Ack pinched nerve, what do you do?

[ho'ard]

There is a small but real chance that a chirporator can cause a stroke by manipulating your neck. Any responsible chiropractor would not touch you with your described symptoms.

[Paul F.]

A bone cracker can also sever your nerves if you have damaged vertebrae...
My mothers neck surgeon told her in no uncertain terms that if she goes to a chiropractor (or had before her surgury), she'd end up a quadriplegic.

If you have bone spurs or screwed up disks, having a chiropractor work the parts around on the nerve channels is NOT a good idea.

Now, all that being said; there are "bone crackers" and there are good, medically trained, chiropractors.
If a chiropractor tells you about having "unbalanced chi" or how he can cure your allergies and re-align your energies... RUN AWAY!


Oh, yeah.. Advil, stretching excercises (don't overdo it, but try to keep the muscles loose), and some hot-tub time, have worked for me.
Trip to the doctor if it doesn't improve after a few days.

[guitarist]

A cookie jar full of Vicodin, a turkey baster full of liquid Morphine, and a quart of vodka.

Just enough to get you on your feet so you can get yourself to a medical center. I'd say the advice here will likely be somewhat less trustworthy than an accredited, qualified healh care professional.

On the other hand, we're pretty good at fixing computers. The nervous and skeletal system of a human being can't be THAT different....can it?

Make that a quart of bourbon, and two turkey basters full of liquid Morphine.

[testcase]

Vibration. I had bad back pain a couple of years ago. I tried stretching, massage, chiropractic, liniment, hot soaks with & without epsom salts all with only limited success. On day three, I finally remembered that I had a heavy duty massage unit. I placed it on a chair, eased back against it and started with low power (fortunately it had an adjustable control). I was able to increase the power and, after about five minutes, the pain was gone. It returned several hours later albeit at a lesser level. Another session on vibrate gave me until the next day completely pain free. A third session finally ended the pain for good. I can't explain why vibration works; I only know from this and prior episodes that it does work. I was sure that I was suffering only from a soft tissue problem. If you know you have bone problems, proceed with great caution.

[beerman]

I tried heat and anti-inflamatories last night and it helped more than I would have imagined. Hit the chiropractor this morning. He has a table with rollers in it to loosen things up before beginning and it was the first time the rollers had ever hurt. 15 minutes of that and it did start to loosen up though. Then he did the corrections which I will admit were painful (I'm used to the chiropractor), but I have my motion back. I can move my neck around again and the stabbing pains to my arm went away. I'm still super tender between my shoulder blades though. I picked up a small ink jet printer earlier today and wow did that hurt. Instant pain.

Tomorrow I fly out for hawaii with the family. I have scheduled a massage shortly after arriving which I'm hoping will set the tone. Thanks for all the good suggestions, I'm going to keep it up with the stretching and the heat.

[Oyarsa]

P.S. A good Chiropractor would get a full set of x-rays, and MRI if needed before any manipulation, and would refer to a surgeon if the condition warranted.

O-