However, if hand numbness happens from time to time, we should pay enough attention to it, and we must find the cause of hand numbness, because it is often accompanied by nerve compression or injury. Let's start with hand numbness or something.
Cervical spondylosis is common in people who bow their heads for a long time, such as copywriters, programmers and teachers. The neck is pulled forward and downward by the gravity of the head for a long time, so the neck muscles are easy to strain, the curvature of the cervical vertebra is easy to straighten or bulge, and the degeneration of the cervical intervertebral disc is accelerated, which is easy to cause cervical spondylosis. Cervical spondylosis can also be seen in the elderly, which is due to the degeneration of cervical intervertebral discs with age. The protruding cervical intervertebral disc compresses the cervical nerve root, making the corresponding innervation areas of the nerve (upper arm, forearm, palm, back of hand, fingers) feel numb and painful, and in severe cases, muscle atrophy will occur. Therefore, hand numbness caused by cervical spondylosis should be accompanied by numbness and/or pain of the ipsilateral upper limbs, not just the hands.
Carpal tunnel syndrome: At this time, it is the most common peripheral nerve compression disease, mainly due to various reasons, the pressure in the carpal tunnel increases, and the median nerve is compressed by the edema and proliferation of the transverse carpal ligament in the carpal tunnel, resulting in nerve dysfunction in the corresponding control area at the distal end of the median nerve.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is mainly manifested as numbness and pain in the radial side of the palm and the 3 rd and 4 th fingers of the radial side. In severe cases, it will cause hypoesthesia, thenar muscle atrophy and thumb strength weakening.
2. Elbow tunnel syndrome: Elbow tunnel syndrome is a neurological syndrome caused by the compression of ulnar nerve at elbow, which is related to elbow joint stenosis caused by ligament hypertrophy and proliferation caused by improper elbow joint position or repeated excessive flexion and extension.
When the ulnar nerve passes through the elbow, it is damaged due to compression, especially when the elbow joint is excessively flexed or flexed for a long time, patients often feel numb and uncomfortable in the ring little finger, which may cause pain in the elbow area and radiate pain from near and far. When the ulnar nerve is seriously damaged, it can cause muscle atrophy of interosseous muscle and thenar muscle, and claw hands can appear in the late stage.
3. Carpal ulnar tunnel syndrome: When the ulnar nerve passes through the wrist, the carpal ulnar tunnel or tendon sheath cyst composed of narrow bone and tendon ligament is compressed and damaged. The main manifestations are numbness and pain in the ulnar side of the palm, the little finger and the ring finger when bending and extending the wrist. In severe cases, muscle atrophy of thenar muscle and interosseous muscle will occur, and the ring, little finger and claw will be unable to walk.
How to distinguish whether hand numbness is caused by cervical spondylosis or peripheral nerve compression?
First of all, we can judge that cervical spondylosis often causes numbness and pain, including upper arms and forearms. Carpal tunnel syndrome is mainly characterized by numbness of 3 ~ 4 fingers on the radial side of the palm. Carpal tunnel syndrome often causes numbness from the elbow to the little finger below the ulnar side of the forearm. Carpal tunnel syndrome is mainly characterized by numbness of the ulnar side of the palm, the ring finger and the little finger.
Secondly, you can do some simple physical examinations to distinguish. If you raise your head, lower your head or tilt your head to the affected side to the maximum extent, it will cause numbness and pain in your arms and hands, which may be cervical spondylosis of nerve root type. At this time, cervical MRI is needed to confirm the diagnosis.
If hitting the middle of the wrist will aggravate palm numbness, it may be carpal tunnel syndrome; If you touch the thickened or fusiform ulnar nerve at the elbow and feel tenderness, it may be cubital tunnel syndrome; When patients with carpal ulnar tunnel syndrome squeeze the ulnar side of the wrist, it will aggravate the ulnar numbness of the hand. This should be diagnosed by electromyography of upper limbs.
Patients with cervical spondylosis can relieve their symptoms through multiple activities of cervical spine, cervical traction and oral medication. Patients with prominent symptoms that seriously affect their lives, or with muscular atrophy, should receive surgical treatment as soon as possible. When the symptoms of hand numbness caused by peripheral nerve compression are mild, oral analgesia and nutritional nerve drugs can be used for conservative treatment. When the symptoms are severe, surgery is needed to release the compressed nerve. If the treatment is not timely, irreversible nerve damage may occur.
If your hands are numb and don't relieve for a long time, you can simply identify the causes of nervous system symptoms through the above small methods. Of course, timely medical treatment can relieve symptoms to the greatest extent, preserve nerve function and reduce nerve damage.
Only medical orthopedics, update the popular science knowledge of orthopedics every day, let you see intimate, practical and reliable little knowledge.
If you or your family and friends have problems related to orthopedics, please recommend "only medical orthopedics" to them and send them a healthy gift!