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Myodetox

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Education

How to Treat a Pinched Nerve in Your Neck


Cervical Radiculopathy Explained


Have you ever had numbness or tingling going down your arms or fingers? You may have experienced cervical radiculopathy, also known as nerve compression or a pinched nerve in your neck. This unassuming injury occurs in nearly 2 out of 1000 people.


What Is A Cervical Radiculopathy?
Cervical radiculopathies are the result of compression and inflammation of a nerve at the neck. There are various conditions that may lead to nerve compression:

  • Degenerative disc disease of the neck (spondylosis)
  • Disc herniation at the neck
  • Osteophytes of the neck
  • Stenosis at the cervical spine
  • Muscle tightness at the neck



    Who Gets Nerve Compression?
    The population most at risk for developing pinched nerves is the 50+ age. Women are more at risk than men, though the difference is mild.



    Symptoms Of A Pinched Nerve In Your Neck
    The nerves from the neck connect to your trunk, shoulder, arm, hand, and fingers. Symptoms of nerve compression can radiate to any one of those regions:

  • Numbness
  • Tingling e.g. “pins and needles”
  • Muscle weakness
  • Reduce reflexes (tested by your healthcare professional)
  • Pain

    Radicular symptoms like pain and nerve sensations are often felt down the arm. Moving the neck becomes incredibly painful. Performing certain movements may change your symptoms – for better or worse.

    Many cases will present with reduced reflexes and muscle weakness. The most common region affected is the C7 nerve root, the C6 nerve root, and the C5 nerve root. Common movements affected by a pinched nerve in your neck are pushing, pulling, and gripping.

    Cervical radiculopathies typically occur on one side of the body. If you’re noticing nerve symptoms down both sides, see your physician immediately.



    How Do You Treat It?
    Treatment of cervical radiculopathy will involve your physician and physical therapist.
    Your physician can perform tests to identify the cause of your nerve compression. Your physician and physical therapist can perform tests to determine the extent of the compression and provide treatment options such as:

    Postural training: nerve compression may be aggravated by a forward head posture. This requires postural awareness, education, and exercises.

    Exercise: strength training of the muscle can dramatically improve symptoms.
    Check out our IG posts dedicated to neck strengthening.

    Manual therapy: traction, myofascial techniques, and joint mobilizations dedicated to improving posture and reducing muscle tension can provide relief.
    Check out this post about manual therapy for the neck.

    Immobilization: temporarily providing a soft collar to reduce nerve symptoms. Be aware, there is minimal evidence supporting this.

    Medication: provided under the guidance of a physician.

    Surgery: when conservative management fails, and serious nerve symptoms are present.

    There is good news for those with a pinched nerve. Your symptoms will nearly fully resolve in 4-6 months. Up to 90% of people with nerve compression maintain recovery for 4 years. This shows that degenerative changes in the neck do not lead to permanent nerve damage.



    Worried You May Have A Pinched Nerve?
    Give us and your physician a call. We’ll book you a session with one of our expert therapists. They’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan.

    Find your nearest clinic

    • 2 min read

    Myodetox

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    Education

    Hypermobility Explained:
    More Than Just Party Tricks?


    When does a party trick turn into a pain?
    Understanding hypermobility and when it’s time to seek help.


    We all have that friend who moves their joints in strange ways. Their classic party tricks include twisting their body into all sorts of shapes like hyper-extended elbows, knees, and thumbs.

    These wildly mobile individuals are often labeled double-jointed when in fact, they have hypermobility. But what does that mean? And what, if any, are the risks?



    What Is Hypermobility Syndrome?
    The main risk of being hypermobile is developing hypermobility syndrome. The syndrome manifests when you have excessive joint mobility combined with debilitating symptoms. There is no issue with having joints that move beyond “normal”. Just ask dancers, yogis, musicians, and gymnasts – many will attest to benefiting from an increased range of motion. But when problems begin to arise, then it becomes a syndrome.

    Increased “laxity” in the joints is often associated with other hypermobility disorders such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Marfan Syndrome, and Rheumatoid Arthritis (this list is not exhaustive). These disorders tend to appear due to genetics, affecting the strength of collagen in our body. When collagen becomes weak, our ligaments and joints become loose and stretch, leading to hypermobility. hypermobility-symptoms



    What Are The Risks And Symptoms?
    Though being hypermobile in itself is not bad, it becomes a problem if you present:

  • Pain or stiffness at the joint and muscle group.
  • Dislocations and subluxations at the joint.
  • Weakness at the muscle or muscle group.
  • Poor balance and movement coordination.
  • Generalized fatigue e.g. extremely tired throughout the day.
  • Dizziness and fainting.
  • Constant muscle strains and ligament sprains e.g. ankle rolling.
  • Thin and stretchy skin
  • Digestive issues.



