Nerve gliding exercises are similar to stretching exercises, except for that you don’t hold the position. If you think of what’s inside a common household extension cord- there is a wire surrounded by insulation which is surrounded by the rubber outside layer. In this analogy the nerve is the wire, the muscles or any inflammation is the insulation, and the outside layer is your skin. It’s possible that tight muscles or that inflammation surrounds your nerve like a spider web and holds it in place too rigidly. You’ll need that nerve to break free from the spider web in order to get normal sensation back. Back to the wire analogy: if you cut the extension cord on both ends and peel back the rubber part to get to the metal wire on both sides, then you drag that wire a little to one side, then drag it back to the other – back and forth – and now you’ll work it into a groove and it will glide easier. This is how the the nerve gliding exercises work. Little by little you break free of the adhesions surrounding the nerve so that it can return to normal sensation. (it’s also a bit like flossing your teeth in that it’ll break the adhesions up (clean out the plaque), but it could also irritate things (make your gums bleed) in the meantime. So, doing just a few repetitions at a time is advised.