Pins and Needles
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Does your foot ever fall asleep? Feels like pins and needles and takes a while to get back to “normal“? Then you do a little dance to try and wake up the area. When you sit, stand or lay in one position too long, you lose blood and nerve flow to the “asleep” area. Usually it’s not a problem unless something is falling asleep in your everyday activities.
After having my baby girl in February, I noticed while driving in the car, my right foot was going to sleep quite frequently. Now this is not only annoying, but can be dangerous, as my right foot is the pedal foot! If I shifted in my seat I could get the feeling to come back. During pregnancy your body takes on a lot of stress through the pelvis and low back. Which can cause an instability of your joints.
Numbness or tingling in your legs or arms are caused by nerves that exit out of the spine. When you have problems in your legs, the nerves involved are from the lumbar spine or your “low back”. A flattening of the lumbar lordosis can contribute to the problem. There are a few simple ways to help with proper spinal position while sitting:
1. Make sure both feet are touching the ground evenly.
2. Make sure you are sitting square in your chair and don’t have one hip forward, making your spine slightly twisted.
3. Use a lumbar support in the back of any chair to allow your spine to have the proper alignment. This lumbar pillow is a great one to have for your chair. Everlasting Comfort 100% Pure Memory Foam Cushion. It allows your lumbar spine to have a proper lordosis.
Arms are another limb that go numb a lot! We have patients that come into the office that have let the numbness and tingling go so far that they can’t even hold a coffee cup in their hand! (This would kill me as I LOVE my coffee.) The nerves involved in the arm numbness and even weakness are the cervical nerves. Specifically, the brachial plexus. Injuries that can cause these type of problems are: whiplash, falling off a horse, or even poor posture (just to name a few). My arm issues come from carrying a car seat carrier and a 13 pound baby! (Only 3 months old and has doubled her weight already! ) The cervical curve is just as important as the lumbar curve.
When you have a flattened cervical curve (think “c” curve flattening), you put more pressure on the nerves exiting the lower neck vertebrae. We tell patients to roll up a simple dish towel or hand towel and lay on it for 10-15 minutes a day. When you do this there are little nerves called proprioceptor nerves (which are nerves that know where you are positioned), that are reset. This allows the neck to “revert” back into proper position and with time and proper adjusting along with muscle work allow the curve to be restored. Here is an example of “normal(ish) curve vs. flattened reversed cervical curve“.
Once the numbness and tingling has resolved, it is important to strengthen the muscles to allow for the body to hold the correct “new” position. In the lumbars it is important to do core strengthening exercises. Think of a rubber band around your waist. When you strengthen your core you are strengthening your low back muscles as well. (In cases of scoliosis, it’s very important to add simple core strengthening exercises to help stabilize.) With the cervical spine you want to make sure you help keep proper head posture. Not allowing the chin to jut out from your body. You want the head to be centered over the shoulders.
Pay attention and make sure your limbs aren’t falling asleep regularly. If they are go get evaluated from a chiropractor. As the longer you put off the problems the worse they can become. (Note: Not being able to pick up things, or even stand very long.) Catching the problem and correcting it quickly will result in less tissue damage and the hope of not loosing function.
~Dr. Lacey~
Carder Chiropractic Clinic, Inc.
El Reno, OK 73036
