There are millions of nerves all throughout your body that allow you to connect with and understand the world around you. Your nerves are very delicate and even a problem with just one of your nerves can cause pain and symptoms all over. Your body is comprised of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. You never want to have a problem with your brain or spinal cord, but peripheral nerve problems can be a major headache if you have daily neuropathy pain plaguing you. Even if you are unsure if your symptoms stem from neuropathy pain, an injury or other reason, come into our office to receive help with your pain!
For patients with neuropathy, their symptoms are no joke. Neuropathy is the term used to describe nerve compression or damage to a peripheral nerve. Your central nervous system is comprised of the brain and spinal cord. From that central system, you have countless nerves that connect to one another all throughout the body. All of your movements and senses work together each day, sending information through your nerves to your brain. Without your nerves working properly, your body won’t function properly and your feeling, reaction time and more will be hindered.
Damage with peripheral nerves generally causes neuropathy pain in most patients. This pain is usually in the legs, feet or ankles, but it can happen in the back, neck, arms and hands as well. It all depends on where you have damaged a nerve. Patients will often have pain accompanied by other symptoms such as:
Patients go about pain relief in many different ways. For some, they only look to medical doctors and narcotics to ease the pain. There are always natural solutions for healing and relief when it comes to aches and pains. We recommend trying methods that help you avoid the use of narcotics, as narcotic pain medications cause many more problems than you would want.
Studies show that patients can become addicted to narcotic pain medications with the first use. Opioids and narcotics include prescription painkillers, heroin, morphine, and substances of the like. These types of drugs are used either illegally or prescriptions are prescribed for patients after surgeries or to deal with chronic pain. However, studies show that depending on the year, between 26.4 and 36 million people are abusing these substances worldwide. Thousands die every year from addiction, overdose and taking medications they don’t need. These pain medications can also cause side effects such as constipation, nausea, vomiting and drowsiness, and can make it dangerous to drive or operate machinery. That is why seeking out pain relief through non-narcotic pain management methods is the best option for neuropathy pain relief.
When it comes to neuropathy pain, you want relief right away. Some patients will go weeks, days, or even years without seeking help, as they think that their symptoms will go away. However, your daily habits may actually be contributing to your neuropathy pain and symptoms. Not taking action can also result in permanently-damaged nerves or scar-tissue buildup in your body. You want to keep your body moving (even when you have an injury), so that nutrient-rich blood flows to tissues and nerves that need it. However, you need to go about stretching and exercises correctly so you don’t damage more nerves.
Physical therapy is a great natural method for neuropathy pain relief. A physical therapist is trained to make a customized plan that fits your body and works to relieve your specific pain and symptoms. Depending on the cause, type and symptoms of your peripheral neuropathy pain, the approach to care will vary. Many physical therapists will use electrical nerve stimulation to help your nerves work better. They place electrodes on your skin around your nerve damage or injury, where you then receive an electrical current at varying frequencies. A therapist will generally have you use electrical nerve stimulation for 30 minutes a day for a month at a time. A therapist will also use kinesio taping if your neuropathy pain stems from too much muscle load on a nerve. Nerve injections and LED light therapy are also natural neuropathy pain relief methods you might need depending on your symptoms.
To start off with proper non-narcotic pain management methods, you want to take a look at your lifestyle. One natural method for neuropathy pain relief is changing your nutrition. A physical therapist or medical doctor might evaluate your diet and test your blood for nutrient deficiencies. Even being deficient in one nutrient can cause pain, numbness, tingling and other problems with your nerves. For diabetics, high blood sugar levels severely damage nerves, which is why keeping your chronic condition under control through nutrition is so vital to having good health. Exercise as well, will release natural painkillers in your body called endorphins. If you get a little bit of exercise each day, you’ll see a difference in your neuropathy pain, which is also why physical therapy customized exercises help patients so much.
If your feed your body all the fuel it needs to work well, you will see a dramatic change in your nerve health and overall health. Make sure you are getting proper nutrition at home and getting up and moving each day to keep your blood flowing to all your tissues and muscles. If you struggle with certain movements and daily neuropathy pain, enlist the help of a physical therapist instead of living with your symptoms. Neuropathy pain does not have to be a way of life. Overcome it with natural pain relief methods today!