Pinched Nerve.....Myofascial?

[Haken]

I have a pinched nerve in my neck. Most of the time I dont have pain in my neck, but pain in the 2 middle fingers of my left hand, sometimes shooting electrical pain. Ive had to give up working out and even bike riding in order to give my condition time to heal.

I went to a chiropractor first, but couldnt take the pain afterwards and I cant stand having my neck cracked, so he really couldnt do much for me after 2 visits and an xray to diagnose me.

Ive been seeing an acupuncturist ever since July. The treatments gave me back my range of motion in my neck and I had no pain in my fingers/hands or wrists. I was nearing the end of treatment and since I was in MT school, I asked if I could have some light bodywork on my neck. She said yes.....so I had one of my classmates "lightly" massage my neck for about 3 minutes tops. I woke up the next day back to where I started. Stiff, limited range of motion and shooting pains in my 2 fingers of the same hand. So now IM back to square one.

My acupuncutrist recommended myofascial treatment........and gave me a number of someone she knows. I havent gotten to this in MT school yet and was wondering if someone could explain it for me and/or maybe even suggest something else that might work for my condition. All I know is that it is very gentle, which is what I need. Im getting the feeling that maybe I need something in addition to the acupuncture.

thanks

 

[Tejinder]

The way I explain it to my clients is that sometimes we have injuries that can't take anymore compression. Most massage work, even gentle work, involves pushing down on the affected area. Myofascial work, done properly, uses techniques that don't push down on the injury - lifting the skin, pulling muscle fibers away from the injury, wiggling and stretching the area.

In certain situations, this gives the injured area room to relax into. It's kind of like a sausage casing. You can squeeze the meat (muscle) around in the muscle casing until it's nice and soft, but unless you enlarge the casing, it's still just looser muscle in the same confining space. Myofascial works on the casing.

However, your experience with the student and "light" massage tells me that you need to be very careful who you see for the myofascial work. Please see someone well qualified in both treatment AND assessment.

 

[rain]

Pinched Nerve.....Myofascial?

I went to a chiropractor first, but couldnt take the pain afterwards and I cant stand having my neck cracked, so he really couldnt do much for me after 2 visits and an xray to diagnose me.

My acupuncutrist recommended myofascial treatment........and gave me a number of someone she knows. I havent gotten to this in MT school yet and was wondering if someone could explain it for me and/or maybe even suggest something else that might work for my condition. All I know is that it is very gentle, which is what I need. Im getting the feeling that maybe I need something in addition to the acupuncture.

thanks

First, it's going to take more than 2 visits at a DC's office, by nature of natural healing to see some decent results. That doesn't mean it's guaranteed of course, but you'll need to plan for at least 12-15 visits at minimum.

Just as acupuncture and massage don't work in 2 sessions, neither will chiropractic (generally speaking).

Consider seeing a neurologist. They can do some more assesments, and possibly even give a script for some anti-inflammatories.

As far as myofascial work, since you feel you need gentle work, get on the phone and start making calls. Find all the myofascial workers in your area and probe them before going in for an appointment. That way you'll get the info you need about those particular therapists you are considering going to.

 

[ivor g]

Personally, I object to the "12 - 15 visits, minimum" to a Chiro for treatment of a pinched nerve. It may be that it could take that long to resolve the problem completely, but it should only take a couple visits to start getting some relief, and if the pain and anxiety of having the neck "cracked" is significant, chiropractic treatment could do more harm than good.

Anytime an automatic length of treatment is set without assessment, I become suspicious.

 

[DeeeeJay]

Personally, I object to the "12 - 15 visits, minimum" to a Chiro for treatment of a pinched nerve. It may be that it could take that long to resolve the problem completely, but it should only take a couple visits to start getting some relief, and if the pain and anxiety of having the neck "cracked" is significant, chiropractic treatment could do more harm than good.

Anytime an automatic length of treatment is set without assessment, I become suspicious.

Nothing to be suspicious of. It is my pesonal experience in the natural health care fields (in this case chiropractic), I have seen this to be a general term of "guestimated" time for moderate to significant relief. No one can ever say for sure how many visits of anything it will take to get relief - so of course when someone says you will get this in this amount of time, there would rightly be a reason to be suspicious. However, that is not what the comment was aimed toward.

As in the application of acupuncture, generally one can figure it takes about 10 sessions to see significant relief in a straight muscular type injury, though of course there are times when things go better than expected and of course it always depends on the individual.

I was only trying to point out that 2 visits probably isn't going to cut it.

You are correct in your comment about more harm than good if the client is having issues with the physical "popping" of the neck.

