Nerve Pain It's best to use cold when the pain is still sharp and move on to heat once that sharpness has subsided. The heat will increase blood flow and help tissues heal faster.
The general rule of thumb for a pinched nerve is to use heat only after you've managed to get the pain to subside a little bit. When the pain first flares up, use ice or cold packs before you use heat. And don't apply heat to the area directly after applying ice. You'll want to wait 30 minutes to an hour at least.
The combination of hot and cold increases the circulation of fresh blood to the area, which may help relieve pain. Hold an ice pack over the affected area for about 15 minutes at a time, three times a day to help reduce inflammation. Heat pads can be applied for a longer period, up to 1 hour, three times a day.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is ice therapy, which works by slowing the blood flow to an affected area of the body. By doing this, it can numb the pain that comes with swelling and inflammation, as well as provide significant relief from nerve pain.
Heat and Chronic Pain Conditions
Any rise in temperature means worsened symptoms, which means a hot summer day can make pain exponentially worse. This problem is so common, it has a name: Uhthoff's Syndrome. Once the heat backs down, symptoms tend to disappear.
Multimodal therapy (including medicines, physical therapy, psychological counseling and sometimes surgery) is usually required to treat neuropathic pain. Medicines commonly prescribed for neuropathic pain include anti-seizure drugs such as: Gabapentin (Neurontin®).
In cases of nerve damage, massage therapy can be useful to relieve symptoms and improve the overall health of a patient. If you are experiencing a tingling sensation, numbness, or pain in some areas of your body, massage therapy may be able to alleviate these symptoms.
Tricyclic antidepressants, such as amitriptyline (Elavil), doxepin (Sinequan), and nortriptyline (Pamelor). These drugs are prescribed for pain at doses lower than are effective for depression. Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), such as duloxetine (Cymbalta) and venlafaxine (Effexor).
Heat opens blood vessels, which can assist the healing process and alleviate some of your pain. Additionally, some arthritis pain from stiff joints can benefit from heat as blood flow increases. Heat can also help loosen muscles when tension headaches strike.
Neuropathy — like most chronic pain — often gets worse as temperatures drop. Blood flow slows in your outer extremities when your body is exposed to cold. Nerve pain — especially in your hands and feet — increases as your circulation decreases.
At night our body temperature fluctuates and goes down a bit. Most people tend to sleep in a cooler room as well. The thought is that damaged nerves might interpret the temperature change as pain or tingling, which can heighten the sense of neuropathy.
SNRIs inhibit the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine at the synaptic level. Duloxetine is the most effective in reducing neuropathic pain.
Heating an area speeds up circulation, which can bring more nutrients to damaged tissues. More heat and added nutrients helps tissues to have more of what they need to start healing. This is because heat dilates blood vessels, increasing blood flow.
Apply heat
The heat will relax the muscles that might be tight around a pinched nerve. Heat also increases blood flow, which can help the healing process.
Higher temperatures can stop nerve fibres from working properly. This means that sometimes messages cannot get through to and from the brain. Because of this you may experience fatigue, weakness, or problems with balance or vision.
Exercise releases natural painkillers called endorphins. Exercise also promotes blood flow to the nerves in the legs and feet. Researchers believe that regular exercise may create a long-lasting expansion in blood vessels in the feet, nourishing damaged nerves back to health.
The good news is that nerve pain is very treatable. Many studies have shown that using nutritional support with lipoic acid 300 mg 2x day, Acetyl-L-Carnitine 2,000 mg a day, Inositol (500-1,000 mg a day), and vitamins B6 (50-100 mg a day) and B12 can actually help heal the nerves and decrease or eliminate the pain.
You can move your neck side to side and up and down or move your legs in a bicycle motion while sitting or lying down. Make it your personal goal to try at least one of these activities. Movement of any kind is better than none.
Key points. Stretching decreases nerve stiffness. Peripheral nerves move and deform during stretching. Pain pressure thresholds increase following stretching.
"It can also help with nerve regeneration and preservation. If there has been nerve damage or diminished sensation, we target treatment in these areas to re-stimulate those nerve fibers." Indeed, studies show that acupuncture is an effective treatment for peripheral neuropathy, with fewer side effects than medications.
It is usually caused by disease or injury. Common causes include: an injury to the brain, spine or nerves. poor blood supply to the nerves.
Try Sleeping in Different Positions
If your chronic pain is caused by pinched or compressed nerves, adjusting your sleep position may relieve some of the pressure. For example, people with sciatica who prefer to sleep on their side often find it helpful to sleep with their affected leg on top.
Regeneration time depends on how seriously your nerve was injured and the type of injury that you sustained. If your nerve is bruised or traumatized but is not cut, it should recover over 6-12 weeks. A nerve that is cut will grow at 1mm per day, after about a 4 week period of 'rest' following your injury.
Numerous clinical studies have found that magnesium has beneficial effects in patients suffering from neuropathic pain, dysmenorrhea, tension headache, acute migraine attack, and others.