In every part of your body, your peripheral nervous system transmits sensations. The information that the nerves transmit to your brain helps you avoid harm, while also keeping you in tune about your body movements in relation to what’s around you.
Your network of sensitive nerves can become a problem for your health, however. Abnormal pressure on a nerve creates neck pain, back pain, and other uncomfortable sensations like numbness. The pain often radiates through the parts of your body where the compressed nerve passes, and it can affect your limbs.
Nerve entrapment syndrome occurs when a nerve gets stuck between other parts of your anatomy, creating ongoing pressure and leading to disruptive symptoms.
At Alpenglow Pain & Wellness of Anchorage, Alaska, interventional pain management specialist Dr. Nichelle C. Renk helps you understand the source of your neuropathic symptoms. She treats your underlying nerve issue, resolving your discomfort.
How do you know when your discomfort comes from nerve entrapment? Your symptoms may show up in either your upper or lower body.
If nerve entrapment occurs in your upper body, you may notice pain in your wrist, elbow, or shoulder. This may indicate that the median nerve in your wrist and elbow, the radial nerve in your elbow, or the suprascapular nerve in your shoulder is entrapped and in need of attention.
In your lower body, entrapped nerves may cause pelvic, thigh, buttock, leg, or foot pain. Common types of nerve entrapment syndrome affecting the lower body include sciatica, which relates to the sciatic nerve.
Your symptoms of nerve entrapment typically include radiating pain and may involve numbness, tingling, and related muscle weakness, as well. Pain may seem to worsen after activity and could come and go. Nerve entrapment syndrome pain can grow intense and limiting.
Why do nerves go from being unencumbered to suffering from an entrapment syndrome? Several factors can cause nerve compression to begin to affect you.
Often, nerve compression relates to tissue swelling or tissue damage. This might occur after an accident, injury, or other physical trauma. Dislocated joints often result in nerve entrapment syndrome.
In other cases, swelling and inflammation may build up more slowly around a nerve over time due to repetitive stress, as in carpal tunnel syndrome in your hands and wrists. You should also note that many nerves pass through your spinal area. Spine issues like a herniated disc may cause nerve pain due to nerve entrapment.
If you’re living with a health condition like arthritis or diabetes, your risk for nerve entrapment syndrome in your upper and lower body increases. You’re also at a higher risk if you’re overweight or obese. Further, nerve compression syndrome often develops in the lower body during pregnancy.
Your work and hobbies also matter. Sports players, construction and heavy equipment workers, and people who spend a lot of time typing are all likely to experience nerve entrapment syndrome at some point.
Once Dr. Renk identifies the nerve that is causing your symptoms, she puts together a treatment plan to relieve the compression. Your treatment depends on the location of the pinched nerve and the reason behind the compression.
Nonsurgical treatment options include physical and occupational therapy, splinting and orthotics, and pain management with steroid pain injections or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In some cases, you may need surgery to relieve nerve entrapment.
To learn more about nerve pain, contact Dr. Renk at Alpenglow Pain & Wellness today. Schedule your initial consultation online or over the phone now.
