will magically unpinch. Instead, the most common treatment options for pinched nerve involve a combination of:

  • Exercise
  • Physical Therapy
  • Stretching Techniques
  • Posture Improvements
  • Weight Loss

As you can see, every treatment on that list requires effort, determination and the will to follow through. It’s going to be hard at times, but know that it will be worth it, because you can decompress the nerve.

And as we mentioned above, the best way to ensure you are targeting the right area with the correct exercises is by connecting with a spine specialist like Dr. Sinicropi. He can determine what structures are contributing to the compression, and which actions are most likely to work to free the nerve. Basic exercises and stretches that you find online are alright, but you’ll find more success at a quicker rate if you let a specialist design a decompression plan that is specific to your needs.

Contact a Spine Specialist

As always, we’re more than happy to help you in any way possible. If you want us to provide some recommendations or connect you with a physical therapist in your area, we’d be happy to do so. We want to do everything in our power to help find relief from your pinched nerve, whether that’s with hands-off recommendations or hands-on care.

So if you have been diagnosed with a pinched nerve or all of a sudden you’re dealing with a tingling sensation and weakness in your extremities, know that you can likely treat the problem completely with a set of non-operative exercises. But if the nerve remains pinched and you’re still in a great deal of pain, we can perform a minimally invasive procedure to surgically unpinch the nerve and stabilize the area so that it doesn’t become compressed again. To learn more about how we work to treat pinched nerves, or to set up an appointment with Dr. Sinicropi, give our clinic a call today at (651) 430-3800.

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