If you’ve experienced prolonged numbness in your hands, feet, arms, or legs, you may likely have a condition known as neuropathy. Neuropathy is the result of damage to the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord. Neuropathy is a dysfunction in one or more of the peripheral nerves; peripheral means upper or lower extremities and causes weakness and numbness in the affected area.
While the early stages of neuropathy may feel like a tingling sensation or pins and needles in the affected limb, a pervasive symptom for any stage of neuropathy is typically widespread and chronic nerve pain. But numbness, tingling, and weakness are not the only symptoms. You could also experience the opposite side of the symptom scale with extreme sensitivity to touch or temperature.
Symptoms of Neuropathy Include
- Pain when you walk
- Sharpelectrical-like pain
- Burning and tingling
- Muscle weakness
- Sensitivity to touch
- Difficulty sleeping from leg or foot discomfort (Such as Restless Leg Syndrome)
Regardless of the severity of the symptom, we understand the unpleasantness. Medications have been used to treat neuropathy and neuropathic pain in the past, however, Jaffe Sports Medicine is now using a combination of FDA-approved treatments. Read on to discover more.
Diagnosis Associates with Neuropathy
Neuropathy can be caused by an accumulation of scenarios or diagnoses. To best assess neuropathy, you must first consider any diagnosed diseases or surgeries that may have contributed to your condition.
Spinal surgeries can cause temporary numbness while healing in some parts of the extremities, such as the toes or a finger. Likewise, a common neurological diagnosis is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which is the result of repetitious movement involved with typing or using your hands in a repetitious movement.
For example, if you’re a machine operator or a typist, the motion of your upper extremities each day puts an extraordinary amount of pressure on nerves, which could result in temporary or lasting neuropathy. This is considered a repetitive strain injury and surgery are often performed in this circumstance, with positive results; however, there is occasional neuropathy well after surgery and you may never regain sensation back in the affected extremity. In this circumstance, you would be diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy and may experience pain associated with the numbness.
There are several additional causes and diagnosed impairments associated with neuropathy and neuropathic pain, they are:
- Lasting effect from bodily trauma from sports or motor vehicle accident
- Autoimmune Disorders, such as—Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, InflammatoryArthritis, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Lupus, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Vasculitis
- Chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, like radiation
- Certain infections like Lyme’s Disease
- Inherited diseases, such as Charcot-Marie Tooth Disease
- Vitamin Deficiencies, B12 and D
- Spinal surgeries or other neurological surgeries.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tennis Elbow, other repetitive stress injuries from constant upper extremity motion.
Functional Losses and Your Safety
Depending on your symptoms, we always consider how your everyday functioning will be affected.
How can neuropathy affect your function? Consider for a moment the effects on functioning for a patient who has been diagnosed with neuropathy of the left foot. This patient may have a complete loss of function of their left foot. They are unable to bear weight on the left foot, meaning they would have great difficulty in lifting, pushing, or pulling while performing certain tasks.
In this circumstance, the patient may not be able to complete any meaningful movement with their left foot, so the patient:
- Would be at great risk of falling
- Could experience a severe wound or have an unknown wound that could result in infection.
- Need to use a hand-help assistive device, such as a cane, for stability.
- Have problems walking upstairs.
- Have problems getting in and out of a vehicle.
These are just examples of the effects that having neuropathy in just one extremity can change the way you function daily. The forefront of treatment will be to focus on recovering the loss of damage, if possible, and your ongoing safety.
Treatment and Recovery
In the past, treatments have been limited to a small assortment of pain medications, which can lead to further issues. These options ignored the problem by masking the systems.
Today, we have better and more successful treatment options available to patients.
Jaffe Sports Medicine is providing hope with FDA-cleared treatment options. We are pleased to announce a new program for treating peripheral neuropathy, which includes a combination of therapies that aid in healing the damaged nerves.
The effects of treatment can be felt in the first few visits. Our goal is to reduce pain and numbness while working to restore, stabilize and rebuild the nerve in your extremities. The patient generally feels relief physically throughout the treatment period and even feel better emotionally after experiencing a reduction in pain.
We are confident you will find healing and relief at Jaffe Sports Medicine. Please call today to begin your treatment plan.
Treatment is covered by most major insurances, including Medicare.
TEXT BY M. HIATT