 

[Cloud 9 with bells on!]

The reason I didnt continue with the chiro.....is bc I cant even stand the sound that the bones make when they crack. (Even someone cracking their fingers sends me in a whirl) So I could never fully relax, and it felt almost violent on my body. I know that sounds extreme, but it just didnt feel right. And I wouldnt let him touch my neck at all...so he did some pulling and had this clicker thing he would use on my neck. He told me it would take 4 YEARS to fully be 100% again. Starting with treatments twice a week for 6mos then less and less. Chiropractics works wonders for people, Im not one of them.

Breathebodywork....thank you for explaining myfascial for me. The woman my acupuncturist recommended is suppose to be phenomenal...but maybe I should research around.

Do physical therapists generally do myfascial work.....or massage therapists?? Where would I look?

 

[Pamela]

AS you know, with MFR, it is a gentle modality. We sink in to the barrier, like making handprints in soft clay, then move to the barrier and wait, a minimum of 90-120 seconds. Perhaps longer, never less.

It is a condition that could be cleared up in one visit. It could take several, but what is often forgotten, is that it is always a whole body problem. This neck issue could be due to a leg length problem...could be due to a unbalanced pelvis. Could be because the big toe was stubbed in 2nd grade on the cousin's bicycle. Maybe we just need to pull on the big toe.

You might be able to find a MFR therapist by visiting http://www.myofascialrelease.com they have a find-a-therapist feature there. OR you can sign up for the email chat list and ask for a therapist on that. Depending on where you live there could be a lot of them around. good luck

 

[Basit]

THANKS!

 

[Clare]

WOW.......John Barnes is practicing in Sedona (about 50minutes from where I live)

wonder if I could get an appt to see him.............?

 

[HOT 1]

Shane, how goes it? There are lots of qualified therapists in Sedona at Therapy on the Rocks....Tina taught one of my classes, she's a hoot.

Keep us posted...

 

[sudhitcr@gmail.com]

I dont know quite how to proceed. I dont want to do any kind of therapy that will leave me in pain or unable to do my clinic hours in school. I DO think Im going to ask my acupuncturist or my naturopath to order an MRI so I can get a full evalution before I proceed. I dont know if the acupuncturist can order a test like this....but I know my naturopath can. I guess then Ill make a decision on what to do next after that.

 

[BabyGirl05]

Here are a couple replies I got when I asked some folks about this issue.

One thing I tell clients that are hesitant because they perhaps had a bad experience with other forms of massage, bodywork or they have tried everything and nothing is helping - is to be open to a new experience. Unless they have had JFB-MFR myofascial release they haven't had their "Fascial System" addressed. That it's not about symptoms or diagnoses it's about releasing their fascial restrictions. We don't follow a protocol or formula. Each individual has fascial restrictions different from everybody else even if they are given the same "diagnoses".

That JFB-MFR is a very gentle, non-intrusive hands on treatment and he always has control in a session. Hope this helps.

AND

I worked on someone who was having serious neck pain and other things not to mention. She felt much better afterward, but I’m not close enough to work on her regularly…so she decided to go to a “massage therapist” who said they do “MFR”. She had to tell them to stop because it was too rough and painful. So then she went to someone who I referred her to and I knew for sure they did JFB MFR and she has since had several treatments from this person. She says she is better than ever and she felt the difference between what I and this other JFB MFR therapist did versus the non JFB therapist. Tell him the beauty of JFB MFR is that he is in control and that his body will not go somewhere that he doesn’t want it to go because we don’t push…I know that’s what you were going to tell him anyway, and I can’t think of anything better.

Shane,
I hope this helps, you've nothing to lose by calling, getting evaluated. Well, you could lose your pain, and how would that feel?

 

[~ Jenni ~]

Just wanted to give you guys an update.

I went to a NEW chiropractor who is also a licensed acupuncturist and he ordered an MRI which showed a mild bulge between c-6 and c-7. He said he would NOT recommend chiropractics, but more acupuncture along with some kind of soundwave therapy and something else.

But after I had the MRI.....we were learning cranio-sacral work in school and the instructor was this woman who was really amazing. She worked on me and there were some very strange things going on on the table for me. I didnt notice any thing different about my neck until about a week later. My neck feels almost normal. I can move it in any direction AND there isnt the feeling of someone pinching the back of my neck anymore.

Im still going to continue the acupuncture (when I have more $) but I am amazed with the results of the craniosacral work and would love to have more work. There was another student in class that had a really amazing thing happen on the table, which I dont want to share here bc of confidentiality, but I will say it was incredibly moving.

ANyway, thought Id give you an update on my situation. Thanks.