Numbness: Watch out for muscle atrophy

Patients often show signs of numbness in the fingers, numbness, ants at work, at night or when waking up. In fact, the above signs are carpal tunnel syndrome which is a condition of middle nerve compression due to increased pressure in the carpal tunnel.

With the above symptoms, patients with low numbness should often go for acupuncture or herbal medicine, the condition can last for months to years. Examining and not diagnosing the disease often leads to complications of muscle atrophy and reduced function of the hand.

The cause is often due to fracture of the head under the rotating bone, thickening of the ligaments of the wrist, inflammation of the folded veins, traumatic hematoma, soft tissue scarring, active cysts, bone shoots, dislocations . Common muscle met in people who worked on exertion, pre-menopause, nutritional disorders, pregnancy, etc.

Clinical symptoms : the majority of women (60-65%), aged 40-65 years old, often appear in the pre-dominant hand, numbness and crawling at the fingertips. Sensitive to cold, often numb at night and stiff at night. This condition will last long, leading to complications between the middle and atrophy of the hands.

Electromyography will help diagnose the middle nerve damage in the wrist.

Differential diagnosis is needed with rheumatism, trauma, diabetes .

Contingency should not be done with exertion, related work repeatedly. When a fracture, rheumatism, . need proper treatment.

Medical treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs, injections of corticosteroids only work temporarily.

Surgical treatment: resolution of the middle nerve and cutting the ligament ligament often results in high results. The surgery method is simple, gentle, just need local anesthesia, small incision and no sequelae. Numbness signs and feelings of ants will disappear in a short time. After surgery, you need to practice physiotherapy to help restore your wrist function.

If you have the above symptoms, you should visit an orthopedic trauma specialist, do not take acupuncture and taking herbal medicines to prolong the time and complications of the disease.

Master - Doctor NGUYEN DINH PHU