Spinal nerves might cause numb hands ASK DR. H MITCHELL HECHT

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Spinal nerves might cause numb hands ASK DR. H MITCHELL HECHT


Q. For about a year, my hands (especially the fingertips) get numb at night. Recently, it has been happening during the day too. I have to shake them out for a few minutes to get back normal feeling. My doctor says it's from nerves in my spinal cord. I believe it's a circulation problem, since my hands turn white in the winter or in cold water. I am a 54-year-old woman who exercises a lot, doing aerobics and working with dumbbell weights. Does this have anything to do with it?

A. I do agree with your doctor that the numbness has to do with nerves rather than circulation. But I believe it's injury to the nerves in your hands or wrists, not your spinal cord. If it were the latter, you'd be describing neck/shoulder pain. Those dumbbells may be compressing the nerves in your hands when you grip them. If that's the cause, your symptoms should clear up within a few weeks of stopping that part of your exercise regimen. Still another possibility related to the weights is carpal tunnel syndrome caused by the extreme bending of your wrists during lifting, irritating the median nerve in your wrists. Again, give your wrists and hands a rest for a few weeks and see if they get better. If not, I'd see a neurologist or hand specialist.

While you do describe symptoms that sound like the circulatory condition Raynaud's phenomenon (an abnormal blood vessel constriction in response to a stimulus like cold), with it you'd see pain over numbness. Also, the warmth of a bed m
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