If you are experiencing any kind of nerve pain, we urge you to get it checked out by a professional. We could help you avoid unnecessary pain and expensive procedures. In fact, manual manipulation techniques are an important part of healing nerve pain, and can, in some instances, replace the work of operations and intense procedures.
I’d like to share with you a story about one of my clients. Emily* is a 25-year-old active woman with a four-month history of intermittent referral pain along with neurological symptoms effecting her left knee and calf. Emily described these sensations as hot, tingling, numb, sharp, pinching and a six out of ten on the pain scale while working and warming up before activity. Emily said that she was usually sore or stiff for 1-2 days post-activity with symptoms reaching into her low back and down to her mid-calf. Emily works 30-40 hours a week, plays soccer 3-4 days a week, and does on-average 5 hours of exercise (hiking, stair running, yin yoga) throughout the week.
Emily had previously visited a physiotherapist who confirmed a diagnosis of nerve impingement of the saphenous nerve. Simply put, a nerve impingement is defined as direct pressure on a single nerve. This is what was causing Emily’s symptoms. With this knowledge, I did extensive research into techniques that have been used to release saphenous nerve impingement. Unfortunately, there have been few studies on manual manipulation of this condition, and due the anatomical pathway of this nerve, it has two places in which it can be commonly impinged.
Emily had tried other methods for relief of her nerve pain through physiotherapy and acupuncture. Both of these methods helped her symptoms for a few days, but had no lasting effects. Based on this information, I worked with Emily to create a schedule of various massage, fascial, and vibratory techniques.
Over the course of 9 weeks, Emily and I were able to eliminate all pain! This treatment plan improved her tissue health, which decreased the saphenous nerve impingement! There was no more tingling or numbness! A four-month follow-up has revealed that the patient is still symptom-free. What great news! I hope that this case study will help further education about injuries such as nerve impingement, and successful ways of treating these issues.
Massage therapy can be a more affordable, less invasive approach to decreasing symptoms. We are here to help you achieve your best quality of life. You can trust us to do our due diligence in finding out exactly what the problem is, so that we can help you start feeling better. Give us a call or drop by our clinic if you want to chat more about how we can help you.
*Name was changed for anonymity purposes.