What is neuropathy?
Neuropathy, also known as peripheral neuropathy, is a general medical term that describes damage to one or more of your peripheral nerves.
Your peripheral nerves relay information from your brain and spinal cord (central nervous system) to the rest of your body. There are three types of peripheral nerves:
Sensory nerves
The sensory nerves transmit sensations from your extremities to your brain. These sensations include touch, temperature, and pain.
Motor nerves
Your motor nerves control muscle function.
Autonomic nerves
Autonomic nerves control unconscious body functions such as digestion, body temperature, and blood pressure.
Your neuropathy may affect any type of nerve.
What are the symptoms of neuropathy?
Neuropathy nerve symptoms vary and depend on the type of nerve affected. Indiana Spine Group specializes in managing painful neuropathy. These types of symptoms may include:
- Dull, aching pain
- Sharp, shooting pain
- Tingling or burning sensation
- Muscle weakness
- Poor balance
Radiculopathy is also a type of painful neuropathy that occurs from nerve compression in the spine. It may affect any part of your spine and cause neck or back pain, as well as numbness or tingling that travels along the route of the nerve.
Sciatica is a type of radiculopathy that causes radiating pain that starts at the lower back and travels into the leg on one side of the body.
How is neuropathy diagnosed?
When you visit Indiana Spine Group with concerns about painful neuropathy, Dr. Gentile conducts a thorough clinical exam. The goal of the exam is to find the source of your pain so he can provide the most effective treatment.
During your exam, he reviews your symptoms, medical history, and conducts a physical. To confirm or rule out neuropathy, he performs electromyography (EMG) and a nerve conduction study.
He may also run blood work to confirm or rule out the underlying cause of your neuropathy.
How is neuropathy treated?
Dr. Gentile primarily treats painful neuropathy with medication. In some cases, he also uses spinal cord stimulation (SCS), an implantable device, to help control chronic neuropathic pain and radiculopathy.
Placement of your SCS is a minimally invasive procedure Dr. Gentile performs in an outpatient setting. He has great success using newer SCS systems from Medtronic, Abbott, and Boston Scientific to treat low back pain.
For relief from neuropathy pain, call Indiana Spine Group, or book an appointment online today.
