Procedure
If a patient comes to the physiotherapeutic practice with a diagnosis of nerve root compression in the cervical spine, the treating physiotherapist will first find out the cause of the compression in a patient consultation. By looking at the medical documents, as well as questioning the patient and a physical examination, the therapist can then begin a therapy that is individually tailored to the patient, in which the first priority is to achieve freedom from pain. To achieve this, the physiotherapist has a number of options.
These include manual therapy, certain massage techniques as well as heat, cold and electrotherapy. But also shock wave therapy, movement training and exercises to mobilize, stretch and strengthen the structures of the cervical spine are used. How exactly the therapy plan is designed and to what extent exercises can be performed always depends on the cause.
In 90% of the cases this is a herniated disc. It is particularly important during physiotherapeutic treatment to give the patient a good feeling for his own body so that the development of later nerve root compressions can be prevented. In many cases it is essential for the success of the therapy that the patient trains the behavioral and movement patterns learned in physiotherapy on his own initiative and performs specific exercises to support the cervical spine so that the pressure on the stressed nerves can be relieved. The articles Pain in the Cervical Spine and Physiotherapy for a Cervical Spine Syndrome may be of further interest to you in this regard.
What kind of massages are used and how are they performed?
Since nerve root compression can often lead to very painful tension in the shoulder and neck area, symptomatic treatment also includes detonating, i.e. relaxing treatment of the muscles. Various massage techniques are available for this. Simple massage grips to increase blood circulation and relaxation are called kneading.
Here the muscle belly is stretched with the hands and warps. Targeted pain points in the musculature can be treated by trigger point massage.Here the therapist searches for a corresponding pain point and holds it with an appropriate pressure for up to 2 minutes. This results in an intensive stretching stimulus and, as a consequence, increased blood circulation and stimulation of the metabolism. Waste products are transported from the muscles and the tissue can relax more. Although the massage techniques have an analgesic effect and can quickly improve symptoms, they do not result in a long-term improvement of the cause, so they should only be used as a supplement to the actual therapy.
