People talk about their nerves all the time. “That guy really gets on my nerves.” “She has nerves of steel!” “I wanted to say something but I lost my nerve.”
But what exactly is a nerve? How important are they to our overall health?
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, a nerve is “a glistening white cordlike bundle of fibers, surrounded by a sheath, that connects the nervous system with other parts of the body.” They send impulses or messages throughout the body much like electricity flows through wires in your home connecting switches and lights and appliances.
We have 23 pairs of cranial nerves that attach to the brain and 31 pairs called spinal nerves that are attached to, you guessed it, the spinal cord. There are three types of nerves:
Automatic Nerves―control involuntary or partially involuntary activities like temperature regulation, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, etc.
Motor Nerves―control movement by sending messages between muscles, the spinal cord, and the brain.
Sensory Nerves―send messages from skin and muscles to the brain like when you’re feeling some kind of pain.
The nervous system is made up of the brain, spinal cord, sensory organs, and nerves that connect the nervous system to the rest of the body. It is broken down into two parts, the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System. The Central Nervous System is made up of the brain and the spinal cord, and the Peripheral Nervous System is made up of hundreds of nerves that come off your Central Nervous System.
Spinal nerves are both sensory and motor, which means they send information to the Central Nervous System as wells send messages or commands to the peripheral system.
Nerve Disorders
Some of the more common disorders if the nervous system are:
- Alzheimer’s
- Bell’s Palsy
- Cerebral Palsy
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Epilepsy
Because the spinal column runs down the spine and has nerves going to various parts of the body, they can sometimes become “pinched” between two vertebrae. This can be due to a fall or impact from an accident or it can happen from degeneration of the discs that cushion the vertebrae or the development of bone spurs. The result is numbness, tingling, burning, and soreness along the nerve.
Chiropractic treatment is very effective in the treatment of pinched nerves. Using specific spinal adjustments through hands-on manipulation, the spine is brought into proper alignment, relieving pressure on the nerves.
At North County Pain Relief, we treat pinched nerves, herniated discs, auto accident injuries, and other spinal and skeletal problems in a relaxed and welcoming environment. Through gentle spinal manipulations and adjustments, we can help you regain a better range of motion and return to a pain-free life. We treat the health and wellbeing of every patient with the utmost importance. Call us at (314)731-4201 and schedule a free consultation to find out what your best course of treatment is. We provide other services such as electric muscle stimulation, cryotherapy, hydrotherapy, intersegmental traction, moist heat therapy, and physical rehabilitation.
