Radiculopathy, sometimes called radiculitis, is a condition that causes pain. It’s related to nerve root pain, sciatica, or radicular pain. It’s caused by a pinched nerve, and there are several ways of treating it. One of the most effective natural treatments for radiculopathy is chiropractic care. It’s a hands-on approach that can help you avoid riskier, more invasive treatments. Here’s what you should know.
How Does Radiculopathy Develop?
A pinched spinal nerve causes radiculopathy. It develops when a nerve root becomes irritated or compressed. When this happens, you feel pain, tingling, or numbness in the area.
Mild cases of radiculopathy can resolve with posture improvements or over-the-counter pain medication if this is your preference. However, for more severe cases or if you prefer a medicine-free option, physical therapy and chiropractic treatment can help.
Types of Radiculopathy
There are three types of radiculopathy, including:
Cervical radiculopathy: Pain and discomfort in the neck area that sometimes radiates to your hands and arms.
Thoracic radiculopathy: Pain and discomfort in the chest area during inhalation and exhalation.
Lumbar radiculopathy: Lower back pain and numbness that sometimes radiates to your legs.
Anything that irritates or compresses the roots of the spinal nerves can cause radiculopathy. The most common triggers include:
- Traumas, including car accidents or falls
- Bone spur growth on one of your vertebrae
- Herniated disc (also called slipped, bulging, or ruptured discs)
Common Symptoms
Symptoms of radiculopathy might vary depending on the type. However, they usually include some combination of the following:
- Pain around the affected nerve
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Muscle weakness
The Difference Between Radiculopathy and Neuropathy
Radiculopathy and neuropathy share some similarities but are not the same.
Older woman suffering from radiculopathy getting off a couch.
Damaged nerves cause both. Both can trigger weakness, numbness, decreased motor skills, and range of motion.
In reality, radiculopathy is a type of neuropathy. It’s one type of nerve damage.
Determining whether you are affected by neuropathy or, specifically, radiculopathy is important because it affects treatment options and what symptoms you’ll experience. Additionally, if either of these conditions is due to an injury caused by someone else’s negligence, a specific diagnosis affects the compensation you might receive if you pursue legal action.
Most people see their primary care physician to receive a radiculopathy diagnosis. The diagnostic procedure includes the following:
- X-ray: This identifies the narrowing and changing of the alignment of your spinal cord. In some cases, it might also show spinal fractures.
- Computed tomography (CT) scan: This is a 3D image of your spine. It offers more details than a regular X-ray.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): This shows if damage to soft tissues is causing nerve compression. It also shows damage to the spinal cord.
- Electromyography (EMG): This measures electrical impulses in the muscles. It helps the doctor determine if a nerve is working properly.
A chiropractor can treat you whether or not you have an official diagnosis of radiculopathy. However, a diagnosis might be needed to pursue insurance coverage.
There are several treatment options for radiculopathy, including:
- Physical therapy
- Ice or heat
- Corticosteroids
- Over-the-counter NSAID medications
- Surgery
Although these treatments might correct the problem or mask the symptoms caused by the problems, they all have drawbacks. Some are invasive and come with various potential side effects and risks. Chiropractic treatments can help you avoid these risks.
How a Chiropractor Can Help
Seeking treatment from a chiropractor for radiculopathy is one of the safest and most effective options for treating the condition.
Chiropractor adjusting shoulder of male patient with radiculopathy.
Standard chiropractic treatment adjusts the spine. The adjustment might have many facets, but one of the primary actions induces motion into the spine.
When someone is dealing with radiculopathy, the chiropractor adjusts the area where the nerves are affected. When this problem with function or motion is corrected, the pain, numbness, tingling, and other symptoms decrease.
Essentially, chiropractic adjustments for radiculopathy move blockages and allow the body to heal naturally.
During your first appointment, the chiropractor will conduct tests to assess your symptoms. They’ll evaluate your pain and determine the exact location of your pain, as well as whether it’s radiating to other areas of your body. Once this evaluation is complete, they’ll design a customized treatment plan that includes various treatment tools.
Chiropractic care is a holistic approach to treating radiculopathy. It not only helps your body correct the problem causing radiculopathy, but it also improves your overall health and well-being. In addition to the chiropractic treatment administered by the chiropractor, your treatment plan will include exercises you can do independently, dietary suggestions, and lifestyle recommendations.
During an adjustment, your chiropractor will find the trigger point causing the pain and apply gentle pressure or thrusting to that area. The goal is to realign the spinal nerves. After the treatment, you’ll likely feel relaxed, and there will be relief from the pressure and other symptoms of radiculopathy. Your brain and your nerves will have an open and free flow of communication. Over time, this improves radiculopathy symptoms and any other symptoms you might be experiencing. Although it might take several sessions to resolve the problem completely, many people experience pain relief after their first treatment.
