Neuropathy

What causes neuropathy?

Neuropathy refers to any disease or injury that affects your nerves. However, neuropathy is often used to specifically mean peripheral neuropathy, or damage to your peripheral nerves, which are all the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.

You can develop peripheral neuropathy due to compressed nerves, injuries, toxins, and certain medications. Numerous health conditions can also cause neuropathy, such as:

• Autoimmune diseases
• Kidney disease
• Viral and bacterial infections
• Hypothyroidism
• Vitamin B12 deficiency
• Blood vessel disease
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Diabetes

Of all the possible causes of peripheral neuropathy, diabetes accounts for 30% of all cases. If you don’t strictly control your blood sugar, high sugar levels damage small nerves, often causing foot ulcers and retinopathy.

What symptoms develop due to neuropathy?

The symptoms you develop depend on the type of peripheral nerve that’s affected. You’ll experience a wide range of symptoms if more than one type of nerve is involved.

Motor nerves

Motor nerves transmit messages from the brain to your muscles. When damaged, these nerves cause symptoms such as muscle weakness, painful cramps, and atrophy.

Sensory nerves

Sensory nerves pick up information from your body and send it to your brain. Damaged sensory nerves typically cause pain, tingling, and numbness along the nerve.

Autonomic nerves

The autonomic nerves control all your essential body functions such as your heart rate and breathing. Damage to autonomic nerves causes many possible symptoms depending on the body function associated with the damaged nerve.

How is neuropathy treated?

The best treatment for neuropathy depends on the severity of your symptoms, the type of nerve that’s damaged, and the cause of the problem. If an underlying medical condition is the source of your neuropathy, treating that condition may give the nerves time to heal on their own.

Bryant Wellness Institute offers multimodal treatment for neuropathy. Emerging studies suggest that mesenchymal stem cell injections can help stimulate nerve growth.

Customized chiropractic care also effectively relieves peripheral nerve pain. Studies show that techniques such as spinal manipulation alleviate nerve pain by relieving compressed nerves. Spinal manipulation can also diminish pain by triggering the release of anti-inflammatory substances.

You may also benefit from other chiropractic techniques. For example, active release reduces stress on your nerves by loosening soft tissues, while nerve mobilization helps reduce nerve irritation and releases nerves that stuck to other tissues.

If you suffer from neuropathy, call Bryant Wellness Institute or schedule an appointment online.