Pinched Nerve
Pain, numbness, or a pins-and-needles tingle shoots from your neck down into the arm, sometimes all the way to the fingers. That traveling quality is what people usually mean by a pinched nerve.
What it is
A "pinched nerve" in the neck is often muscular: tension and trigger points in the neck and shoulder muscles can irritate a nerve or refer pain along its path, mimicking nerve-root symptoms. Sometimes, though, it is a true compression at the nerve root in the spine, and telling those apart matters.
What makes it worse
It commonly flares with sustained neck postures, long screen sessions, and a sleeping position that keeps the neck bent or the arm trapped. Stress that ratchets up neck and shoulder tension can feed the same pattern.
How PNMT helps
Your therapist takes your pain history, then measures cervical range of motion and tests the muscles (scalenes, levator scapulae, and others) that can entrap or refer along a nerve's path. If muscle is implicated, treatment is precise work on those confirmed muscles, guided by your feedback, not heavy pressure. If testing points to true nerve-root compression rather than muscle, your therapist will refer you for medical evaluation.
What to expect & how long
Assessment includes testing along the symptomatic nerve's path, repeated as the work goes to map where the symptoms are easing and where they are not. If you develop progressive weakness or spreading numbness, treat that as urgent medical care rather than a session to book. When muscle is the driver, the symptom often eases noticeably once the right contributing muscles are addressed; getting there usually takes a few visits of methodical work along the route the symptoms follow.
What clients say
Sarah is amazing! She is both kind and great at helping to resolve chronic pain. My TMJ has improved so much with her care.
I've been going to soma vida for around 4-5 years. I think at this point for neuromuscular therapy. My coworker recommended it for my back pain. I mostly make appts with Yu, but I think I've had appts with everyone there atleast once. The treatment can be painful but I always come out feeling so light and so much better than before. I've had chronic neck pain from my desk job and other pain in areas that is only fixed by whatever they do here. They truly care about you and want to make sure you leave feeling better.
I've been going to Somavida for years because they are the only place I've found with the right combination of expertise and ability to eliminate pain when I have muscle pulls or strains, and help me stay “tuned up” to avoid future injuries. I spend most of my time working behind a desk and Somavida is a critical part of helping me stay healthy and out of injury from my strained neck and back. I personally work with Yu Suzuki and she is phenomenal. Truly a “pain detective” that has helped me find the root issue with muscle problems countless times. This is a place to come and heal and avoid future injury without medication or judgment. Can’t recommend Somavida enough!!!
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Ready to Address Your Pinched Nerve?
Book a New Client Session and your therapist will identify the source of your pain, then create a tailored treatment plan.
75-minute first visit. Two therapists assess, one treats; every follow-up is one-on-one with your therapist.
Your care isn't shaped by one therapist, the whole Somavida team is behind your treatment plan.