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Severe lumbar nerve pain

Spine Health | Last Active: Jul 31 9:37am | Replies (56)

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@jenniferhunter

@sb4ca I noticed your comment about carpal tunnel pain waking you up. I wanted to share my experience with thoracic outlet syndrome that very often wakes people at night because they are laying on the shoulder compressing the same nerves that affect carpal tunnel. With TOS, when you raise your arm up to or above shoulder height, it starts to compress the nerves and vessels in the shoulder (between collar bone and rib cage). If you sleep on your side, your arm may be out at shoulder height for balance. Also neck positions can being it on if the pillow height isn't keeping the neck aligned while sleeping. I would wake up at night with an arm totally numb and it could be the one on top that I was not laying on or the one I was laying on. This involves both diminished circulation and compressed nerves.

I know you're mentioning scoliosis, and if that is affecting your chest and rib cage, it may be altering the space between the rib cage and collar bone perhaps making one side a smaller space. Some people naturally have less space there, and injuries like a whiplash can cause TOS injuring the muscles where the nerves are passing through from the spine to the shoulder. Your neurologist is a good specialist to ask about TOS. I have also had carpal tunnel surgery which didn't solve everything because TOS was missed many years ago.

The good news regarding TOS, is conservative treatment with physical therapy and Myofascial Release is often better than a surgery that would just create more scar tissue and may not solve anything. This is how I got started in Myofascial Release. I was told I had a slight thoracic "functional scoliosis" that was caused by fascial tightness pulling harder on my left side. That has resolved because of MFR work with my physical therapist. I don't know if I've told you about MFR before, and I wanted to mention it.

Here is our discussion on MFR.

Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
Jennifer

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Replies to "@sb4ca I noticed your comment about carpal tunnel pain waking you up. I wanted to share..."

Why thank you for even noticing that Jennifer! Yes, when I see the neurologist I do plan on bringing these symptoms up. If it gets worse, I'll see him outside of my annual exam. I'm familiar with TOS as I previously had thoracic plexitis and TOS was a differential. I am prone to compressive neuropathies in general and if I recall correctly, even had genetic testing related to that in some way. All that was part of my CIDP diagnosis so it's a blur all these years later.

I don't think the numbness is waking me up though for sure there is some numbness. It feels like the same pain I had before I had the carpal tunnel surgery and it feels more painful in my wrist, not my hand. Weird huh? Is that more of a TOS or a carpal tunnel symptom? It's possible I'm sleeping differently too because I don't want to sleep on the side that hurts.

I fully support myofascial release therapy. In fact, I researched that years ago and found one through a national website where you can look for therapists that specialize in this particular therapy. I saw him for close to a year. At the time I had a diagnosis of myofascial pain syndrome that was a precursor to the degeneration of my cervical spine that ended up with my fusions. I have never understood why there are not doctors that specialize in fascia disorders. Frankly it seems like an overlook aspect of healthcare that affects so many people in so many ways. And not just connective tissue disease. Put me in your cheering section!