Peripheral Neuropathy

Your nervous system provides an extensive communication network between your brain and body, enabling you to move, feel and function. It is responsible for involuntary actions like breathing and digestion, and for voluntary actions like walking, grasping and thousands of other physical activities.

Your nerves also send messages to your brain about your body’s position in space, and sensations like heat, cold and pain. When nerves become damaged or destroyed, communications can break down, leading to impaired function, pain and discomfort.

Your body’s nervous system is made up of two parts:

• The central nervous system (CNS) includes your brain and the spinal cord
• The peripheral nervous system (PNS) links your CNS to the rest of your body, including your arms, legs hands and feet.

The peripheral nervous system can be further subdivided into three categories:

• sensory nerves that send messages to and from the skin
• motor nerves that affect muscles and movement
• autonomic nerves that affect your internal organs

Sometimes peripheral nerves can become damaged or destroyed, interfering with their ability to transmit messages to and from the CNS. Pain, numbness, tingling and dysfunction may occur from peripheral nerve damage, a condition called peripheral neuropathy.

Many things can cause peripheral neuropathy, including:

• trauma that causes nerve damage
• auto-immune diseases
• inflammatory infections
• exposure to toxic chemicals
• hereditary disorders
• poor nutrition
• diabetes
• certain medications

Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy often come on gradually, beginning as numbness or tingling in the fingers or toes. The condition may spread to the hands and feet, and may be constant or intermittent. Pain is often worse at night, and usually affects both sides of the body.

Common symptoms include:

• Feeling like you are wearing a glove or sock
• Muscle weakness
• Burning or tingling sensation
• Muscle cramps or twitches
• Jabbing, shooting, or freezing pain
• Heaviness and reduced mobility in arms or legs
• Extreme sensitivity to touch
• Excessive sweating
• Difficulty sleeping due to pain in feet or legs
• Abnormal blood pressure or pulse
• Impaired balance and coordination
• Thinning of the skin

Traditional treatment of peripheral neuropathy is largely geared to pain management. There are a number of drugs ranging from over-the-counter analgesics to opioids to topical medications that are often used to treat peripheral neuropathy pain.

At NYDNR, we take a three-step approach to treating peripheral neuropathy:

If you are looking for peripheral neuropathy relief, the neuromuscular specialists at NYDNR can help. Our goal is to get to the source of peripheral neuropathy and reverse it when possible. We also treat the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy using innovative treatment methods that may include:

• Acupuncture
• Biofeedback
• Relaxation techniques
• Manual therapies

If you are tired of taking drugs that no longer work and want to find alternative approaches to treating your peripheral neuropathy, contact NYDNR today, and see why we are the best peripheral neuropathy doctors in NYC.