The hallmark sign of a severely “pinched nerve” is any assortment of these symptoms: pain, numbness, tingling, burning, and aching. Often times the pain seems to travel along a path. For example “sciatica” basically means pain traveling down the path of the sciatic nerve which is at the back of the thigh and into the calf. A subluxation in the spine is what causes these symptoms, although many times nerve pressure can occur without any of these signs and symptoms at all. This is similar to a car with its front end out of alignment, or its tires not rotated properly. Often times we don’t realize or understand the problem until months later when we notice our tires are wearing out. By then it’s commonly too late and a new set of tires are needed. It’s a little tougher to replace our spine. Problems like this in our car and in our spine are easily avoidable. Research has shown that compression to a nerve that equals approximately the weight of a dime will cause a decrease in that nerve’s ability to function by 50%.