What is Neuritis?

What Causes Neuritis?

Factors Affecting Severity

Treatment for Neuritis

Symptomatic Relief

Prevention of Neuritis

Symptomatic Relief of Neuritis

The symptoms of neuritis can be treated in various ways. Some relieve the pressure on a nerve temporarily while others help reduce the inflammation caused by the joint imbalance. In my experience, none of these treatments remove the primary cause as PMBT treatments do, but they are helpful to some degree.

Exercise to strengthen certain muscles can sometimes create a counter pull against the tight, damaged muscle. This can help realign the joint in some cases, thereby relieving some of the stress on the inflamed nerve. However, if not done properly it could cause increased pressure on the nerve instead. A common neuritis condition known as facet syndrome causes lower back pain in a large number of people. The cause, as you already know, is tight muscles pulling the bones of the spine or pelvis out of their proper alignment. People are often told to exercise to strengthen their abdominal muscles. This does create a counter pull against the tight back muscles, but increases the overall pressure on the discs in the lower spine. This may relieve their back pain to some degree, but is actually going to accelerate the normal wear and tear and subsequent degeneration of those discs. This problem will progress and after a time will probably cause a lot more pain than the facet syndrome. Two wrongs don't make a right. The best solution, of course, is to get the tight muscles of the back restored to normal. After that, exercising the lower back muscles and the abdominal muscles will keep the area strong and more resistant to future muscle strain. In this particular case, the problem is often compounded further by the improper exercises done for the abdominal muscles. The majority of people place most of the stress on their hip flexor muscles instead of their abdominal muscles. This causes even more stress and imbalance in the lower back area.

Unfortunately, since most joint imbalances vary, a generic exercise program can't be designed for many neuritis conditions. And, as you now know, this is really not the best way to treat these problems. Also, it is impossible to isolate and exercise many of the muscles which contribute to most spinal problems. However, if possible, specific exercises would be designed for someone who received some PMBT treatments but could not stay in the area long enough to get their joints totally realigned. Those who get their joints realigned totally would be taught a balanced exercise program to keep their muscles strong and more resistant to over-stress. This helps prevent the problem from returning once the muscles have healed from the treatments.

Stretching can also be helpful at relieving the pain of neuritis. It is most effective when the tight damaged muscles causing the misalignments are stretched. However, stretching all muscles will help relieve the pressure temporarily. If done once or more every day this could help quite a bit. Again, specific stretches would be designed for a patient who could not receive enough treatments to get their damaged muscles restored to normal length. A balanced stretching program would be taught to those who were able to get enough treatments to restore their joints back into total alignment. They would be encouraged to follow it on a regular basis because stretching also helps prevent more muscle damage from accumulating.

A lot of neuritis therapies use heat in some form. Applying heat to short, damaged muscles causes them to lengthen temporarily, thereby relieving some of the pressure on the nerve. This provides some relief, however heat also increases inflammation and makes the problem worse. Using heat to treat neuritis is a two-edged sword. It helps a little in one way but hurts in another. Whatever you do, never apply dry heat to your muscles. Since muscles are around 70 percent water, the dry heat dehydrates them causing them to become shorter. This creates a greater imbalance in the joint making your problem worse. I believe that massaging and stretching your tight muscles will relieve the pressure and pain as much as moist heat without the negative effect of increasing the inflammation.

Nutrition usually doesn't remove the cause of neuritis, but can be very helpful at treating the inflammation and pain. It is one important part of treating any inflammatory condition.

A great deal has been written about treating inflammatory conditions with nutrition so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here. The best foundation is to increase your intake of fruits and vegetables and decrease your intake of fats, grain products and meats. Since most fruits and vegetables leave an alkaline ash after being digested they have an anti-inflammatory effect. They also help reduce excess body fat so you should also become leaner and therefore place less stress on any weight-bearing joint affected with neuritis. There are also many other health benefits from eating more fruits and vegetables, so explore and enjoy the many varieties available.

A number of nutritional supplements have an anti-inflammatory effect. Bromelain, an enzyme from pineapples, and curcumin herb are both good natural anti-inflammatories but must be taken between meals instead of with meals as usually stated on the label. These should be safe for anyone to use 2-3 times a day. Consult a good herb book or nutritionist for other good natural products that decrease inflammation. Even though herbs are natural products and can be used quite a bit without any side effects, I feel it is best to cycle their use. In other words, get three or four products and use one on Monday, another on Tuesday, the next on Wednesday, and the last one on Thursday. Then begin again with the first one on Friday. This should prevent any negative effects that may occur using herbs to excess. Some herbs are quite powerful and should only be used long enough to re-establish balance when an imbalanced situation is present. Always consult a physician knowledgeable in nutrition before starting any supplementation program. This is especially important if you are taking any medication.