Numbness or tingling into the hands is actually a very common problem, and with the way we are all chained to our computers and phones these days the problem is only getting more common.
The illustration accompanying this post demonstrate some common locations of numbness or tingling that come from irritation to the nerves of the neck. C5/C6/C7/C8 are referring to the location in the neck which the nerve comes from which supplies sensation to the shaded area in the picture.
To be honest, there are a few different things that might cause you to lose feeling – or even lose strength – in the arm or hand.
Some of the other common problems include diabetes, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, trigger points or muscle shortening in the forearm, ulnar nerve disorder including at the “funny bone”, muscular dysfunction in the shoulder or upper chest, misalignment of the 1st rib, injury or postural disorder of the scalene muscles, as well as an assortment of spinal problems including disc bulges.
The first step should always be identifying the problem. In this case, if you already can tell that you are losing feeling or function of the hand then you’ve finished the first part of the first step. You need to identify the precise nature of the cause of the problem, and that requires a competent “differential diagnosis”, which means you need someone who can tell the difference between all the possible problems I described in the last paragraph. A decent Physical Therapist or Chiropractor can do that, and your Primary Physician or Family Doctor may be able to, as well.
The next step is doing something about it.
At Park Bench Chiropractic both Matt and Rob actually enjoy treating all those things listed above, even disc bulges. We have a pretty good track record of fixing those things, too. If we don’t think we can help you can bet we will refer you to someone more suited. If we think we need to take a closer look we will give you a prescription order for an x-ray or MRI and then we will go over your results with you.
So, if you think you may benefit from what we can offer then please give us a call or an email and get on our schedule. You’ll go through the 60-minute intake visit during which we will perform a physical exam, we will explain what we think the issue is and if we think we can do anything about it, and then we will get started right then and there trying to fix it.