What You Need To Know About Radiating Pain

While there can be many factors that play into what is causing your radiating pain, one thing is for sure, it is a problem you don’t want to live with. If you have radiating pain, you should be concerned. If left untreated conditions like sciatica and carpal tunnel may get worse, or it could be a sign of more serious disc complications.  It is vital that you receive proper evaluation and care for the specific cause of your radiating pain.  So why does radiating pain start in the first place and what can you do about it?

Radiating pain is caused from an interference of nerves.  Nerves exit the spinal cord and travel into the arms, hands, legs, and feet.  These nerves “floss” between muscles and other structures with movement.  When nerves are adhered to these structures, compressed, or impinged the nerves are not allowed to floss freely. Sometimes this leaves you with the feeling of being “tight.” This is when the pain can begin.

Commonly, impingement or compression of the nerve will be the result of a disc bulge or herniation, spinal misalignment, or narrowing of the spinal canal (stenosis).  Injury to muscles and ligaments can also cause inflammation that irritates nerve roots.  This irritation may also lead to radiating pain.  

Another reason that radiating pain may occur, that most practitioners do not realize, is adhesion.  Adhesion can be found anywhere along where a nerve comes into contact with a another structure, like a muscle.  This can build up from repetitive motion, prolonged position, or trauma. These adhesions prevent the nerve from moving freely and can also compress the nerve.  This is extremely common and often under diagnosed in cases of radiating pain.

As mentioned earlier, a proper evaluation and diagnosis is needed to find the exact cause of your pain, through orthopedic and neurological examination, as well as, functional movement screens and palpation.  In some cases, imaging may be required like an x-ray or MRI to further assess the condition of the patient.

The key to treating radiating pain is to pinpoint the source of pain.  Sometimes treatment may consist of several different therapies.  Very rarely will surgery be needed to treat radiating pain, but may be the only option in cases of disc herniation.  Many studies have confirmed the efficacy of chiropractic care in alleviating radicular pain through the restoration of spinal alignment. Chiropractic treatment can reduce pressure on impinged nerves and allow the restricted nerves and body to heal.  Strength exercises and proper nutrition and supplementation may help to speed up the recovery time.

If you would like more information about radiating pain and what you can do about, call our office at 319-423-0925, or visit our website.