Pinched nerve

For numbness, tingling, burning or shooting pain along an arm or leg, or a weakness that came with it. We find where along the nerve it is being caught, at the spine or further out, and treat that place and the tissue around it.

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Read through

BothWesternClassical

Two lenses, one plan

Wood 木 is the phase it is most often read through. Here the Western lens leads, with the classical lens alongside.

The Western lensAnatomy, physiology, biomechanics

Where along the nerve is it caught?

A nerve can be irritated where it leaves the spine, a radiculopathy, or further out where it passes through muscle, fascia or a narrow tunnel, a peripheral entrapment. The two can look alike, and sometimes both happen on the same nerve.

At the root: In the neck, a root problem tends to send pain, tingling or weakness into a band of the arm and particular fingers. In the low back, the same happens down the leg into the foot.
In a tunnel: Common entrapment sites include the scalenes and the space under the collarbone (thoracic outlet), the elbow (cubital tunnel), the wrist (carpal tunnel) and the buttock (piriformis).
Double crush: A nerve already irritated at the neck may be more easily irritated again at the wrist or elbow, which is one reason both ends of the nerve are checked.

The classical lensChannels, patterns, the five phases

Obstruction in the channels and sinews

Classically, a pinched nerve is a blockage along a channel and its sinew channel, 經筋: numbness is qi and blood failing to arrive, and sharp, fixed pain is stasis. The path of the symptoms usually names the channel.

Points beside the spine: The Huatuojiaji points, 華佗夾脊, sit just beside each vertebra at the level where the roots exit, and are chosen by the segment involved.
Following the arm channels: Arm symptoms are read along the Large Intestine, Small Intestine and Triple Burner channels on the outside of the arm and the Pericardium and Heart channels on the inside, with points chosen along the one that matches.

Patterns we often see

Qi stagnation and blood stasis in the channel qì zhì xuè yū 氣滯血瘀
Wind, cold and damp obstruction fēng hán shī bì 風寒濕痹
Sinews deprived of nourishment jīn mài shī yǎng 筋脈失養

Patterns are examples of how this is often read, never a diagnosis. Yours is read at your visit.

How we work: one plan

One visit can cover the whole length of the nerve: dry needling and orthopedic acupuncture at the spinal segment and the muscles that crowd the nerve, Active Release Techniques nerve-glide work along its path, electro-acupuncture where weakness or numbness is part of the picture, and functional movement corrections for the posture that keeps squeezing it. We work alongside your physician and your imaging, not instead of them.

What a pinched nerve is

Pinched nerve is the everyday name for a nerve being squeezed, stretched or irritated somewhere along its path. Where that happens makes all the difference.

At the spine. As a nerve root leaves the spine it can be irritated by a bulging or herniated disc, a bony spur or a narrowed opening. Doctors call this a radiculopathy: cervical radiculopathy sends symptoms into the arm, lumbar radiculopathy into the leg, as in sciatica.
Further out. Peripheral nerves also pass through tight spaces. The brachial plexus runs between the scalenes and under the collarbone (thoracic outlet syndrome); the ulnar nerve wraps the elbow (cubital tunnel); the median nerve passes the wrist (carpal tunnel); the sciatic nerve runs under the piriformis.

When to get urgent care

Get emergency care first, or call 911, for: weakness that is getting worse, a foot drop or a hand that suddenly will not grip; loss of bladder or bowel control or numbness in the saddle area; clumsy hands with new trouble walking or balancing; severe, sudden pain, or symptoms after a fall or with fever or unexplained weight loss.

Why muscle and fascia matter to a nerve

A nerve needs room, blood supply and the ability to glide a little each time you move. Muscles that guard a sore neck or back, trigger points, and fascia that has thickened after strain can all crowd a nerve or pin it so it cannot slide. Posture adds to it: a head carried forward narrows the space for the arm nerves, and long sitting loads both the lumbar roots and the buttock. Pain and dysfunction are rarely at the same address, so the place you feel it may not be where the nerve is caught.

How we work with it

The evaluation traces the nerve with movement, strength, sensation and nerve tension tests, then treats along its length in one plan, one visit, with one practitioner:

The needle reaches where no hand can. Dry needling and orthopedic acupuncture go to the deep muscles at the spinal segment, the scalenes, the forearm or the hip rotators, and to motor points. Needling is thought to act on the tissue, on how the spinal cord gates the pain signal and on the brain's own descending pain control.
Nerve-glide work. Active Release Techniques move the nerve through its path while tension is held on the tissue around it.
Electro-acupuncture for numbness or weakness, see electro-acupuncture.
Movement. Functional movement corrections for the posture or habit that keeps narrowing the space.
Channel points. Classical acupuncture along the channel the symptoms follow, and distal or mirror-image points on the opposite limb when the area is too irritable to needle.

We work alongside your physician and your imaging, not instead of them. Together we track where the symptoms reach, grip or ankle strength, and which positions still switch them on.

Questions people ask

What does a pinched nerve feel like?

Often a line of pain, burning, tingling or pins and needles along an arm or leg, sometimes with numbness in particular fingers or toes, or a weak grip or ankle. Unlike a sore muscle, it tends to travel, and certain positions of the neck, back or limb can switch it on or off.

Can acupuncture help a pinched nerve?

It may help, especially as part of a combined plan. Needling aims to ease the muscles and fascia crowding the nerve and to change how pain signals are processed, and nerve-glide work helps the nerve move freely again. Whether it fits your case depends on where and how badly the nerve is caught.

Can a pinched nerve in my neck make my fingers numb?

Yes. Nerve roots in the lower neck supply the arm and hand, and irritation there can be felt mainly in the fingers. The same fingers can also go numb from a nerve caught at the elbow or wrist, so both ends are checked.

Is a pinched nerve the same as sciatica?

Sciatica is one kind of pinched or irritated nerve, the sciatic nerve in the leg. Pinched nerve is the wider term and covers the neck, arm, hand, chest wall and leg.

Should I wait for an MRI before I come in?

Not usually, unless your physician has asked you to, or you have any of the urgent signs on this page. If you have imaging, bring the report. Many pinched nerves are worked out from the pattern of symptoms and hands-on tests.

From the journal

This is general wellness information, not medical advice.

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