JasonE
11-02-2008, 10:40 PM
Ever have unexplained discomfort that didn't make any sense? Here's a good question that came my way, and my reply:
I suffered a slight neck injury a few years ago and had to stay off the mats for a while. Fast forward a few years, and my little finger on my left hand gets numb and I have trouble closing it. Am I dying?
Any time you feel discomfort, there is nerve involvement... but that doesn't mean there is nerve damage. It's common for nerve irritation to result in discomfort, tingles, weakness, numbness, etc. The nerve irritation may be the result of compression at the nerve root (i.e. bulging disk), but may also be impingement elsewhere.
Let's consider your neck injury for a moment... when the body experiences some kind of trauma, muscles around the site of injury contract, bracing the area and temporarily reducing the potential for movement. Your nervous system tells your muscles to brace the area for as long as perceived necessary. However, if the area remains tensed long enough, your nervous system may actually forget how to relax those muscles... they are "on" and don't automatically turn "off" like they used to. This is sometimes called sensory motor amnesia, and it is quite common. It is likely that something similar happened as a result of your neck injury.
Initially, you probably just had some stiffness, but nothing to worry about, right? Most likely there were a couple of muscles in your shoulder/neck area that remained tight and never really went back to normal. Thanks to Sherrington's Law of Irradiation, these tight spots gradually irritated surrounding tissues, slowly causing them to tighten up as well, until multiple layers of muscle covering a large area became chronically hypertonic. Over time, this would result in gradually increasing impingement and irritation of the nerves feeding into your arm. After a few short years, you've got a chronic, recurring issue that impacts quality of life and performance on the mat.
That's one reasonable explanation for how your symptoms came to be. If that explanation is correct, your condition is probably 100% reversible. A good massage therapist trained in stuff like Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT), Orthopedic Massage, Strain Counterstrain, Active Isolated Stretching, etc. can do wonders. I've helped others recover fully from similar conditions that they've dealt with for many years. You can search for trained massage therapists via www.AMTAMassage.org, www.NCBTMB.com, and www.ABMP.com
All that aside, I recommend having the issue re-evaluated to rule out disk involvement and nerve damage. A good physician, chiro, or PT familiar with neck trauma should be able to do so. An MRI would be great if you can get one, but consult with your health pro first. If cleared for light exercise, regular practice of Intu-Flow can dramatically enhance the effectiveness of bodywork and speed your recovery.
Hope that helps!
Jason Erickson
www.CSTMinnesota.com
I suffered a slight neck injury a few years ago and had to stay off the mats for a while. Fast forward a few years, and my little finger on my left hand gets numb and I have trouble closing it. Am I dying?
Any time you feel discomfort, there is nerve involvement... but that doesn't mean there is nerve damage. It's common for nerve irritation to result in discomfort, tingles, weakness, numbness, etc. The nerve irritation may be the result of compression at the nerve root (i.e. bulging disk), but may also be impingement elsewhere.
Let's consider your neck injury for a moment... when the body experiences some kind of trauma, muscles around the site of injury contract, bracing the area and temporarily reducing the potential for movement. Your nervous system tells your muscles to brace the area for as long as perceived necessary. However, if the area remains tensed long enough, your nervous system may actually forget how to relax those muscles... they are "on" and don't automatically turn "off" like they used to. This is sometimes called sensory motor amnesia, and it is quite common. It is likely that something similar happened as a result of your neck injury.
Initially, you probably just had some stiffness, but nothing to worry about, right? Most likely there were a couple of muscles in your shoulder/neck area that remained tight and never really went back to normal. Thanks to Sherrington's Law of Irradiation, these tight spots gradually irritated surrounding tissues, slowly causing them to tighten up as well, until multiple layers of muscle covering a large area became chronically hypertonic. Over time, this would result in gradually increasing impingement and irritation of the nerves feeding into your arm. After a few short years, you've got a chronic, recurring issue that impacts quality of life and performance on the mat.
That's one reasonable explanation for how your symptoms came to be. If that explanation is correct, your condition is probably 100% reversible. A good massage therapist trained in stuff like Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT), Orthopedic Massage, Strain Counterstrain, Active Isolated Stretching, etc. can do wonders. I've helped others recover fully from similar conditions that they've dealt with for many years. You can search for trained massage therapists via www.AMTAMassage.org, www.NCBTMB.com, and www.ABMP.com
All that aside, I recommend having the issue re-evaluated to rule out disk involvement and nerve damage. A good physician, chiro, or PT familiar with neck trauma should be able to do so. An MRI would be great if you can get one, but consult with your health pro first. If cleared for light exercise, regular practice of Intu-Flow can dramatically enhance the effectiveness of bodywork and speed your recovery.
Hope that helps!
Jason Erickson
www.CSTMinnesota.com