Question
Hi Mr. Gold,

Let me give you a little bit of my history:  Almost 2 years ago I was injured on a roller coaster (I came out of the seat, landed wrong, and got severe whiplash).  Ever since then I've had neck and back problems -- I'm 15.  I've tried 3 courses of physical therapy (which only aggravated the problem), massage, chiropractic care, etc., etc.  Three of my doctors have told me that I have "the tightest traps" they've ever felt, so I am now scheduled for Botox injections in my neck, trapezial muscles, and down my C and T spine.  After seeing a neurologist, I was finally diagnosed with cervical plexus and brachial plexus neuralgia.  I guess this is because I also have numbess and pain that radiates down my arms (?).

I've been unable to really do anything phyically, and the only time I'm not in excruciating pain (still in SOME pain though) is when I'm laying flat on my back -- no walking, sitting, standing, etc.  I've been out of school for almost 6 months now as well.

Now for my question: For the last three days I've been having pain from the lower lumbar region of my spine (I'd guess L4-L5), down my right leg.  I also have numbness, and my right foot feels very, very cold compared to my left one.  The pain is mostly down the BACK on my leg (from the L4 area to the back of my knee), but there's no pain in my calf.  The pain in my thigh almost feels like when you hit your elbow (that weird, almost "stinging" sensation).  This has gotten worse over the past few days, and today, I can barely walk at all.  Depending on the position I lay it, I can temorarily make it go away, but especially when I walk, sit straight up, or lean forward, it gets much worse and I almost lose all sensation on my foot.  Could this be sciatica?  Or an extension of neuralgia?  I know that there's not much that you can do for nerve pain (I've tried everything, but no medication helped so I just deal with it on my own), and I've had numerous MRIs and x-rays which show nothing but mild scoliosis and a reversal of the natural curvature in my C-spine, so I wouldn't really want to go back into the neurologist if there's nothing they can do anyway.

Thanks so much if you can help!

Answer
Dear Mel,

It's not true that there's not much you can do for nerve pain.  Actually, it's a pretty basic situation, some of which you already understand:  you have very contracted neck muscles, and that contraction includes muscles that go down your spine.  You have nerve impingements (entrapments) from those muscles being tight.  You need to learn to relax the involved muscles (to the degree of being able to relax them, again).

No medication or surgical procedure can deal effectively with the problem, but training to improve control of those muscles can.  It doesn't take very long with the correct approach -- a few sessions.

I'm referring you to a list of practitioners in the field of somatic education.  You can expect complete relief in a few sessions. The list is found at somatics.com/practitioners.htm.  There is a link there to practitioners, worldwide (I regret to say, there are occasionally problems with that link, coming from the website it leads to; if you encounter a problem, try again in about a day).

If no practitioner exists nearby, I will recommend a self-help program I have developed based upon the principles of the field.  It's slower going, but effective.

So you know what I'm recommending, see articles at somatics.com/page4.htm, particularly the one on whiplash injuries.

You'll see it makes sense.

with regard,
Lawrence Gold