No doubt you have heard the term many times before. However, a pinched a nerve is almost impossible. Why?

Nerves are well protected, the travel through large channels, have fatty deposits around them and are generally well away from joints. To actually pinch a nerve, you would need considerable trauma and along with pinching a nerve a few extraordinary symptoms would occur.

Nerves have layers (like Shrek) – the outer layers create paraesthesias, which are the feelings of numbness, tingling, cold etc (not true numbness). The next layers create pain and the deepest layers cause you to lose power over your muscles associated to the nerve.

If you had significant enough trauma to pinch a nerve, you would mostly likely lose all control over your muscles and have such severe pain – only hospital would help. Yet a lot of you have been told by various Doctors, Chiropractors, Osteopaths and Physio’s that you have a pinched nerve…

I can almost guarantee, if you walked into their office, you have not pinched a nerve. You actually have common back pain that just feels sharp and severe. This occurs as the smaller muscles around your spinal joints go into spasm. This sharp pain literally feels as if you have been “pinched”.

It sounds more dramatic to be told you have a “pinched nerve” and the doctor is going to release the pressure off it. In fact they will hope to ease the joint tension, relax the tight muscles and remove some inflammation – and this will reduce or eliminate you back pain.

This blog is not criticizing the use of these outdated terms, just trying to explain what is occurring. This way you can understand what happens, why it happens and what you can do to help your self. After all you are designed to heal – you just need to know how to direct that healing at the areas causing your back pain, even if you have a “pinched nerve“.

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