“I think I pinched a nerve.” Or, “I think I pulled a muscle.” We hear this often from patients. Although it is possible to “pinch” a nerve or “pull” a muscle, more often, the cause of the pain is a subluxation. What is a subluxation? Well, it has several components to it. These include spinal misalignment/altered biomechanics, muscle spasm/weakness, swelling/inflammation of tissue and nerve irritation. These components all gang up on the body and often create a symptom of some kind. That could be stiffness, soreness, achiness, tightness, muscle spasm, sharp pain, dull pain, shooting pain, burning pain, headache, etc.
The process goes something like this… We get a spinal misalignment/altered biomechanics from any number of things; stepping off a curb wrong, sleeping on our stomach, slips/falls, accidents, poor workstation ergonomics, poor posture and on and on. The list is nearly endless. Once the misalignment occurs, now the surrounding muscles, joints and nerves are affected. This may create muscle spasm or tightness. It may feel like you “pulled a muscle”. The joint may become inflamed creating sharp pain in the short term, or a more chronic achy pain/stiffness/soreness, in the long term as the joint degenerates. The nerve too becomes irritated in some way. On occasion it may be “pinched”, but more often it is stretched, pulled, scrapedor irritated by surrounding inflammation. This can result in numbness, tingling or burning down an arm or leg, headaches, or muscle spasms to name a few.
It’s important to seek chiropractic care as soon as possible when a subluxation occurs. Without care, a cascade of events occurs and things go off the rails. First, the subluxated joint may heal, but it will most likely do so with fixation (hypomoblity). This is accompanied by fibrosis and adhesions and eventually, degeneration. The body then tries to compensate for this, so the joints above and below work overtime, which leads to their eventual degeneration as well. This is why many people lose flexibility or range of motion after an injury. It’s also why some people “shrink” as they age.
It’s also why people may “pull a muscle” or “pinch a nerve” from doing what would often seem to be a simple task or movement. The subluxation has been hiding dormant, festering for weeks, months or years until it rears its ugly head. That’s why I think, when it comes to subluxations, the only thing worse than knowing you have a subluxation, is not knowing you have a subluxation. More on that next time!
Dr Paul Aalderink
