Nerve Irritation or Nerve Pain

Scroll down to see the dos and don’ts with nerve irritation at the bottom of this page.

What is Nerve Irritation?

• Nerve irritation, also known as nerve gliding restriction or nerve pain is a condition whereby a nerve becomes irritated by adjacent muscle/joint structures/swelling/blood etc, most often this is at the most sensitive point where the nerves exit your spine at your neck or your lower back, call the nerve root. It’s often referred to as sciatica, pinched nerve, or radiculopathy.

• There are 2 parts to the nervous system–the hardware and the software

• The hardware is the brain, spine, and its branches–which are all one organ. The branches are similar to electrical cables, they CANNOT stretch. Any tension at the end of the cables (with straightening out elbows, hands, knees and feet) creates a pull and gliding of the nerve all the way to the spinal cord

• The software is the neuroscience–the programming which controls the firing of muscles which protect the hardware when nerve irritation is present

What are the symptoms of Nerve Irritation?

• Aches, pains, tightness and stiffness persist even after days of rest, stretches, exercises, avoiding painful movements etc.

• Stretching and warming up for exercise initially feels kind of good, but ~2 hours later or the next day the pain is just the same or worse

• It is commonly known that nerve irritation can cause symptoms such as radiating pain down the arm or the leg, numbness, and pins & needles

• What is NOT commonly known is that nerve irritation often blocks the effective recovery for any musculoskeletal or sports pain, stiffness or injury... with or without radiating symptoms

• In mild cases of nerve irritation, there are no symptoms that traditionally indicate the nerve gliding needs to be tested. But, the irritation still blocks the effective recovery of muscle, joint, tendon, and ligament pains

• The software of the nervous system (neuroscience) is programmed to prioritise protecting nerves above all else–effective healing of a structure like a muscle is a lower priority

The solution? | How is it fixed?

• The key is to get nerve gliding TESTED in the neck, arms and legs. It takes less than 2 minutes for a skilled practitioner. At Youngify we do this for every client to ensure we do not miss anything

• Often, clients with NO traditional ‘nerve symptoms’ actually HAVE nerve irritation when tested

• When nerves glide and muscles fire around the spine (grab) to protect then this shows the problem. The position of nerve gliding movement where muscle firing starts is an accurate and repeatable baseline measure

• For most rapid results most nerve irritation requires specific manual therapy release from a registered health practitioner with advanced training in specific nerve release techniques

• Advanced, gentle, painless, sensitive manual therapy releases often make improvements instantly during an appointment–as shown in the videos below

• Nerve stretches, slides and glides, or pain education are not very effective–as you may have already figured out–and can actually make the problem worse soon after

• When nerves glide and NO muscles fire around the spine (grab) to protect then this shows the NO nerve irritation is present

• We can then focus on the problem solving of any remaining symptoms in muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons

1Hall, T.M. & Elvey, R.L. (1999) Nerve trunk pain: physical diagnosis and treatment. Manual Therapy Masterclass, 4(2), 63-73

What can I do?

With common text-book approaches, nerve root irritation is problematic to deal with because it usually doesn’t usually follow the standard rules of normal treatment to most effectively resolve the condition, so self-treatment is limited.

1. While the nerve irritation is present the best you can do is to prevent aggravating activities that further irritate.  Specific details about the prevention of aggravation are described below

2. For severe pain, ask your doctor in case they think Lyrica medication might be helpful in the short-term

3. After the nerve root irritation has been fixed you can prevent recurrence by looking after the Main Problem by preventing re-accumulation of strain to that body part.  This is the reason why the nerves got aggravated in the first place.  In most cases, this requires a change in postural habits and improvements in muscle control.  Youngify practitioners are trained to help you with this

4. If manual therapy treatment isn't helping quickly then we guide you to other investigations, such as an MRI scan, as lack of progress is often an indicator of structural or pathology problems

The sooner you get good treatment the sooner you can be back to your activities.

For most cases, until the nerve irritation is fixed, the following rules apply

For severe nerve irritation–e.g. where sleep is interrupted because the pain is so bad:

• NO stretching

• NO exercise, or limited exercise as guided by your Ridgway Method practitioner

• DO NOT sit for longer than necessary, change positions as frequently as practical

• DO NOT use the arm or leg in a stretched-out position ie. no feet-up while sitting, no striding out with walking, no reaching behind to the back seat, no carrying in that arm, or over that shoulder–see images further below as a guide

• DO NOT prop your head up with pillows to read/use a computer while lying on your back [lying on your side to read or having the laptop up high enough on cushions so you don’t have to prop up your head is OK]

• For the times you have to sit ensure you utilise the best possible ergonomic position, sit in a firm chair [like a dining chair], use the firmness of the chair for support by relaxing into it as much as possible without increasing pain, do not try to ‘sit up as straight’ which tightens your back muscles, and no sitting on couches

• For the times you have to drive ensure the seat is as close to the pedals as practical and your elbows are quite bent as you drive.  Where possible get someone to drive for you, especially if you are having trouble using the stick or pedals [safety first]

• When you walk take small steps and do your best to try to minimise limping–sometimes this requires very small steps with walking

For mild nerve irritation–you are sleeping well and mainly limited with stiff, painful movements:

• Avoid tension on the nerves–see the types of positions and movements shown further below (scroll down)–until you test with 100% ideal nerve gliding on different days

• Modify your exercise routine to minimise tension on your nerves

• Long-term, after your pain is resolved, maintain ideal muscle control to your Main Problem (muscle/joint) to ensure you de-accumulate strain and your nerves will probably remain 100% ideal gliding

All going to plan with multiple appointments, you will only have to miss a few days of most of your regular life activities.
We also offer to guide significant others, such as a family member, your trainer and/or coach on how to best help you get back to your usual routine as quickly as possible.

might Nerve Irritation be part of your pain or injury problem?

Physiotherapist Amanda Baker explaining nerve irritation treatment

Minimise Nerve Irritation aggravation

To avoid aggravating nerve irritation tension keep tension off the nerves–until the tests show 100% nerve gliding with no protective muscle firing on different days.

The images below are some examples. Consider any other activities that you do that use can apply the examples below.

Learn about Neuroscience