I have been in the Iron Game for over 40 years and have had my fair share of niggles during that time.

These niggles can last for 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months or even 3 years!

The pinched nerve in my neck and resulting tingling down my right arm has been very frustrating for several years and, touch wood, is just starting to subside.

Strange title to this post, you might say, but this relates to the way people perceive the cause of this issue.

How did it start in the first instance? Was it muscular tension that created the nerve impingement (the chicken) or was it a mal aligned spine that kicked things off (the egg)?

IMHO, I believe its prolonged poor posture, particularly forward head posture, that creates the stiffness in the joints, which is then followed by tight muscles, muscles spasms (or knots) and then ultimately nerve irritation.

Many people will seek treatment via remedial massage, physiotherapy and myotherapy, which all have their place.

But treating the symptoms still doesn’t address the root cause of the problem…your spine is out of whack!

So the multi-pronged approach I have used for my pinched nerve has focused on aligning my spine correctly, performing antagonistic stretches, improving my posture when sat at in a chair for lengthy periods, and changing the pillow I sleep on.

Luckily, for me, the spinal alignment has been corrected by my fantastic Chiropractor, Yousef, via Macquarie Chiro (see links below). Yousef is the first Chiropractor I’ve used that has been able to mobilise my very stubborn thoracic vertebrae. And, unbelievably, he did this with a “Full Nelson” wrestling-style manoeuvre!

For anyone living in the South West Metro region of WA, you need to check this fine gentleman out, if you’ve been having ongoing back and/or neck issues.

Now the antagonistic stretches to address the muscular tension and postural correction can be found via YouTube posted by various practitioners. These stretching exercises really helped me, so check out the links below from Stefan Becker’s Channel – “Body Fix Exercises”.

I also got the HR Department at my workplace to change my chair to one that helps me sit more upright. Focusing on keeping my shoulders down and back was important too.

Finding the right pillow was quite literally the final piece to the puzzle. Most conventional pillows exacerbate forward head posture, particularly if you’re a back-sleeper, like me. They also don’t support your neck properly whilst simultaneously restricting your breathing, which in turn disrupts sleep!

I purchased the pillow pictured below from SLUMBLR which looks really weird with the dip in the middle, but trust me, it corrects the forward head posture, supports your cervical spine and definitely opens up your air-ways for better sleep patterns. Worth a try I reckon, and no, I’m not affiliated with this company in any way!

Pinched nerves can be extremely hard to get rid of, but with a holistic approach of finding a great Chiropractor like Yousef, paying due diligence to homework exercises and using ergonomic sitting & sleeping aids, you can move them on! 👍😊

https://mqchiro.com.au/

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0zcNvVnKjCA&si=yg638wQdY7G7xQqw

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NXR2h-fZiio&si=Eiu1MiZsl-wVwh7

https://slumblr.com/products/contour-pillow