Associated symptoms | Chest pain due to nerves and adjacent structures

Associated symptoms

The accompanying symptoms can be quite different. Nevertheless, the pain is almost always accompanied by sensitive disturbances or failures, depending on what exactly is the cause of the incarceration. More rarely, a reduction in strength in a particular muscle can also occur.

Unlike the fulminant herniated disc, however, this loss of strength is hardly noticeable. Rarely, it can also lead to sensations of discomfort, which manifest themselves in the form of tingling or slight pricking. All these symptoms can, but do not have to occur with every pinched nerve.

Diagnosis

As a rule, the area in which the pain spreads provides a fairly clear indication. If the area of pain which the patient indicates can be assigned to a so-called dermatome, i.e. runs roughly along the ribs, this considerably strengthens the suspicion that it is the damage or entrapment of a nerve which emerges directly from the spinal cord. A reliable confirmation can – if it is an incarceration due to a herniated disc – be an MRI or in exceptional cases a CT scan. –

Treatment

Depending on the type of entrapment, it must also be treated differently. As already indicated, most of the problems of modern Western society are due to poor posture or incorrect or insufficient spinal load, which is why in most cases it can be treated with conservative measures. Physiotherapy, which should however be continued at home, is usually the method of choice here.

In addition, physical therapy can also be used. If the incarceration is indeed a herniated disc, conservative therapy is preferred first. If there is a sufficient improvement, one can leave it at that.

If this is not the case or the pain comes back gradually, surgical removal of the herniated disc nucleus may be indicated. If a constricted nerve exit hole is the problem, it must be surgically widened. If, however, spondylolisthesis is the cause, a stiffening of the affected spinal segments may be indicated.

As a proven household remedy, the use of a heat or grain cushion is recommended in most cases. If a hard muscle tension or a kind of pulled muscle is the cause of chest pain due to an entrapped nerve, the application of heat can loosen the muscles and thus loosen the entrapment. But also a well-considered physiotherapy can partly contribute to relieve the pain by correcting the incorrect posture and stretching possibly shortened muscle parts again.

Forecast

A prognosis on the duration of the healing process is difficult and highly dependent on the underlying disease and its treatment. While a simple “vertebral blockage” usually solves the problem in almost no time at all through manual therapy, the treatment of a herniated disc can sometimes take years before pain relief is finally achieved.