If your palms feel numb, beware of four types of patients

In daily life, many people have experienced numbness in their palms. Sometimes it is very short-lived, mainly due to squeezing or being in the same action for a long time. The symptoms will disappear after just moving around, and it has no major impact on the body. However, some people experience numbness in their palms not due to the above reasons, but due to some disease, which requires everyone to be vigilant.

The sensory nerves of the fingers are derived from the nerve roots of the cervical spinal cord, forming the brachial plexus in the cervical axilla, and then dividing into the radial nerve, median nerve, ulnar nerve, etc., passing through the upper arm and forearm, becoming peripheral nerves and distributed to the hands and fingers. When the nerves in these areas are damaged, inflamed, have tumors, are compressed, etc., causing abnormal sensation, numbness and pain in the fingers will occur.

Dangers of finger paralysis

Finger numbness is an independent disease caused by damage to the motor nerves of the limbs. It is mostly caused by hemiplegia caused by stroke, diabetes, neuritis, cervical spondylosis, lumbar spondylosis, etc. The tiny blood vessels around the motor nerve fibers are blocked, compressing the motor fibers, causing serious damage to the motor nerve fibers, reduced nerve conduction ability and conduction speed, and numbness of the hands and feet. In severe cases, it may develop into painful symptoms such as limb paralysis and muscle atrophy.

What to do if your fingers feel numb

Finger numbness cannot be treated symptomatically, but the cause must be treated. No matter what causes the numbness in the fingers, you should first go to the hospital's neurology department for examination to determine whether the nerves are damaged and what kind of stimulation they have received.

If it is a neurological problem, an electromyography examination is needed to further confirm the degree, range, and nature of nerve damage. If the numbness of hands and feet is caused by other reasons, the patient will be transferred to other related departments for treatment.

For numbness of hands and feet caused by nerve damage, the choice of drug treatment or surgical treatment should be based on the degree, scope, and nature of the nerve damage. Drug treatment is usually combined with acupuncture and physical therapy to promote rapid recovery. Surgical treatment is to lead the compressed nerves through surgery to relieve the compression and stimulation of the nerves.

The degree of recovery depends mainly on the cause and nature of the neuropathy. If it is peripheral nerve damage (nerves other than the brain and spinal cord), the recovery time is generally longer.

How to prevent numb fingers

1. Use both hands whenever possible. According to the theory that the left brain controls the right half of the body and the right brain controls the left half of the body, always using one hand can only stimulate the side of the brain that controls that hand. People with left-brain dominance should strengthen the use of their left hand and the left side of the body to stimulate the potential of the right brain, balance the relationship between the left and right brains, and enable their coordinated development. Therefore, people who like to use their right hand should exercise their left hand more, such as carrying things with their left hand, closing doors and windows, turning pages of books, practicing writing and drawing with their left hand, and working with their left hand. People who prefer to use their left hand should exercise their right hand.

2. Cultivate finger flexibility. To enable the fingertips to engage in some more precise activities, such as assembling small plastic models, fiddling with small toys, and sharpening pencils with a knife.

3. Enhance the flexibility of the criticism section. This is beneficial for improving the brain's working efficiency. Such as flexing and extending fingers, writing and painting with elbows suspended, knitting sweaters, etc.

4. Exercise the sensitivity of the skin. Insensitivity to touch of the skin means that the brain's sensory center is dull, so the fingers should be exposed to cold and hot stimulation frequently, such as washing hands with cold or hot water.

5. Diversify the activities of your fingers. A monotonous approach reduces finger dexterity and limits the flow of information between the brain and fingers. You can perform various forms of finger exercises, and if necessary, you can also use a fitness ball to exercise your fingers.

When your fingers feel numb, beware of four diseases

1. Cervical spondylosis

The most common disease that causes numbness in the fingers is cervical spondylosis, which is one of the common diseases among middle-aged and elderly people, and the disease tends to occur in younger people. Due to long-term sitting and unwillingness to move, abnormal neck posture, especially prolonged use of computers and mobile phones, the cervical intervertebral discs undergo degenerative changes, leading to cervical disc herniation or hyperplasia or hypertrophy of the articular processes. Once these protruding cervical discs or hyperplastic articular processes compress the adjacent cervical nerve roots, numbness of the fingers occurs. Of course, in addition to numbness and abnormal sensation in the fingers, cervical spondylosis is also accompanied by other symptoms, such as muscle soreness in the neck and shoulders, radiating pain in the upper limbs, or movement disorders. It is not difficult to diagnose cervical spondylosis, all you need is an X-ray.

2. Transient cerebral ischemia

Numbness in the fingers is one of the common symptoms of transient cerebral ischemia, especially when it is on one side, and is more common in the elderly. The disease usually starts suddenly, lasts for a short time, and is often accompanied by other symptoms such as limb weakness, dizziness, and headache. The causes and pathogenesis of transient cerebral ischemia are mostly the detachment of microemboli from the cerebral artery wall, a drop in blood pressure on the basis of cerebral artery stenosis, and cerebral vasospasm. If the above symptoms occur, you should go to the hospital in time for a comprehensive screening of risk factors for cerebrovascular disease, such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, atrial fibrillation, etc., and provide active prevention and treatment.

3. Diabetes

Bilateral symmetric numbness in the fingers is a common symptom of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Epidemiology shows that the prevalence of diabetes among Chinese residents has reached 2.4%, with a total number of 31 million people. The blood sugar of many diabetic patients cannot be effectively controlled, and various complications appear in the early stages of the disease. Therefore, after suffering from diabetes, you must undergo regular and reasonable treatment, control your blood sugar to a normal range, pay attention to supplementing multiple vitamins, and take drugs to improve blood circulation, and the numbness in your fingers will disappear.

4. Peripheral neuritis

Numbness in the fingers accompanied by pain and weakness, which occurs symmetrically on both sides, indicates the possibility of peripheral neuritis, which can be caused by a variety of reasons. The clinical manifestations vary slightly depending on the cause of the disease. If it is caused by poisoning, the pain will be more severe; if it is caused by nutritional metabolic disorders, the weakness and numbness will be more obvious. Generally, the disease progresses slowly and recovery is more difficult.