Many people , especially those of older age groups , are familiar with the feeling of tingling , "crawling", awkwardness , numbness in the hands , especially at night. However, the symptom can occur at any age. The main and most common reason why hands go numb at night is cervical osteochondrosis or salt deposition in the cervical spine. This disease occurs in 70% of the population over the age of 50 , but the process begins after overcoming the 30-year milestone. Now more and more often you can find osteochondrosis in adolescents.
Among other causes of discomfort in the hands, there are diseases of the heart and circulatory system , atherosclerosis , vascular atherothrombosis , diabetes mellitus , hypertension , polyarthritis of small joints , inflammation in the nerves themselves , a lack of B vitamins. In the absence of any pathology, numbness in the hands may occur with an incorrectly selected pillow or an unphysiological position of the body and , above all , hands , during sleep. Many people have a habit of sleeping with their arms thrown up or under their heads , which makes it difficult for blood circulation in the upper limbs.
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How numb hands at night
Unpleasant sensations can be very diverse in their localization. It is very rare to find numbness of the entire arm.
More often, any part of it , which depends entirely on the cause of the disease:
1. Cervical osteochondrosis , spondylosis , hernia or protrusion of the intervertebral discs of the cervical spine , especially when the pathological process is localized in the lower cervical segments ( C5-C7). It is from this part of the spinal cord that the nerves that go to the arms come out.
In this case , depending on the suffering nerve root , numbness can be localized:
- along the inner surface of the arm , from the shoulder to the tips of the 5th and half of the 4th fingers of the hand ( C7);
- on the back of the shoulder and forearm , the back of the 2nd and 3rd fingers ( C6);
- along the side of the arm to the thumb and forefinger ( C5).
2. Carpal tunnel syndrome - compression of the nerves leading to the hand , in a narrow channel formed by the bones of the wrist. Occurs during prolonged activity associated with the same type of load on the hands by the type of flexion-extension movements ( working at a computer , playing musical instruments , assembling parts , assembly line). In this case, numbness of the entire hand or its parts is observed strictly below the wrist , sometimes there is numbness of the fingers. The overlying parts of the hand are not involved in the pathological process.
3. Polyarthritis of the small joints of the hand. It is characterized by the presence of manifestations only in the fingers.
4. In case of pathology of the shoulder or elbow joints, symptoms will occur in the underlying sections of the upper limb.
5. Diabetes mellitus and other metabolic disorders ( liver disease , kidney disease , endocrine pathology). This also includes the abuse of alcohol and nicotine , since the mechanism for the development of pathology is very similar. Numbness at the same time has an "ascending" character , begins with more distant departments and gradually , over time , "rises" upwards. This happens as larger vessels are involved. Usually two hands are affected at once , the sensations are symmetrical.