The situation, when suddenly the little finger is numb, arm or leg, is familiar to many: fell asleep in an unsuccessful position and woke up in the morning with pain in his hand. For most people suffering from numbness, everything goes without a trace, but the cases are different, it is important not to miss the symptom of a more serious disease.
Of course, one should not overly dramatize the situation, but one needs to be examined and find the reason why the little finger is numb after all. Numbness of fingers or scientifically carpal tunnel syndrome was rare until 1980. Such a diagnosis began to be made since the 90s, when the general computer boom began. The number of people who use computers is increasing many times a year. And daily sitting at a computer keyboard is the main cause of risk and the development of carpal tunnel syndrome. Still at risk for this disease are those people who make the same type of hand movements every day . For example, seamstresses, painters, joiners.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can occur after a certain tension, tendon edema occurs, as a result, pressure is placed on the nerve, which is responsible for the sensitivity of your palm, index, middle or ring finger. Tendons and nerve pass through one, very narrow channel. Even a slight swelling of the tendon, squeezing the nerve, leads either to the numb little finger or another finger taken separately, or to tingling and numbness of all fingers, and sometimes to severe pulsating pain localized in the palm. Interestingly, pain and other symptoms of this syndrome usually appear at night or in the morning.
If you do not consult a doctor in a timely manner and do not undergo a course of treatment, this may cause the muscle that controls the movement of a finger to simply die. As a result, a person will not be able to bend the ring finger or will not be able to clench his hand into a fist. Because of this, a huge number of people have to change their favorite profession. Carpal tunnel syndrome is more susceptible to women, statistics show this. Until now, people over 40 have suffered from this disease, today there are already complaints from young people after 30 years.
Recently I read on the Internet that a young girl at the age of 25 complains that her little finger and the ring finger of her left hand are numb. This is a very alarming signal, as it means problems in the work of the heart and even the approach of a stroke. Therefore, it is impossible to delay a visit to the doctor in this case.
It happens that the thumb on the left hand goes numb. What can this tell us? With numbness of the middle, thumb or forefinger of the left hand, accompanied simultaneously by weakness and pain from the outside of the hand, we are talking about symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis. If numbness is temporary, this may be due to squeezing of the hand when measuring pressure or with an uncomfortable position of the hands relative to the body, as well as with tight clothing. If we remove the pressure factor, then the numbness will immediately pass, and you can not worry.
If numbness of the hands is regular, then doctors call it chronic numbness and recommend that you undergo an examination to find out the cause of the disease. Pain and numbness of the hands and fingers with cervical osteochondrosis appear as a result of compression of the nerves of the cervical spine and blood vessels, providing nutrition to the fingers, hands and arms. Such compression can be caused by the formation of an intervertebral hernia, or by changes in the intervertebral discs and joints, or muscle spasms and proliferation of ligaments in cervical osteochondrosis.
What to do if the little finger is numb, the ring finger or thumb on the hand? If numbness in your fingers is associated with osteochondrosis by following these tips, you can help yourself a lot. First and foremost - move more, turn your head from side to side, tilt up and down (but not back). Second - lower your shoulders down, perform self-massage of the neck and forearms. Third, do gymnastics for the cervical spine, which one, the doctor will tell you.