Unexplained burning pain in fingers

Many people have experienced a burning sensation in their fingers like a fever without any warning in daily life. When this happens, the patient will feel very uncomfortable and it will affect the patient's daily life. In general, when such symptoms occur, it is due to sensory nerve dysfunction in the fingertips, and the symptoms will be relieved after some activities or after a few hours.

1. Causes of disease

The carpal tunnel is a bony-fibrous tube in the palm of the wrist through which the flexor pollicis longus and four flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus tendons and the median nerve enter the hand. The carpal tunnel is located on the radial side of the wrist and is composed of the carpal bones and the transverse carpal ligament. The transverse carpal ligament is tough and has a thickened proximal edge, which is the main factor in compressing the median nerve. The median nerve is located superficially in the carpal tunnel and is easily compressed by the transverse carpal ligament, causing damage.

The onset of carpal tunnel syndrome is related to chronic injury. The disease is more likely to occur when the hands and wrists are under heavy workload.

There are many causes of carpal tunnel syndrome, which can be roughly divided into three categories:

1. Local factors

(1) Factors that cause carpal tunnel volume reduction: such as Colles fracture, Smith fracture, scaphoid fracture, malformation healing after lunate dislocation, and acromegaly.

(2) Factors that cause the increase of carpal tunnel contents: such as lipoma, fibroma, ganglion cyst, abnormal position of muscles in the carpal tunnel (the belly of the superficial flexor digitorum is too low, the belly of the lumbrical muscle is too high), nonspecific synovitis, and hematoma.

2. Systemic factors

Numbness or burning pain in fingers after sleeping causes waking up (1) Factors causing nerve degeneration: such as diabetes, alcoholism, infection, gout, etc.

(2) Factors that change fluid balance: such as pregnancy, oral contraceptives, long-term hemodialysis, and hypothyroidism.

3. Postural factors: People who overuse their wrists, such as computer operators and disabled people who walk with crutches, have their fingers and wrists flexed and extended repeatedly. Gellman et al. investigated 77 patients with paraplegia and found that 38 of them (49%) suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome.

However, it should be pointed out that for some patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, the cause of the disease is unclear.

Prevention methods

1. When the intensity of hand and wrist labor is high, you should pay attention to rest between tasks to prevent continuous compression of the median nerve in the wrist. Middle-aged women should pay more attention to this when working. In addition, relaxing your wrists before and after work and fully moving your wrist joints can help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.

2. Be careful to avoid taking cold showers during work, and avoid cold stimulation and excessive stretching and flexion. Pay attention to keeping local warmth.

3. For patients who have already suffered from the disease, if their symptoms are relieved after treatment, they should take care to prevent recurrence. Avoid prolonged activities that involve high intensity on the hands and wrists.

4. If patients with fractures or dislocations caused by trauma experience numbness or pain in their fingers, they should go to the hospital for examination and treatment in time to achieve good results.