Pinched Nerve Treatment Methods

Spinal pinched nerve treatment will be the topic of conversation with your doctor immediately following your diagnosis. He or she will describe your condition in detail and then tailor a specific treatment plan for you to follow. The treatments included in your plan will likely be conservative efforts that can be implemented into your daily routine and done in the comfort of your own home.

Conservative Treatments Are First Recommended

In most cases, conservative treatment is first suggested following a pinched nerve diagnosis for many reasons. The biggest reason why conservative treatments are typically recommended is because, in most instances, they provide the amount of relief that is desired by patients. These treatment efforts include physical therapy, light exercise, bed rest, hot and cold packs, and pain and anti-inflammatory medications. All of these are aimed at reducing and camouflaging the symptoms and not at treating the underlying cause of the pinched nerve. This is because pinched nerves typically are not life threatening, the symptoms can be easily managed, and actually removing the source of nerve compression would require surgery.

Should You Consider Surgery?

If you have just been diagnosed with a pinched nerve in the spine, the answer to this question is "no" unless you are facing an emergency situation like cauda equina syndrome, which requires immediate surgery. However, if you have tried nonsurgical treatment efforts for a spinal pinched nerve for weeks or months to no avail, the answer to this question could be "yes." Why is that? Well, conservative methods of pinched nerve treatment generally work well and provide patients with a desirable level of relief. For this reason alone, surgery typically should not be immediately considered when first diagnosed. However, there are definitely times when conservative treatments do little or nothing at all, in which case elective decompression surgery may be a viable option. Surgery is usually regarded as a last resort for pinched nerve treatment and only is advisable for about five to ten percent of those suffering from a pinched nerve. If your nonsurgical efforts don't seem to be effective, there's a good chance that you could fall into that five to ten percent of patients who might consider attempting to alleviate symptoms through pinched nerve surgery.