    Who Is Most Affected?
    Children and adolescents, specifically females, tend to present with the syndrome more than adults. In fact, hypermobility tends to reduce as we age. It is believed that hormonal changes over time affect collagen strength in the body and reduce hypermobility symptoms.



    What Can You Do About It?
    You can think of hypermobility syndrome as over-indexing on the amount of space a joint can move within. The more range of motion (or “space”) you have at a joint, the more you need to strengthen and stabilize the area to reduce the risk of overuse and injury.

    Compound weight lifting and stability training can significantly improve symptoms. Speaking to a physician and physical therapist will be your main source to help create a plan for managing hypermobility.



    Worried You May Have Hypermobility Syndrome?
    Give us a call! We’ll book you a session with one of our incredible therapists. They’ll assess your movements and set you up on a FutureProof plan.

    Find your nearest clinic

    • 3 min read

    What Is Whiplash?

    Posted on

    Education

    What Is Whiplash?

    Most people only associate whiplash with car accidents, but in reality, you can get whiplash from contact sports, rollercoasters, and even whipping your hair back and forth too abruptly at a concert.

    What Is Whiplash?

    So how does a whiplash injury happen? Whiplash is caused by a quick and sudden hyper-extension (backward) and then hyper-flexion (forward) movement of the neck. This type of abrupt movement causes the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) in your neck to be stretched past their normal limits and therefore, causing injury to those tissues – known as a Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD).

    Whiplash can be classified into a grading system:
    WAD I: Neck pain with stiffness or tenderness only. No physical signs.
    WAD II: Neck pain and musculoskeletal signs such as a decrease in range of motion.
    WAD III: Neck pain and neurological signs. Such things could include associated sensory deficits (numbness or tingling), weakness, decreased or absent deep tendon reflexes.
    WAD IV: Neck pain and fracture or dislocation of the vertebrae of the neck.

    The most common grade of a whiplash injury is a WAD II.

    Common Whiplash Symptoms And Signs

    It can be difficult to tell which grade of WAD you may have. You might even question whether you have whiplash or something else! Dizziness, headaches, jaw pain, and vertigo are some signs that you are experiencing whiplash.

    How Long Does Whiplash Last?

    It is difficult to provide an exact duration of how long whiplash symptoms will last, as it varies greatly from person to person. Typically, people recover within 6 months, however, some may have prolonged symptoms and it may take years to fully recover. But don’t let stop you from carrying on with your daily activities like:

    Taking the perfect selfie angle
    ralph

    Afternoon meet-up with a friend
    ralph

    The length of healing time depends on a variety of factors such as, severity of the injury, how soon you initiate treatment, compliance to treatment, any prior whiplash injuries, any presentation of neurological deficits, any associated fractures or dislocations and any pre-existing health conditions that may delay full recovery.

    How Do You Treat A Whiplash Injury?

    The initial treatment option for a whiplash injury is to rest and apply ice or heat to the neck and surrounding area using the 10-10-10 protocol. Not sure what the 10-10-10 protocol is? We got you!

    10-10-10 Protocol
    ralph
    ralph

    1. Apply ice/heat to the area for 10 minutes
    2. Remove ice/heat for 10 minutes
    3. Reapply for another 10 minutes
    4. Repeat.

    Manual therapy and exercises provided by a chiropractor, physiotherapist or registered massage therapist will help to restore the proper range of motion in your joints, ease muscle spasms and decrease pain. This will enable functional restoration and help you return to your normal daily activities sooner.

    Delayed onset of treatment may lead to a poorer prognosis and hinder the total recovery time. In other words, the sooner you begin treatment, the better!

    1 min read

    Myodetox Team

    Posted on

    Education

    Forward Head Posture Is Affecting Your Brain

     

    It’s not uncommon to see a patient walk into the Myodetox office with a twelve-pound head that’s migrated three inches forward on their body because of Forward Head Posture (FHP).

    Forward Head Posture is a common problem for a lot of people, amongst other postural issues. Over time, Forward Head Posture will cause significant damage to the spine, in what is otherwise a preventable injury.

    Did you know for every inch of Forward Head Posture, the weight of the head on the spine increases by an additional ten pounds?

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    The rampant spread of this particular posture issue is partly due to our society’s addiction to prolonged sitting, and through excessive use of tablets and smartphones (damn you, Snapchat). By doing so, your forward posture can add up to 30 pounds of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine!

    Forward Head Posture has also been shown to affect the brain negatively. Research shows that 90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine. Therefore, less cervical movement results in less nutrition to the brain. Only ten percent of the brain has to do with thinking, metabolism, and healing.

    Research shows that 90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine.

    Consequently, FHP will cause the brain to rob energy from thinking, metabolism and immune function to deal with abnormal gravity/posture relationships and processing.