Nerve Pain

Nerve pain is horrible. It feels like burning, shooting electricity running along your arm or leg.

What is nerve pain? 

Nerve pain occurs when a nerve is irritated and projects pain along the pathway that it takes. It is often felt down a leg or down an arm as a result of a nerve near the spine being irritated. This is called radicular pain. It can also occur away from the spine due to a peripheral nerve entrapment, where a smaller peripheral nerve is irritated.

Nerve pain is usually the result of either compression, or irritation from surrounding inflammation.

We written a blog all about nerve pain, which you can read here: nerve pain blog.

How do I know if I have nerve pain?

  • A discussion and assessment with a physiotherapist can determine if your pain is coming from nerve irritation

  • Nerve pain itself is not visible on scans, however, the cause may be visible. An MRI can detect potential sources of compression (e.g. disc bulges or arthritis), or swelling that may contain inflammation.

What do I do if I have nerve pain? 

Nerve pain can be extremely intense, and really debilitating, thankfully, most cases of nerve pain resolve given the right treatment.

We can:

  • assess the underlying cause of your nerve pain

  • provide ways to take pressure off the nerve to provide pain relief

  • give you the tools to continue to find relief yourself