Causes Behind The Sensation Of Pins And Needles

Everyone experiences paresthesia at least once in their lives. Think, for example, of when you’ve been sitting cross-legged for too long and you have the sensation that your limb has “fallen asleep.” Or it can happen while you are asleep, often because your arm or hand has gone numb from being twisted under your head.

This “pins and needles” sensation occurs when certain nerves are pressured and are unable to send signals to the brain relating to movement or sensation. Some forms of paresthesia are temporary and benign – and can be resolved by shifting your body’s position.

However, if this symptom is recurring, chronic, or getting worse over time, you should seek an accurate diagnosis: paresthesia can be a telltale sign of a severe condition affecting your musculoskeletal or nervous system (e.g. sciatica, neuropathy, multiple sclerosis).

In this guide, we’ll look at what paresthesia is and what causes pins and needles sensations. We’ll also look at how the whole-person approach –Neuragenex Neurofunctional Pain Management – can help you address the systemic inflammation and chronic pain at the root of your condition without medications or surgery. Let’s get started.

Recognizing The Prickly Sensation

Pins and needles is a condition medically known as paresthesia. This refers to burning or prickling sensations that are commonly felt in the limbs but can spread to any area of the body.

The most common culprit of paresthesia is sustained pressure on a nerve. This can occur when you are lying in a certain position for too long or sitting with your legs crooked under your body.

Depending on what nerve is pressured, you may experience pins and needles in the following locations:

• Hands
• Feet
• Arms
• Legs

If these sensations are caused by temporary pressure on a nerve, changing position will restore the normal function of your limbs in no time. However, in some cases, recurring paresthesia or numbness that spreads from your limbs across the body can indicate a severe underlying condition, including damage to the nerves in the central or peripheral nervous systems.

Other Symptoms Associated With Pins And Needles

Paresthesia usually manifests itself with pins and needles sensations. However, you may also experience a wide range of symptoms in the areas affected, including:

• Burning
• Itching
• “Skin crawling”
• Numbness
• Tingling
• Pain (sometimes described as dull)

Paresthesia usually happens without warning and can develop in a matter of minutes when a nerve is compressed. If it derives from a pinched, damaged, or irritated nerve, these sensations can also continue spreading over time.

In particular, when it is a symptom of nerve damage (neuropathy), paresthesia tends to occur first in the fingers and toes, only to progress towards the hands, feet, arms, and legs. This occurs due to a phenomenon known as “axonal degeneration” or “dying back.” This phenomenon dictates that the first nerves to be affected by damage are the ones further from the spinal cord and the brain (i.e. those serving the limbs) to protect more important nerves that support the function of vital organs.

Possible Underlying Conditions

Although pins and needles sensations may occur without an apparent reason, recurring episodes of paresthesia should not go unaddressed.

Whilst this condition is often temporary and can be resolved in a matter of minutes, when it occurs repeatedly or gets worse over time, it may indicate underlying problems with your peripheral or central nervous systems.

Peripheral Neuropathy

One of the most common causes of paresthesia is peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is a condition that leads to progressive nerve damage, thus interfering with the normal transmission of signals from the nerves around your body (peripheral nerves) to the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord). When this transmission is interrupted, you are likely to experience pain, numbness, and pins and needles. It is estimated that nearly 90% of people with neuropathy have painful symptoms that include tingling, burning, and prickling sensations.

Nerve damage can occur due to a range of reasons, including:

• Diabetes (up to 50% of people with diabetes mellitus report neuropathy in some form)
• Exposure to toxins
• Vitamin deficiencies (especially vitamin B12)
• Lifestyle factors (e.g. aging, alcohol consumption, and smoking)
• Certain medications (e.g. chemotherapy)
• Tumors that press on or damage nerves
• Unknown causes (up to 30% of cases of neuropathy are idiopathic)

Besides neuropathy, there are other conditions that can cause you to experience paresthesia or pins and needles sensations. Let’s look at these in more detail below.

Nerve Compression

One of the most common causes of pins and needles is, simply, the sustained compression of a nerve, also known as a “pinched nerve.” Sometimes, such nerve compression occurs due to an awkward position of parts of your body, commonly the limbs. This may be the case if you fall asleep with your arm under your head or sit in a cross-legged position for a while. It may also occur when bumping your elbow against a hard surface or corner.

Recurring episodes of paresthesia may be a sign that there’s something else compressing one or more nerves. These include:

• Abnormal tissue growth next to the nerves, such as tumors
• Swelling of tissues around the nerves
• The narrowing of the canal that houses the nerves, such as in the case of peroneal nerve dysfunction, carpal tunnel syndrome or spinal stenosis
• Abnormal overgrowth of bone (bone spurs)
• Improper mechanics, such as poor posture
• An old or new injury that has caused another component of the body to slip out of place and press on a nearby nerve
• Medical conditions that cause changes in the body, such as a herniated disc pressing on a nearby nerve
• Genetic and hereditary factors, such as having a carpal tunnel that’s too small

An accurate analysis of your symptoms and medical history is necessary to determine what’s causing your nerve compression and pinpoint the best line of treatment for your needs.

Poor Blood Circulation

Poor blood circulation prevents essential oxygen and nutrients from reaching certain parts of the body, which can lead to a wide range of symptoms, including pins and needles. There can be several reasons for reduced blood supply in the hands, feet, or limbs, some more severe than others. These include:

• Lying or sitting awkwardly: The weight of your body can press on blood vessels, which is a common reason for feeling like your limbs have fallen asleep.
• Atherosclerosis: This condition occurs when plaque buildup in blood vessels such as arteries prevents the blood from flowing as it normally should. It can cause sudden numbness and tingling sensations.
• Blood clot: A blood clot can partially or completely block blood flow. This condition can cause numbness, pain, and pins and needles, and, in severe cases, it can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
• Diabetes: Uncontrolled spikes and drops in blood sugar levels can, over time, damage blood vessels, thus interrupting the normal flow of blood.
• Risk factors: Some risk factors, such as smoking tobacco products and being obese, can affect the health of blood vessels and lead to poor circulation.

Diabetes, especially if undiagnosed or uncontrolled, can impair blood flow to nerve endings. This can lead to nerve damage and cause peripheral neuropathy (nerve pain), a condition commonly associated with paresthesia.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative, lifelong condition that affects the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord). If you have MS, your immune system mistakenly attacks the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers, called myelin.

Nerve damage may begin in the hands and feet but tends to progress to other nerves across the body, eventually leading to various degrees of disability. Pins and needles sensations, alongside numbness, tingling, and pain, are some of the early symptoms of MS.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder that causes widespread musculoskeletal pain across the body. The pain caused by fibromyalgia is often described as aching, burning, or throbbing, and it is accompanied by a wide range of symptoms, including paresthesia, mood issues, fatigue, memory problems, and poor sleep quality.

In people with fibromyalgia, painful sensations are amplified due to dysfunction in the way the central nervous system processes painful and non-painful stimuli. It is estimated that today, around 4 million people in the US – or 2% of the adult population – have fibromyalgia in some form.

Sciatica

Sciatica is one of the most common reasons for pins and needles sensations, numbness, and tingling, especially when they occur in the buttocks, hips, legs, feet, and toe areas. Sciatica occurs when the sciatic nerve is pinched, irritated, inflamed, or damaged.

There are two sciatic nerves in your body, one on each side, running from the lower back to the feet. These nerves are among the largest and longest in the body, and they are responsible for transmitting signals relating to touch, temperature, pain, vibration, and movement between the brain and the lower part of the body.