About Damaged Nerves

Nerves are the enclosed bundle of axons located throughout the body. They are part of the peripheral nervous system. Afferent nerves put off sensory signals to the central nervous system (skin, organs) and efferent nerves put off stimulatory signals from the central system to the muscles and glands. Damaged nerves can cause the signals to be slow, weak or absent altogether.

Function

• Nerve damage can be caused by many things. Thus, the cause of damaged nerves is not always immediately known. Physical injury, swelling, autoimmune diseases, infections, diabetes and poor circulation can all cause damaged nerves. Nerve damage can be as simple as a pinched nerve or be much more intensive by nature. When a person has damaged nerves they often feel pain, numbness, weakness or paralysis. They may also have referred pain, which are symptoms in areas away from the site of nerve damage.

Types

• There are three general types of damaged nerves: neurapraxia, axonotmesis and neurotmesis. The least severe form is neurapraxia. It almost always goes away, and the patient completely recovers. The structure of the nerve remains intact; however, during this type of damage, the conduction of the nerve impulse is interrupted. Often, there is compression of the nerve, which disrupts blood flow. There may be a short loss of function, which can be reduced in hours, weeks or months.
  The second class of damaged nerves is axonotmesis, and it's more serious than the first. In this area of damage, the patient may experience paralysis of the sensory, motor or autonomic signals. This happens often when a crush injury occurs. Sometimes, if help is sought soon enough, the damage can be removed, and recovery is promising.
  The most severe form of nerve damage is neurotmesis. Often it occurs with sever contusion, stretch, laceration or toxicity. The axon and the connective tissue lose their continuity in this type of damage. It can be difficult to recover from for any patient.

Identification

• Damaged nerves are often diagnosed by neurologists. These specialty doctors can often find a diagnosis through physical examination, reflex testing, walking and other movement testing, muscle strength testing and sensory tests. Nerve conduction studies and electromyography can also be used for diagnosis.

Prevention/Solution

• There are things patients can do to prevent nerve damage. If a patient is diabetic, he or she can prevent nerve damage by controlling their blood sugar. For everyone else, being physical and staying as healthy as possible is a good prevention tip. Exercise can keep many nerves healthy (especially in the legs and feet). Be sure to ask a doctor which exercises are best.

Warning

• Since nerve damage can occur slowly, it's important to get proper tests done each year. If a patient has had signs of nerve damage in the past, it's even more important to be proactive in getting check-ups.