Numbness in fingers happens when you have damaged some of the nerves in your fingers or you have a disease causing the tingling sensation in your fingers. Paresthesia is an abnormal nerve sensation which is usually a prickly, burning and tingling feeling caused mainly by damage due to pressure and diseases to the peripheral nerves. Nerve damage in your fingers may have been a result of an accident or a strain to the nerves in your hands and wrists.
Numbness in fingers is one of the common symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The carpal tunnel or carpal canal is a passageway situated on the palmar side of the wrist. It is narrow and consists of connective tissues and bones. A nerve and nine tendons pass through it. When one of the tendons swells it entraps or compresses the median nerve, the nerve that provides feeling, sensation and movement to the hands and fingers, causing numbness in fingers.
Signs and Symptoms that occur with Numbness in Fingers
If you have numbness in fingers you will not only feel the tingling and burning sensation in your fingers but you will also experience symptoms such as dizziness, loss of sensation in the fingers, decrease in muscle tone, decrease in muscle strength, cramping, inflammation of the tendons and tendon sheaths, swollen ligaments of your fingers, pain in your arms, hands and wrist.
Causes of Numbness in Fingers
There are many possible causes of numbness in fingers. You could have an accident while at work that may have injured your fingers which caused damage to the nerves; or you have overused your fingers causing certain injuries and nerve damages. Some underlying causes are pressure on the spinal nerves, compressed peripheral nerves due to enlarged blood vessels, neck injury, scar tissues and tumors. Multiple sclerosis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Peripheral Vascular Disease, White Finger Disease, Diabetic Neuropathy, Lupus and Raynaud’s Syndrome are other diseases and conditions that cause numbness in fingers.
Treatment for Numbness in Fingers
Numbness in fingers can be treated at the comfort of your own home as long as you take the necessary steps in nursing the numbness. If the numbness is caused by overuse of your fingers during strenuous work, you should therefore withhold yourself from engaging in such activity. If you are still experiencing the numbness, you need to consult a doctor. If numbness in fingers is caused by carpal tunnel syndrome, it is best that you consult the doctor right away as the doctor can prescribe the right treatment regimen for you. He will be able to diagnose the condition whether you need surgery or not.
The same is true if you have diabetes since this disease associated with the numbness in fingers is best resolved by a doctor. If you have diabetes, your doctor will discuss possible measures to help control your blood sugar levels. Your doctor should be able find and cure the numbness in your fingers. With proper treatment, numbness in fingers can be cured to avoid any severe complications.
