Peripheral neuropathy is damage to the nerves of the peripheral nervous system caused by disease, trauma, or toxins. Peripheral neuropathy affects motor, sensory and autonomic nerves. Your symptoms will depend on the type of nerves affected and may include:
- Damage to the sensory nerves can cause loss of sensation including numbness, tingling and pain
- Damage to the motor nerves can cause loss of motor function including weakness and difficulty walking.
- Damage to autonomic nerves can cause urine incontinence, constipation, diarrhoea, dizziness, fainting and impotence.
What are the effects/symptoms of a peripheral nerve injury?
The symptoms of a peripheral injury will depend on the type of nerves affected. Symptoms may include:
- Muscle weakness, wasting and muscle twitches
- Loss of sensation including numbness and tingling, decreased proprioception (balance) loss of coordination and ability to detect pain
- Burning, stabbing or shooting pain (neuropathic pain)
- Problems with autonomic function including fainting, dizziness and bladder and bowel function.
Physiotherapy for peripheral neuropathy
Physiotherapy treatment will improve your mobility and balance as well as your ability with daily tasks important to you. Treatment will depend on your individual symptoms but may involve:
- Individualised exercise program to strengthen muscles and improve fitness levels
- Passive movement of muscles and joints
- Weight bearing through a joint
- Balance training to reduce the risk of falling
- Gait re-education to facilitate mobility and promote independence
- Soft tissue massage
- Task-specific sessions using graded discrimination tasks, attentive exploration of objects without vision and feedback.
- Pain management. Hydrotherapy treatment relaxes muscle and increases circulation. This type of treatment can also reduce pain and will enable you to maximise your mobility within the water.
- Advice about walking aids, orthotics, callipers and wheelchairs.
- Improving safety with everyday tasks