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Cervical Radiculopathy is commonly known as a “trapped nerve,” but that phrase fails to capture the agony it causes. It is a condition where a nerve root in the neck is compressed or irritated, sending shockwaves of pain down the arm.
Unlike a muscle ache, nerve pain is relentless. It can feel like a toothache in your shoulder, a burning strap around your forearm, or electric shocks shooting into your fingers. It is often accompanied by numbness, pins and needles (paresthesia), and in severe cases, weakness in the hand or arm.
This condition can be terrifying. You lose the ability to find a comfortable position. Sleep becomes impossible because lying down changes the pressure on the nerve. You worry about permanent damage or the loss of function in your hand.
At Breakthrough Pain & Performance, we specialise in the non-surgical management of radiculopathy. We understand that nerve pain is driven by three factors: Mechanical Compression, Chemical Inflammation, and Neural Sensitivity. By addressing all three, we can relieve the pain and save the nerve.
The nerves exit the spine through small tunnels called foramen. If these tunnels narrow, the nerve gets squeezed. This is Foraminal Stenosis. It can be caused by a disc bulge, a bone spur (osteophyte), or simply a loss of disc height due to dehydration.
When you tilt your head back or turn it towards the painful side, you close the tunnel further. This usually triggers a sharp spike in arm pain (Spurling’s Sign).
However, the tunnel size is dynamic. It changes with posture. If you have a forward head posture (“Tech Neck”), you are perpetually closing the tunnels in the lower neck (C5-C7). We treat the mechanics. We improve the mobility of the upper thoracic spine (upper back) to take the extension load off the neck. We teach you how to open the foramen using specific postural cues. By physically opening the space, we give the nerve room to breathe.
Often, patients have a small disc bulge that barely touches the nerve, yet the pain is excruciating. This is Chemical Radiculitis.
When a disc is injured, the nucleus (the gel inside) leaks inflammatory chemicals. These chemicals are highly toxic to nerve tissue. They cause a chemical burn on the nerve root. This inflammation makes the nerve hypersensitive. It starts firing danger signals spontaneously.
This is why mechanical traction alone often fails; it doesn’t wash away the chemicals. We focus on Neuro-Lymphatic Drainage. We use manual techniques to pump fluid away from the neck and armpit. We stimulate the lymphatic system to clear the inflammatory soup surrounding the nerve root. Once the chemical irritation subsides, the nerve becomes much more tolerant of the mechanical compression.
Why do some people with terrible neck MRIs have no pain, while others with minor issues have severe pain? The answer is often Double Crush Syndrome.
Nerves are like hosepipes. If you step on the hose at the neck, the flow reduces but continues. If you also step on the hose at the elbow or wrist, the flow stops completely.
A nerve that is irritated at the neck becomes vulnerable. If it is then compressed further down the arm—perhaps by tight muscles in the shoulder (Thoracic Outlet), the forearm (Pronator Teres), or the wrist (Carpal Tunnel)—it screams in pain.
We trace the entire nerve path. We treat the “second crush” sites. By releasing the tension in the pectorals, the scalenes, and the forearm muscles, we lower the total load on the nerve. Often, treating the arm fixes the neck pain because the cumulative irritation drops below the pain threshold.
We assess your nerves using Neurodynamic Testing. We gently move your arm to see how well the nerve slides. In radiculopathy, the nerve is often “tethered” by scar tissue or inflammation. It doesn’t slide; it stretches. Nerves hate being stretched.
We use Neural Sliders to treat this. Unlike stretching (which pulls both ends of the nerve and aggravates it), sliders pull from one end while releasing the other. This flosses the nerve through the tissue tunnels, breaking down adhesions and restoring blood flow (axoplasmic flow) inside the nerve.
The most common levels for entrapment are C5, C6, and C7.
We identify the exact level involved. This allows us to target our treatment precisely to the specific vertebrae and muscles involved.
1. Safety First: We check for severe weakness or loss of reflexes that might require surgery. If you are safe, we proceed.
2. Decompression: We use gentle manual traction and positioning to open the foramen and relieve the pain immediately.
3. Desensitisation: We use P-DTR to calm the hypersensitive nerve root.
4. Integration: We fix the posture and movement patterns (like shoulder hiking) that are compressing the neck.
This clinic is for you if:
We help you put out the fire in your arm.
