Starts visit one
Pain
Protect it and calm the nerve down.
A protective splint and gentle desensitization for an oversensitive scar or nerve, so daily contact stops being painful.
What We Treat
Nerve injury and nerve pain treatment in Vancouver, WA.
Burning, tingling, or a patch of skin that stopped feeling like yours after a cut, a crush or a surgery. A nerve that has been injured heals on its own timeline, and there is real work to do while it does.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like your hand or arm?
- A patch of skin that feels numb, tingly or oddly distant from the rest of your hand
- Burning, buzzing or electric sensations that were not there before an injury or surgery
- A finger or thumb that will not move the way you are telling it to
- A scar that is sensitive to the lightest touch, or one you avoid touching at all
- Dropping things because you cannot fully feel what your hand is holding
- Being told to “give it time” after a nerve injury with no plan for what to do while you wait
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
A nerve heals slowly, and the brain needs help relearning it.
Nerves in the hand and arm can be injured by a cut, a crush, a stretch, a fracture, or the surgery that repairs any of those. Unlike a healed bone, a repaired nerve regrows slowly, sometimes over many months, and the sensation or movement it controls comes back gradually, from the injury site outward. Meanwhile, the brain's map of that hand can go quiet in the areas the nerve no longer reports on clearly, which is part of why the skin can feel strange even where the nerve is recovering.
That recovery is not something to just wait out. Protecting the area, desensitizing an oversensitive scar, and retraining the brain to recognize signals from the healing nerve all shape how much function actually returns. A cause-first evaluation identifies which nerve is involved and what stage of recovery it is in, then builds the plan around that stage specifically.
The Honest Truth
An unused nerve pathway does not stay ready on its own.
If you keep waiting
- Muscles the injured nerve controls keep losing strength while they wait for signal
- A sensitive scar you keep avoiding gets harder to desensitize the longer you avoid it
- You keep compensating with your other hand, which gets harder to unlearn over time
If you start this week
- You leave visit one knowing which nerve is involved and roughly where recovery stands
- A protective splint if the area needs guarding while sensation is still returning
- A plan with an endpoint: you always know which phase you are in and what is left
Nobody regrets starting too early. Read our reviews and you will find people who wish they had come in sooner.
How We Fix It
Four phases. Built for a healing nerve.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here is what the four phases look like for nerve injuries and nerve pain.
As sensation returns
Prime
Retrain the signal.
Sensory re-education helps your brain relearn what the healing nerve is telling it, and nerve glides keep the pathway moving freely.
Once signal improves
Perform
Rebuild the strength the nerve lost.
Graded strengthening for the muscles that nerve controls, so grip and coordination come back with it.
Before discharge
Prevent
Test the hand against real tasks.
We confirm the hand can protect itself and do the job it needs to, since a nerve-affected hand may need to relearn caution around heat and sharp edges too.
Amy is an absolute pleasure to be a patient of. I lacerated my thumb at work towards the end of August and had some nerve damage because of it. She’s been incredibly helpful with her techniques and exercises and I’m steadily getting better. Also incredibly personable and a joy to talk with on a variety of subjects but we’ve mostly been nerding out over film and television, would recommend this clinic all day long.
Shared by Zach S. · Nerve injury
Where you start: a patch of hand that does not feel like yours
Where the plan ends: signal, strength and confidence back in that hand
Nerve injuries
Pain to Prevent
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for a nerve injury.
That depends on the nerve, how it was injured and how it was treated, so we cannot promise a specific outcome on a website. What we can promise is an honest look at where recovery stands at your evaluation, and a plan that gives the nerve and your brain the best chance to relearn each other.
Very common after a nerve is injured or repaired near the skin. Desensitization is a structured, gradual process we teach you, starting with textures you can already tolerate and building from there. It is uncomfortable at first and it works.
That depends on what the evaluation finds, so we tell you after we look, not before. What you get either way is a plan with an endpoint. You will know which of the four phases you are in, Pain, Prime, Perform or Prevent, and what is left before you are done. No open tab of appointments.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person from our front desk calls you back to get you scheduled. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
- Hours Mon–Fri 7:00am–5:00pm · Sat–Sun closed
- (360) 989-1200 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- One-on-one with a licensed Occupational Therapist, every visit
5.0 · 146 Google reviews
Your request goes straight to our front desk
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during clinic hours to get you on the schedule and tell you what to bring.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Gabbert Clinic
- 7710 NE Greenwood Dr # 150, Vancouver, WA 98662
- (360) 989-1200
- Fax: (360) 583-3442
- admin@gabbertclinic.com
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Mon–Fri 7:00am–5:00pm
Sat–Sun closed