Numbness/Tingling

Brain Control

What controls your shoulders, arms and hands?  The brain talks with the rest of your body through a vast communications system made up of nerves called the nervous system.  Billions of nerves extend from your brain as a large bundle called the spinal cord, travel down your back inside your spinal column and exit between your spinal bones to go to nearly every part of your body. 

Leg Numbness/Tingle

Along with pain there may be burning, pins, and needles, tingling, prickling, crawling sensations or tenderness. Ironically, the leg may also feel numb! To complicate matters, although sciatica pain is usually in the back of the legs or thighs, in some people it can be in the front or side of the legs or even in the hips. For some, the pain is in both legs: bilateral sciatica! 

 Like a Knife 

The quality of the pain may vary. There may be constant throbbing but then it may let up for hours or even days, it may ache or be knife-like. Sometimes postural changes, like lying down or changing positions, affect the pain and sometimes they don’t. In severe cases, sciatica can cause a loss of reflexes or even a wasting of calf muscles. For sciatica sufferers, a good nights sleep may be a thing of the past. Simple things like walking, bending, turning, sitting or standing up can be difficult or impossible. 

 Brachial Plexus

The brachial plexus is made up of nerves that come out of the middle and lower neck and upper back. After they form the brachial plexus they branch off to supply different areas, especially the shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, hands, and fingers. The nerves that make up the brachial plexus may be irritated as they exit the spinal column. This may occur when the spinal bones in the neck and upper back are misaligned and damage the very nerves they are supposed to protect. 

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or CTS is now so common it’s called an “occupational disease.” Symptoms include tingling and numbness in the hand, fingers, and wrist; pain so intense that it awakens you at night and similar symptoms in the upper arm, elbow, shoulder, or neck. “Faulty innervation caused by spinal joint lesions is the one of the main factors in the production of wrist swelling, carpal tunnel syndrome, and tennis elbow.” Increasing numbers of CTS sufferers are seeking out the non-drug, non-surgical approach that chiropractic offers.