You know how painful it can be if you’ve dealt with radiculopathy. You know that it interferes with your daily life and affects your quality of life. Finding a gentle, healing treatment is one of the best things you can do to improve your health. And because chiropractic care is holistic, your overall health is enhanced.
Benefits of Treating Radiculopathy with Chiropractic Care
Treating radiculopathy with chiropractic care offers many benefits. For example, chiropractic care is:
- Natural, safe, and effective
- Offers tools you can use at home for additional relief and to help you maintain good health
- Reduces or alleviates symptoms
- Treats the whole body and can improve other health problems even if they aren’t directly targeted in treatment
- Reduces reliance on opioid pain relievers
- Affordable and might be covered by insurance
- Corrects instead of masks symptoms
- Offers long-term benefits by addressing the root of the problem
If you’re looking for a safe, natural, effective way to deal with radiculopathy, chiropractic care is an option.
Chiropractor adjusting and massaging wrist of female patient who suffers from Radiculopathy.
Chiropractors deliver adjustments to the spine. The physical action of the adjustment is an induction of motion into the spinal joint. If you’ve never undergone chiropractic care before, you might be intimidated by what it entails or what others have heard or seen. It’s important not to limit your treatment options without understanding the situation and available options to treat radiculopathy.
Radiculopathy is painful and, if severe enough, can be debilitating and interfere with your quality of life. Even mild cases can interfere with your ability to enjoy everyday pleasures. Working with an experienced chiropractor who can also provide information about additional treatment options and things you can do to heal your body is one of the best ways to manage and heal radiculopathy.
Chiropractic treatment for back pain involves a combination of targeted approaches to specific joints and areas you experience back pain. The core treatments for chiropractic treatment are:
Spinal Manipulation (Manual Therapy)
Spinal manipulation is a high-velocity lever arm thrust using hands or a device to the joint eliciting back pain. The thrust moves the joint outside the normal range of movement. The force depends on the intent of the treatment. Generally, spinal manipulation improves joint functionality, reduces nerve irritability, and restores the range of motion in the back.
Soft Tissue Therapy
Soft tissue therapy involves a range of repeated strokes targeting the soft tissue over the joint’s range of motion. It can be instrument-assisted or manual. Trigger point stimulation is a common procedure for soft tissue therapy.
Are There Risks or Pain Associated with Spinal Manipulation?
A man points to where his back hurts, during a chiropractic exam.
Spinal manipulation is generally safe and provides effective treatment to back pain, especially in the early stages. Risks associated with spinal manipulation include muscle soreness, which eases after 24 hours.
Extreme side effects of spinal manipulation are exacerbated in cancer patients, inflammatory arthritis, osteoporosis, and individuals who take blood-thinning medications. Contact your practitioner to understand if the risks will threaten your unique health state.
Suffice it to say, it gets worse before it gets better for chiropractic treatments. However, expert chiropractors minimize the pain using gentle pressure and thrusts on your first time visit before your body can gradually adjust.
Common Causes of Back Pain Chiropractors Can Treat
Chiropractic care can’t treat all causes of back pain. Chiropractic care for back pain treats the following causes:
Pain Caused by Hard Tissue
Hard tissue develops after a trapped scar in the tissue via underusing or overusing your muscles. Through chiropractic treatments, you get increased pliability that reduces stress on the pain points. Usually, for hard tissue treatment, the chiropractor will use specialized devices.
Pain Caused by Soft Tissue
Soft tissue pain occurs when a tumor swells and presses on the nerves. The nerves are usually trapped by the spine, making the pain even worse. Soft tissue therapy is particularly valuable for treating pain caused by soft tissue.
Pinched Nerves
Pinched or trapped nerves do not always need surgery. Chiropractic treatments decompress the spine, the No. 1 culprit for pinching nerves. If you feel sharp back pain shooting down to your leg, you have pinched nerves.
Sciatica
Symptoms of sciatic nerve damage are usually lower back pain and leg pain. Sciatica causes sharp shooting pain or recurrent dull pain. Chiropractic care pops the sciatic nerve providing relief in four visits or less.
Scoliosis
A chiropractor specializing in scoliosis adjusts to ease the pain. The chiropractor will employ a blend of adjustments and pressure decreases to realign the muscles and bones.
Lumbago
Chiropractic care for lumbago or lower back pain involves spinal adjustments to correct posture and realign the ligaments, muscles, and bones to alleviate lower back pain. If you find a good chiropractor, you may see a resolution in three-to-four weeks.
Slipped or Herniated Disc
A slipped or herniated disc is one of the culprits of back pain. With other conservative treatment methods, chiropractic care provides the decompression needed to allow the disc to slip back into place. It is important to understand the difference between a slipped disc and a herniated disc.
