If you experience numbness and tingling into your arm and hand, cervical nerve flossing stretches have been found to be helpful to relieve the symptoms. Recent studies have shown the benefits of these types of stretches:
- A July 2020 Journal of Hand Therapy study on the long-term effect of neurodynamic technique vs. exercise found: “neurodynamics therapy was superior in improving function and strength and in decreasing pain.” (1)
- A November 2020 study of 120 carpal tunnel patients found that: “desensitization maneuvers of the central nervous system resulted in similar outcomes to surgery.” (2)
- A December 2020 BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders study found that patients receiving nerve mobilization had a nearly two-point greater VAS improvement. (3)
- A recent JOSPT systematic review found that, in addition to improving outcomes for neck and back pain, neuromobilization may have merit for lateral epicondylalgia via “significant improvements in pressure pain threshold, pain-free grip strength, neurodynamic test ROM, and pain scores.” (4)
There are 3 nerves that travel from the neck down into the arm: the median nerve, radial nerve and ulnar nerve. They can get compressed at different joints from the neck, shoulder, elbow and wrist. When there is trauma to the joint there can be edema and fibrotic scar tissue that prevents the nerve from gliding properly. The nerve can be pinched at one joint, called a crush syndrome or more than one joint called double or multiple crush syndrome.
During examination, a doctor can tell which nerves are being affected. Then these 3 simple cervical nerve flossing stretches can assist to help provide relief. Dr. Russell Brokstein demonstrates them for you:
Nerve flossing helps glide the nerve back and forth along its path to aide in releasing adhesions that might have developed over time.
It’s important to note that if you feel pain during these stretches or your condition gets worse to let me know or talk to your doctor. These are just to help in treatment and provide temporary relief. They don’t fix the problem. As your top rated chiropractor in Freehold, NJ, I advise people to always get checked to find the actual cause of the problem so we can correct it.
If you found these stretches helpful, I recently shared another great flossing stretch. You can watch it on our other post: Simple Stretch to Help Neck Pain and Pinched Nerve