Treating OverStretch Nerve in Lower Back
The nervous system allows the body to receive and send signals to and from the brain. This permits movement, sensation and many other reactions. However a nerve stretch injury in the lower back provides a unique opportunity in the body for a Massage Therapist treating lower back pain
Nerves may suffer several forms of trauma for example contusion, a nerve can be cut or torn by a sharp objection or causing division in the structure of the nerve. However a stretch injury to a nerve may range from mild to severe and the outcome may result in long lasting nerve damage.
When receiving Massage Therapy for the first time when suffering from nerve pain, you may be apprehensive. After all, nerve pain can be excruciating. The memory of the initial injury may leave you wary. I recommend, hiring an experienced therapist that has a history with nerve damage and muscular injury.
When a nerve is over stretched the conventional treatment is Physical Therapy. However releasing the muscles surrounding the nerves are worth being focused on. In the lower lumbar region, the nerves most likely to be affected are categorized as the lumbosacral plexus. A series of nerves that affect the following muscles:
- quadratus lumborum
- gluteus medius muscle
- gluteus minimus muscle
- tensor fasciae latae
- obturator externus
- inferior gemellus
- quadratus femori
- gluteus maximus muscle mainly S1
- gluteus medius muscle
- gluteus minimus muscle
- tensor fasciae latae
- tibialis anterior
- tibialis posterior
- extensor digitorum brevis
- extensor hallucis longus
It may be helpful for your therapist to address the above mentioned muscles.
How It Works
Your first session will include an evaluation of testing your lumbar range of motion and a verbal questionnaire of your physical limitations as well as movements including your work and exercise routine. After a trauma, the brain recalls the incident and may cause occasional muscle spasms. These lower back and hip muscle spasms may be brought on by the slightest movement and cause the person sudden sharp pain , leaving them in a state of vulnerability and frustration. Sadly, this may last for decades.
Depending on the severity of the nerve stretch, the damage may be permanent and leave the person with a lifelong commitment to implementing Massage Therapy to alleviate the muscular spasms. In cases such as these, it is the nerve that dictates the spasms, however, if the muscle can be “trained” through neuromuscular re-education to decrease in tension and prevent severity, it may lead to a shorter duration in muscle spasms and may significantly reduce the potential of frequency for the spasms to occur.
The same way a nerve conducts through the muscle and compels it to act, is the same method a therapist utilized the external stimulus of soothing the nerve to re-educate the nerve and allow it to loosen its grasp and lessen the intensity of future muscle spasms.
It is unfortunate when trauma and accidents occur, it is even more unfortunate when many people suffer needlessly without knowing the benefits of manual therapy for nerve damage. It can assist in leading a higher quality of life by lessening the affects of pain due to chronic nerve damage.
