What's wrong with my hands and feet being numb and painful

Numbness in the hands and feet is very common, but if it is accompanied by pain, it should be taken seriously as it is not a normal reaction. We know that numbness is most likely to occur when the weather is cold or when the hands and feet are always kept in the same position. After excluding these factors, we need to look for possible disease factors. Many diseases are very serious. So, what causes numbness and pain in hands and feet? Let’s take a look below.

Numbness in the hands and feet is generally caused by damage to the human body's motor nervous system. Numbness or numbness in the hands and feet is generally caused by other primary diseases. Hemiplegia caused by stroke, diabetes, osteoarthritis, neuritis, cervical spondylosis, and lumbar spondylosis are common primary diseases of numbness in the hands and feet.

Numbness in the hands and feet is actually called arthralgia in the field of traditional Chinese medicine. It is an important signal that wind, cold, dampness, and evil toxins have invaded the body. Before the evil poisonous gas invades the internal organs, the first feeling is numbness in the hands and feet, soreness, heaviness, pain and tingling in the limbs. This is the signal sent by the obstruction of the meridians and is also the last line of defense of the human body. If not treated in time, the meridians will be damaged, thus destroying the human body's nerve conduction function system, causing nerve necrosis, and eventually leading to stroke, hemiplegia, myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, and diabetic gangrene, causing lifelong regrets.

Hemiplegia due to stroke

Middle-aged and elderly people often suffer from high blood pressure and high blood lipids. High blood pressure can cause vascular spasm, and high blood lipids can cause vascular sclerosis. In addition, the blood viscosity of middle-aged and elderly people is high and blood flow is slow during sleep. These factors can lead to transient cerebral ischemia and cause numbness and pain in the fingers.

The "stroke" mentioned in traditional Chinese medicine refers to the blockage or narrowing of blood vessels due to various reasons in Western medicine, which is often called embolism and is common in the brains of the elderly. Due to vascular obstruction and poor blood circulation, local tissue hypoxia and ischemia, cell degeneration or necrosis occur, resulting in certain symptoms of functional disorders.

diabetes

When suffering from diabetes, the increase in blood sugar causes a series of metabolic disorders in nerve fibers, including energy and material metabolism disorders, which lead to swelling and even degeneration of nerve fibers, thus causing peripheral neuropathy. The main manifestations of peripheral neuropathy are numbness and pain in the extremities, with a sensation like tingling, burning or ants crawling. The lower limbs are usually more severe than the upper limbs, and may occur on both limbs simultaneously or one after the other. Typically, they are distributed in a glove or sock-like pattern. Sometimes they manifest as hyperalgesia, with obvious pain felt after very slight stimulation. In severe cases, pain may be felt even when putting on clothes or covering yourself with a quilt.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a chronic joint disease characterized by local articular cartilage degeneration, bone loss, bone spur formation at the joint edges, joint deformities and subchondral bone density. It is also known as osteoarthritis, degenerative osteoarthritis, proliferative arthritis and senile arthritis. Long-term illness can cause damage to the nerves around the bones and joints, or insufficient supply can cause numbness in the hands and feet.

Cervical Spondylosis

Due to cervical vertebrae hypertrophy or cervical disc degeneration and protrusion compressing the cervical nerve roots or cervical spinal cord, numbness and pain in unilateral or bilateral fingers can occur, and gradually develop to the upper arm and forearm, and even cause upper limb movement disorders.

General cervical spondylosis will cause headaches, dizziness, numbness and pain in the limbs. Don't worry, it can be relieved by taking active and effective methods. The effect of Western medicine in treating such diseases is not very ideal. In addition to oral medications, the only option is surgery. In general, cervical surgery is not recommended because the neck has dense nerves and there are great risks. Massage and traction cannot relieve the pain.

If you feel numbness in your hands and feet, or even dizziness and vomiting, you should pay attention to the possibility that these are symptoms of cervical spondylosis. The commonly used treatment for cervical spondylosis is to use traditional Chinese medicine such as Jingfukang Granules. It is a traditional Chinese medicine specifically used to treat cervical spondylosis. The medicine contains a variety of Chinese medicinal ingredients. It is not only effective, but also can comprehensively regulate the body on the basis of treatment. Numbness in the hands and feet can be one of the first symptoms of cervical spondylosis, but it is sometimes ignored because the symptoms are mild. Therefore, when you experience numbness in your hands and feet and obvious neck and shoulder pain as well as other main symptoms, you may want to check your cervical spine. The above symptoms may be caused by cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

Neuritis

Peripheral neuropathy most commonly affects the femoral nerve, sciatic nerve, median nerve, radial nerve, ulnar nerve, sural nerve and lateral femoral cutaneous nerve. Early symptoms are mainly sensory disturbances, but electrophysiological examinations often show that both motor and sensory nerves are affected. Clinically, the symptoms are symmetrical pain and paresthesia, with symptoms in the lower limbs being more common than in the upper limbs. Abnormal sensations include numbness, crawling ants, fever, and electric shock-like sensations, which often spread from the distal toes to above the knees. Patients feel like they are wearing socks and gloves. In cases with severe sensory impairment, lower limb arthritis and ulcers may occur. The pain is stabbing, burning, and drilling, as if it is hurting deep in the bone marrow. Sometimes there is a sense of tactile allergy, and even the inability to bear the pressure of the quilt, so the quilt must be propped up. When the motor nerves are affected, muscle strength often decreases to varying degrees, and in the late stage there is nutritional muscular atrophy. Peripheral neuropathy can be bilateral, unilateral, symmetrical or asymmetrical, but bilateral symmetry is more common.

Lumbar spondylosis

Lumbar spondylosis only causes numbness in the lower limbs, and no numbness in the upper limbs occurs. This is mainly caused by compression and other stimulation of the nerves in the corresponding segments of the lesion. The nerve roots in the lumbar spinal canal and their course are mainly distributed in the pelvic cavity and lower limbs, while the nerves and their nerve roots running in the upper limbs are mainly located in the cervical spinal canal. Therefore, if a patient with lumbar spondylosis also experiences numbness in the hands and feet, it should be considered that he or she may have cervical spondylosis. The main reason for numbness in the hands and feet is degenerative changes in the cervical and lumbar spine. Degenerative changes in the cervical and lumbar vertebrae can lead to herniated discs or hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the articular processes in the cervical and lumbar vertebrae. This may compress the nerve roots running through the upper and lower limbs in the spinal canal, or cause numbness in the hands and feet due to compression and stimulation of the nerve roots in the intervertebral foramen by bone hyperplasia of the uncovertebral joint.