Do you dread waking up in the morning and touching your face? Do you often want to look forward to a bright day ahead of you only to experience a sudden bout of pain after brushing your teeth? Have you been trying to push through the pain but somehow feel more and more anxious that the gentlest stroke of your kabuki brush on your cheeks would make you flinch and burst into tears?

As a trusted trigeminal neuralgia chiropractor in Farmington, Premier Family Wellness and Spinal Care has come across quite a number of patients with a similar story. Men and women at the height of their careers, seniors who want to enjoy their sunset days, and even young teens and kids are not spared from developing trigeminal neuralgia. And most of them experience crippling facial pain that comes and goes without warning. 

Thankfully, several options for trigeminal neuralgia are now widely available for patients. Two examples of these are upper cervical care and percutaneous rhizotomy. So, let’s help you get to know both options and determine which one might be a good fit for your situation.

To learn more about the connection between head and neck injuries and trigeminal neuralgia, download our complimentary e-book by clicking the image below.

Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Nerve Condition With a Mysterious Cause

Now, before we discuss how well a surgeon or a trigeminal neuralgia chiropractor in Farmington can help you manage your condition better, let’s retrace some of the likely causes of your illness.

As you might already know, the potential cause(s) of trigeminal neuralgia remains largely mysterious. Some studies suggest that it might have a connection with vascular compression or blood vessels pressing on the trigeminal nerve root. Others associate it with botched dental surgeries or procedures. Then, there’s also the matter of having misaligned neck bones.

Symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia widely vary among patients. In most cases, the severity depends on what specific branch of the trigeminal nerve gets compressed or irritated. So, you might experience pain around the eye socket, nose, nasal cavity, lips, mouth, and jaws, or just one or two of these areas.

Percutaneous Rhizotomy and Upper Cervical Care: Two Likely Options for Facial Pain Relief

If you would notice, percutaneous rhizotomy and upper cervical care are at two different ends of the spectrum. One requires making minimally invasive incisions to injure the involved nerve roots purposely, so they stop transmitting pain signals to your brain. The other is a natural and non-invasive technique that focuses on restoring the distorted communication pathways between the brain and your trigeminal nerve so the damaged tissue can heal faster. 

Below is a quick list of what you should expect from either of the two options for trigeminal neuralgia relief: 

Percutaneous Rhizotomy

• The surgery uses general anesthesia to numb the body.
• It takes at least 30 minutes to complete the surgical procedure.
• Patients can choose from three percutaneous rhizotomy procedures: balloon rhizotomy, glycerol rhizotomy, and radiofrequency rhizotomy.
• It can cause temporary jaw muscle weakness while the anesthesia wears out and the surrounding tissues in the incised area heal.

Upper Cervical Care

• This technique focuses on restoring the original alignment of your head, atlas, and axis (the top neck bones).
• Each care regimen provided by a trigeminal chiropractor differs based on criteria like how far the neck bones shifted and how long you’ve had the postural misalignment.
• It is a gentle and precise remedy that works wonders for chronic conditions like trigeminal neuralgia. 
• You might feel slight tenderness in your neck and shoulders right after an adjustment but rest assured the discomfort will subside as your spine goes back into proper alignment. 
• This technique applies to a broad spectrum of patients. It’s also highly recommended for patients with neck and head trauma history. 

Live With Less Severe Pain: Work With The Leading Trigeminal Neuralgia Chiropractor In Farmington

We hope our quick discussion on trigeminal neuralgia relief options helps you determine how to manage your situation. Suppose you would like to give upper cervical care a try. In that case, you should schedule your appointment with our cervical chiropractor, Dr. Christopher Perkins, D.C. 

Like most of our patients, you too, might be suffering from intense facial pain because of misaligned neck bones. Try thinking of your medical history and identify events that might have caused your head and neck trauma. To help you jog your memory, here is a quick list of the usual incidents that cause connective tissues of the cervical spine to tear and force the atlas and axis bones out of their normal alignment:

• Head butts with bullies in your class 
• Whiplash injuries from a car collision
• Neck injuries sustained from falling off a horse, bike, or motorcycle
• Intense jerking of the neck during a crazy rollercoaster ride
• Physical abuse that affected the head and cervical spine
• Head-to-head collision with a fellow athlete during a baseball, football, soccer, boxing, basketball, or wrestling match

If you’ve suffered from one or two of the injuries above, you might as well schedule an appointment for neck assessment with Dr. Perkins. This way, you can assess the distance and angle by which your neck bones shifted. A thorough evaluation will also help our team provide the best care possible so you can soon enjoy touching your face, moving your mouth, and doing other activities that you couldn’t because of trigeminal neuralgia. 

Book your consultation with Premier Family Wellness and Spinal Care by filling out our contact form.

To schedule a consultation with Dr. Perkins, call 248-780-8864 or just click the button below area.

If you are outside of the local area you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.