Get the Most Out of Non-Surgical Treatments to Reduce Nerve Pain

Cervical radiculopathy is also known as a pinched nerve. It occurs when a nerve in your neck gets compressed or irritated. The cervical pain is sharp and burning that happens when you move your neck in a certain way, such as while extending or straining it. Are you wondering what the reason for neck nerve pain is? Then read further to know about its causes as well as non-surgical treatment options:

Causes of cervical radiculopathy:

Degenerative changes: As the disks in the spine age, they lose height and begin to bulge. Disks also lose water content and begin to dry out, becoming stiffer. It can cause settling or collapse of the disk spaces and loss of disk space height. Moreover, as the disk loses height, the vertebrae move closer together. The body responds to the collapsed disk by forming more bone called bone spurs around the disk to strengthen it. The bone spurs cause the spine’s stiffening, narrowing the opening on each side of the spinal column that compresses the nerve root.

Herniated disk: A disk herniates when its center, known as the nucleus, pushes against its outer ring. If the disk is worn or injured, the nucleus might get squeezed all the way through, and when the herniated disk bulges out towards the spinal canal, it pressures the nerve root to cause pain and weakness.

Injury: Another reason for neck nerve pain is a ruptured disc, perhaps due to trauma. Discs often get herniated with bending, lifting, or twisting. A herniated disk then compresses and inflames the nerve root.

Symptoms of cervical radiculopathy:

The symptoms of cervical radiculopathy can radiate down from your neck to any combined body parts such as shoulders, arms, chest, and upper back. It only affects one side of your body, for example, your right arm. Here are the symptoms that you are going to experience:
• Pain
• Numbness
• Tingling or pins and needles feeling
• Muscle weakness
• Weakened reflexes

Diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy:

At first, the physician will ask about your medical history and general health. After that, about your symptoms, your doctor will examine your neck, shoulder, arms, and hands to check the signs of muscle weakness, loss of sensation, or any change in your reflexes. Then you must go through x- rays, CT scans, and MRI scans for disease confirmation.
How do you treat nerve pain in the neck? If you are into this, you need to know that cervical radiculopathy improves with time, but sometimes the pain can be unbearable. To resolve that, you can start with non-surgical treatment options.

Non-Surgical Treatment of Cervical Radiculopathy:

Cervical collar: You can wear a soft cervical collar that will allow your neck muscles to rest and limit neck motion. It can help decrease the compression or the pinching of the nerve that reflects the movement of your neck. It is recommended to wear this for a short period since long-term wear may decrease the strength of the muscles in your neck.

Physical therapy: Some exercises, gentle traction, and mobilization can relieve your pain and help strengthen your neck muscles and improve your range of motion.

Medications & injections: You can use anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen and naproxen to help relieve your pain caused by nerve irritation or inflammation. Moreover, you can also use a steroid injection registered near the affected nerve to reduce inflammation.

Massage: Massage is proven to be a great way to improve many types of neck and shoulder pain, which is the reason why people have neck pain often seek out to have a massage. as pinched nerves are often caused by pressure on the nerve by joints, muscles or other structures. Muscle tension and inflammation are a cause of this pressure. Massage is an excellent way of relieving inflammation, thus treating nerve pain in the neck. You can also use massage devices or tools available in the market.

Hopefully, you got the answer to how can you permanently relieve cervical pain. As Cervical radiculopathy can be uncomfortable to live with, it is better to start the treatment. With the help of above mentioned non-surgical option, you can easily treat your condition at home.