What causes numbness in hands and feet?

Everyone must have experienced numbness in the hands and feet. This symptom is especially common among middle-aged people. It is similar to rheumatism in Western medicine. There are many reasons for numbness in the hands and feet. It cannot be simply judged what phenomenon causes it. Generally, numbness in the hands and feet is a lesion of qi and blood, which is caused by qi deficiency and blood deficiency. Let us understand what is going on with numbness in the hands and feet.

If you experience numbness in your hands and feet, you should pay attention to it. It is very similar to rheumatism and rheumatoid diseases. There are many causes of numbness in your hands and feet. It is common in patients with diabetes. So what is the cause of numbness in your hands and feet?

Numbness is a symptom of Qi and blood disorders, and clinically, complex changes such as deficiency of the body's vital energy and excess of pathogenic factors, and a mixture of deficiency and excess are common. It is mostly caused by qi deficiency and poor circulation, blood deficiency, rheumatism, and phlegm and blood stasis. The symptom of numbness is based on deficiency of Qi and blood, with wind, cold, dampness, phlegm and blood stasis as symptoms. Although there are many causes of numbness, the pathogenesis is that qi and blood cannot flow normally, resulting in malnutrition of the skin, flesh and meridians. Insufficient Qi and blood, blockage of cold air, poor blood circulation, and inability of Qi and blood to nourish the meridians are the basic causes of numbness.

symptom

Numbness of hands and feet is a disease named after symptoms, similar to various connective tissue diseases in Western medicine (such as rheumatism, rheumatoid disease), nutritional disorders (such as vitamin deficiency), metabolic and endocrine disorders (such as diabetes, hypothyroidism, etc.) and other diseases (such as infection, tumor), multiple neuritis and peripheral nerve damage that occur during the disease process. Some joint strain diseases, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, cervical and lumbar spine diseases, often have numbness, swelling and pain as the main symptoms. Cerebrovascular diseases caused by hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and cerebral arteriosclerosis often present numbness as the main or concurrent symptom.

main reason

diabetes

People with diabetes may experience numbness in their hands and feet. If numbness, soreness, or swelling often occurs in any part of the body, blood sugar should be checked promptly, especially for the elderly.

drug

For example, if you have a cold or diarrhea, it will cause numbness in your hands and feet; if you stay in an environment containing hydrogen, arsenic, carbon disulfide, etc. for a long time, numbness in your hands and feet will also occur.

Neuritis

The most common symptoms of neuritis are numbness of hands and feet, muscle atrophy, and weakness in the limbs. If you have diarrhea or a cold for half a month, it will cause neuritis.

Scattered limbs

Numbness does not occur in the limbs at the same time, but occurs in a scattered manner. This means that local nerves are stimulated, such as a stroke after being drunk, coma causing stimulation of the head nerves, stimulation of the hand nerves by the elderly using crutches, upper limb numbness caused by cervical spondylosis, and leg numbness caused by stimulation of the lumbar shoulder nerves.

Other causes

One is that cerebral thrombosis causes compression and damage to the brain nerves, leading to numbness of the hands and feet. In this case, you need to go to the neurology department of the hospital for treatment. After the diagnosis is confirmed, you can take appropriate drug treatment. Another possibility is that bone hyperplasia in the cervical spine compresses the cervical spinal nerves, causing numbness in the hands and feet. In this case, you should go to the orthopedics department of the hospital, preferably the spinal surgery department, and have a cervical spine X-ray, CT or MRI examination. If the cervical spinal cord is indeed compressed, traction or drugs to treat bone hyperplasia can be used. If the compression is severe and drug treatment is ineffective, surgical treatment should be considered. Numbness in the hands and feet cannot be treated symptomatically, but the cause must be treated. No matter what causes numbness in the hands and feet, 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 will be required to further confirm the extent, range, and nature of the nerve damage. If the numbness of hands and feet is caused by other reasons, then transfer to other related departments for treatment. For numbness of hands and feet caused by nerve damage, the choice of whether to use medication or surgery should be based on the degree and nature of the nerve damage. Drug treatment is usually combined with acupuncture and physical therapy to promote rapid recovery. Surgical treatment is to divert the compressed nerves through surgery to relieve the compression and stimulation of the nerves. The degree of cure 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.

What is the cause of numbness in hands and feet? Everyone should know that it has many causes. If the numbness in hands and feet persists for a long time, you should check it out in time. Sometimes it is caused by some drugs. Neuritis and cerebral thrombosis can also cause numbness in hands and feet. This phenomenon is very serious and the cause must be found in time.