AVERY CHIROPRACTIC

Dr. Steven Avery

Pinched Nerves
Being pinched anywhere hurts, but to pinch a nerve? UGH!! That must be a sharp, severe, intense painthe
kind that doesnt just die down and go away but stays and is always calling our attention to it, like a toothache.
It could happen anywhere in the spine: in the neck (cervical area), lower back (lumbar area), or mid back
(thoracic area). It can cause pain that affects nearly every part of the body: arms, fingers, wrist, shoulders, head,
leg, knee, ankle, foot, toeit can affect our mood and make our life miserable.

PINCHED???
Are the nerves really pinched? There is a lot of controversy over this. In fact, most authorities feel that the term
is inaccurate and it should not be used at all. Pinched nerve is a lay or common term and is not scientific. A
pinched nerve is one that has part or all of the nerve conductivity totally gone. Whatever is controlled by the
nerve is no longer functional. Instead, most of us that think that we have a pinch really have an impingement or
pressure on the nerve.

WHERE DO NERVES COME FROM?

There are billions of nerve fibers in your body. They travel in tight bundles called nerves. Millions of nerve
fibers may be found in a nerve. With a few exceptions, the nerves take the following journey from the brain:
they go through a large hole in the bottom of the skull (foramen magnum) and travel down inside the spinal
column as part of the spinal cord. The spinal cord contains billions of nerve fibers. From the spinal cord, the
nerve bundles exit through holes or foramina located between the vertebrae called intervertebral (between the
vertebrae) foramina.

AFTER LEAVING THE SPINE

After leaving the spinal column through the foramina, the nerves continue to branch into smaller and smaller
bundles until they complete their journey to every nook and cranny in the body Our nerve network is so
extensive that if you were to disappear and only your nerves were to remain, you would be perfectly
recognizable, though a little bit ghostly!

WHAT DO NERVES DO?

Nerves send impulses or messages from the brain to the body and from the body to the brain. Different nerves
send different messages. When the message goes from the brain to the body it travels over a motor nerve. When
the message goes from the body to the brain it travels over a sensory nerve.
The nerve messages keep your brain and internal organs communicating so they may work together in a
coordinated harmonious manner. That translates into strength. Nerve messages also connect you to the outside
world.
Avery Chiropractic 5204 South Colony Blvd, Ste 160 The Colony TX 75056 972.624.6644
www.averychiropractic.com

WITHOUT NERVES
Without sensory nerves we couldnt see, hear, touch, taste, smell, or feel hot, cold, pain and pleasure. It would
be the ultimate sensory deprivation tank. Wed be totally cut off from existence.
Without motor nerves we would be completely paralyzed, no muscles could move. Our body couldnt respond
to any of our commands. Wed be a prisoner within ourselves.

NERVE REGULATION
Nerves also regulate our internal automatic processes: breathing, sweating, shivering, internal organs function,
heartbeat, digestion, excretion, regulation of blood supply to different organs, control of blood pressure and
many other things.
So you see our nerves, which are really extensions of our brains are the center of our beings. Without nerves
our bodies would be quite uselesswed be little more than vegetables and could not survive.

WE NEED HEALTHY NERVES

We need to do all that we can to keep our nerves healthy. Without healthy nerves the body is weakened and not
able to adapt to environmental stresses. It would be dis-eased. A diseased body is weak and a candidate for all
types of physical and mental diseases and disabilities.
The most common form of nerve damage is the so called pinched nerve. It con affect the health of the nerves
and the entire body.

HOW DO NERVES GET IMPINGED OR PINCHED?

When the nerves come down from the brain, they travel through a bony canal formed by vertebrae. If the
vertebrae misalign slightly (subluxation) they may cause the nerves to be irritated or compressed or stretched.
Nerves arent the only things in the affected areathere are blood vessels, discs, ligaments, joints, muscles,
fascia, tendons, meninges, lymphatics, other connective tissue and fat tissue and they may all be affected. Also
nerves carry more than impulses. Recent research shows there to be a flow of chemical nutrients over the nerves
which can be blocked.
What can cause this? Many things. For example, a traumaa fall or an accident, even a very mild one may be
enough to misalign, or subluxate your spine. It may be due to bending or twisting in a certain way, it may occur
as a result of poor sleeping or poor posture of both. It may occur after weeks or months of constant stress of
either physical or emotional origin (usually its a combination of the two).

Avery Chiropractic 5204 South Colony Blvd, Ste 160 The Colony TX 75056 972.624.6644
www.averychiropractic.com

PINCHED
The term pinched is not accurate since the nerves arent really pinched but may be compressed in the
foramina. This may be referred to as nerve impingement, nerve encroachment or the two dollar word of
neurothlipsis. Chiropractors, however, have a special term to describe the entire process of the vertebrae
moving out of place, altering the foramina opening, putting pressure on nerves and related structures and
causing all kinds of problems: VERTEBRAL SUBLUXATION.

WHAT DO SUBLUXATIONS DO?

When the nerves are compressed their impulses may be altered and this affects the entire body. Dis-ease may
result, setting the stage for disease. Physical and emotional conditions of many kinds have been related to the
improper functioning of the nervous system. For example, impinging the nerves going to the stomach or
intestines might cause a person to suffer from ulcers or constipation, diarrhea or other gastrointestinal
conditions. This may happen to other areas as well. Additionally when the spinal column is misaligned the
entire skeletal system is thrown off balance. This can cause fatigue and exhaustion. In fact, tiredness, fatigue
and exhaustion are one of the early signs of vertebral subluxations.

MOST PINCHED NERVES DONT HURT

Most people with pinched nerves are not in pain. Pain is only one symptom of a vertebral subluxation and
its not very common. Why is that? Remember we said only certain nerves (sensory) carry pain messages. If
certain sensory nerves are not badly damaged then no pain will be felt. The damage to the nerves and other
tissues may be going on but no pain will tell the unlucky person that they have nerve pressure. People with
painful impinged nerves might be considered the lucky onesthey know they have a problem in their spine and
they (hopefully) will get themselves checked by a chiropractor. But what of the ones without pain? This is the
big job of chiropractors today educating the public and telling them about vertebral subluxations and need
for periodic spinal check-ups.

Avery Chiropractic 5204 South Colony Blvd, Ste 160 The Colony TX 75056 972.624.6644
www.averychiropractic.com