Nerve pain! A monster is hiding.

Nerve pain… sometimes it’s obvious, you have pain that goes down the glutes or even lower at the calf or toes. I remember the time when I had electric shocks to my right calf when I was driving and when I was getting out of the car it was like someone was stabbing me in the right hamstring.

Other times it’s not so obvious. It’s not because you don’t have this obvious pain that nerve irritation is not involved. It’s like a monster is underneath your bed. You don’t know it’s there, but you're always making nightmares (back pain). Only a thorough assessment will reveal what kind of monster you have to deal with.

Why am I telling you this? It’s because I realise that you need to take care of your nerves even when your back is doing fine. Today, my back is really good, but I always think about how I position my body and how I move to keep the monster away! Do not put unnecessary stress on the nerves so they don’t get irritated. 

Sorry, I don’t want you to be scared about all those monsters, your parents already told you they don’t exist. Let me give you some ideas about what to avoid, but first you need to understand something.

With a spine injury, you can have pressure on a nerve resulting in pain somewhere where the nerve is passing. In this situation, the nerve is irritated. 

Now, a nerve it’s like a rope. You can put tension from below or above or it can be without tension. So, we need to keep this rope without tension because an irritated nerve doesn’t like to be in tension!

First of all, think about your neck position. When you have your head down, the nerves are going up and you put tension from above. Hold your phone a bit higher than your shoulders when you look at it! Every day I have to repeat this to my clients and to myself.

Also, you can’t sit like you are on a lazyboy with your hips at 90 degrees and your knees fully in extension or locked. You are putting tension from below this time. Lazyboy or lazygirl, back pain recovery is not for lazy people. 

Now imagine you sit like this with your laptop on your thighs and you look at it with your head down. You are putting tension from above and below! You might feel ok in this position but when you get up and start to walk, you are wondering why you live in this nightmare and there is a monster following you.