Finger Pain and Numbness

Finger pain and numbness is a common health syndrome that most of us must have experienced at one point or the other. It is not a disease in itself, but can be one of the early symptoms of some health disorders. Our hand is the most important and used part of the body, which does a variety of functions like eating, holding an object, typing, etc. Since the nerves in our hand are responsible for causing numerous finger muscle movements, excessive use of our hand and fingers can cause severe pressure on the nerves, leading to symptoms like finger numbness and finger pain.

The condition is often accompanied with other symptoms like pain, pins and needles, or a tingling or burning sensation generally around the thumb, index finger, middle finger, and the half of your ring finger which is next to your thumb. Apart from these, the person may also develop a weakened grip, especially in the thumb region. Hence, all these symptoms including finger pain and numbness can be a combined effect of various, unlimited repeated hand and finger motions that have over a period of time strained the finger and hand muscles. Though it is not a life-threatening condition, there are various contributing factors for its occurrence.

Causes

The two most common causes are Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI) and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). As the name says, RSI is a stress injury occurring apparently due to a cumulative effect of many years of inconsiderable physical stress that has accumulated and resulted in swelling and inflammation of soft tissue between the finger bones and tendons. Basically the soft tissue is made up of cartilage, sheath and fascia tissue, and it provides necessary support for proper movement and acts as a cushion to keep the bones and tendons from wearing against each other. Hence, accumulated pressure and strain on these significant shock absorbers can lead to conditions like finger pain and numbness.

Likewise, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which is another prime cause, is a type RSI of hands and wrists. This conditions occur as a result of aggravating, repetitive stress on the finger nerves, causing damage, swelling or inflammation of cartilage, fascia tissue and tendon sheaths. Hand numbness, finger joint pain, clumsiness, severe wrist pain, etc. are some common symptoms associated with carpet tunnel syndrome, which usually aggravate at night and can even result in chronic sleep loss.

Besides these two major causes, finger injury, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, bone tumor, finger sprain, blood circulation problems, etc. can also be some other probable causes for finger pain and finger numbness.

Treatment Options

In most cases, no treatment is required as the pain and numbness resolves on its own. However, in conditions where the symptoms tend to worsen, try shaking and re-flexing your fingers to reduce the numbness. Perform some mild finger stretching exercises and avoid straining your finger muscles by doing heavy lifting, or too much of keyboard typing. If the pain is intense, you can opt for some over-the-counter pain killers or anti-inflammatory medications. However, if you notice no change in the condition and the discomfort prevails for long durations of time, consult your doctor for appropriate treatment.

In order to overcome finger pain and numbness, avoid resting your wrists or fingers on hard surfaces and even working with your hands too close or far from the body. While doing tasks that demand excessive use of your hands and fingers like keyboard typing, ensure that you take regular breaks from repeated hand movements in order to give your fingers and wrists time to rest.