How to Get Rid of Pins and Needles in Your Hands
This happens when you least expect it: for one minute your hand functions as usual , and then it is partially numb and wobbly, and you feel like it is being pricked with pins and needles. In other words, your hand has fallen asleep.
The medical term for this is paresthesia , and it occurs when pressure is applied to the nerve supplying the limb. According to Anthony Kuri, MD, orthopedic surgeon at the University of Toledo Medical Center [update: as of December 2020, Kuri is now affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine ], the most common reason our hand falls asleep is because we lie on them in a bent position while we sleep. This causes blood flow to the nerve to stop, which in turn causes numbness or tingling sensation.
Why and where is it happening
Numbness is usually felt in the thumb, index and middle fingers, Kuri tells Lifehacker. If you feel numbness in your little finger and / or ring finger, it is usually due to excessive flexion of the elbow during sleep, which causes constriction and decreased blood flow to the ulnar nerve.
Meanwhile, if your entire arm is numb, it means that you either slept improperly on your shoulder , which reduced blood flow to several nerves in your arm, or slept with your neck in a strange position, affecting the nerves running directly from the spine. Kuri explains. At this point, your arm and / or hand may feel a tingling sensation – a “needle and needle” sensation – or just numbness. Either way, you are probably looking for a way to get rid of it.
How to get rid of pins and needles
Whether this happens when we sleep or just sit on the couch in front of the TV, our first reaction is often to shake our hand and / or hand to try to regain the feeling or remove the needles. It does help improve blood flow to the nerve, Kuri says, but simply relieving pressure from sleeping or sitting on the couch usually allows the sensation to return.
You can also try clenching and then unclenching your fist, ” Doctor Nikola Djordjevic told Lifehacker. “This technique can improve blood flow to your hands and weaken nerves, eliminating the feeling of pins and needles,” he says.
Is there a way to speed up the process?
While we would like to inform you that there is a quick way that will return your hand to its normal state in a few seconds, unfortunately it does not work. Kuri says there is no evidence that one method provides faster relief than the other, but notes that some reports suggest that sensations do seem to return faster when shaken or squeezed.
How to prevent pins and needles
If you notice that your hand is often asleep when you wake up in the morning, Kuri says there are several things you can do to prevent this from happening. First check which fingers are affected. If it’s primarily your thumb, index, and middle fingers, you can try over-the-counter neutral wrist braces overnight. Conversely, if you notice that your pinky and ring fingers are the first to be affected, you can try wearing an elbow pad at night, or simply rolling up a towel and placing it on your elbow while sleeping. This often prevents numbness on awakening.
How to tell if it’s a sign of something else
If you notice that your arms, hands, feet, or legs are regularly numb and the methods above are not working, this could be a sign of another medical condition, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or multiple sclerosis. It is recommended that you talk to your healthcare professional at this point. But in most cases, the feeling of pins and needles in your hand simply means that the nerve is temporarily pinched and you should be back to normal soon.
This story was originally published in August 2011 and was updated on December 15, 2020 to provide more complete and up-to-date information, as well as add a new header photo and align content with the current style of Lifehacker.