Degenerative Disc Disease
Prescription drugs sometimes aggravate osteoarthritis of the spine or DDD. Chiropractic Care involves spinal adjustments that avert the adverse side effects of other treatment methods for DDD.
Back Sprain Injuries
Back sprains happen when the ligaments tear. Chiropractic care provides non-invasive treatment through realigning the ligaments.
Spinal Stenosis
Spinal stenosis or narrowing of the spinal canal exerts pressure on the spine and can cause herniated discs or back pain. Chiropractic care improves the spinal column flow and relieves pressure, treating back pain.
How Chiropractic Adjustments Help with Back Pain
Chiropractic adjustments target your spine to improve spinal health, increase joint mobility, and reduce inflammation. Through the different types of treatment, chiropractors can treat your back pain.
Types of Chiropractic Treatments for Back Pain
The following types are common chiropractic treatment approaches for relieving back pain. The chiropractor may use a combination of instruments or hands for efficacious treatment.
Table Adjustments
Table adjustments are ideal for unlocking your spine and improving joint mobility. This form of spinal manipulation requires special skills and equipment.
A chiropractor puts you on a table with a drop piece and administers a thrust to your spine. The drop piece drops as they administer thrust, ensuring it spreads out evenly in your spine. The major merit of table adjustment is no back twisting is necessary.
Lumbar Roll
A chiropractor applies thrust to the lower back area while you lie on your side, making it ideal for treating lower back pain.
Flexion-Distraction Technique
The technique is a non-thrust spinal manipulation method that involves flexing the spine on the problematic area. The chiropractor lies you down on a specially designed table and moves the disc away from the nerve in a gentle pumping rhythm.
Flexion-distraction technique is ideal for patients with disc injuries or lower back pain.
Manual Joint Stretching and Resistance
Manual joint stretching and resistance techniques break up tense muscles. The stretching and resistance movement is what gives the technique its name.
Trigger Point Therapy
Trigger point therapy involves soft tissue massage or applying ischemic pressure to release knots in muscles at a point.
Toggle Drop
Toggle drop is a technique that involves a fast thrust on your vertebral joints. The chiropractor crosses their hands and firmly presses the problematic area. Here’s more on toggle drop.
Pelvic Blocking
Pelvic blocking separated the nerves from the discs. The method is ideal for damaged discs. It involves a chiropractor putting cushions on both sides of the pelvis and allows gravity to separate the discs and the nerves.
Release Work
Chiropractic release work gently separates the vertebral column, allowing the spine to flow freely. Release work involves gentle pressure rather than thrust.
Why Chiropractic Care is Preferred Over Other Forms of Treatment for Back Pain
Medications and over-the-counter pain-relieving drugs only numb the effect but do not treat the cause. Even worse, our bodies naturally develop immunity to drugs. You may need a higher dosage or stronger medication to relieve back pain. Invasive treatments such as surgery are costly but offer long-term solutions.
Chiropractic care for back pain is a pocket-friendly long-term treatment that’s non-invasive. Chiropractic insurances are now mainstream, and you shouldn’t worry about breaking the bank for chiropractic care.
Even better, chiropractic care treats your whole body. People use chiropractic treatments to manage back pain and improve mind-body wellness. Chiropractic treatments roll many benefits into a singular treatment, so clients love chiropractic care for back pain.
What Should I Expect on My First Visit to The Chiropractor?
The first visit to a chiropractor doesn’t require special preparation. The chiropractor will read your medical history and administer diagnostic tests such as monitoring your motion and assessing your medical and physical concerns for the back pain.
After the physician accurately diagnoses the source of the back pain, they will tailor a treatment plan from the above treatment methods. A chiropractor may employ more than one method depending on the pain intensity.
It is best during your first visit to have candid conversations with the chiropractor. Air out underlying medical issues and concerns, if any. Certified chiropractors are always happy to clarify before beginning the treatment.
How Many Chiropractic Treatments Will I Need to Manage Back Pain Effectively?
There is no cookie-cutter approach to chiropractic care for back pain. Every back pain has unique causes and, therefore, a unique treatment plan. You may need one-to-two visits a week for mild back pain.
However, you may need to see the chiropractor daily in advanced back pain. Generally, you will see a resolution within six weeks of treatment and can restrict your appointments to periodically or twice a month. The chiropractor will determine how many visits they judge are enough to treat your back pain.
Complications in treatment, new medical information, occupation, and physical exertion limits all come into play when deciding if you need to step up or down your chiropractic treatment frequency.
Final Words
Chiropractic treatment is your best friend for non-invasive back pain treatment. The method confers benefits that transcend alleviating back pain, including managing headaches and improving spinal health.
The onus is on you to find a certified chiropractor who will tailor a treatment plan to treat your back pain. You may not always be eligible for chiropractic care. Consult your health practitioner to learn more about your eligibility.