What Is It? What Are the Common Causes? What Are the Warning Signs?
If you’re experiencing a wide range of symptoms in your arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers and toes, you may be one of the more than 20 million Americans suffering from some level of peripheral neuropathy. This condition is also known to cause problems with digestion, urination and circulation.
The common warning signs of peripheral neuropathy include:
- Numbness
- Cramping
- Prickling or tingling
- Burning pains
- Sharp electrical pains
- Balance issues, often leading to falls
- Interrupted sleep due to foot pain
What Is Peripheral Neuropathy?
Your brain and your spinal cord use the peripheral nervous system to communicate with the rest of your body. The peripheral nerves also provide sensory data to your central nervous system. When there’s damage to your peripheral nerves, those lines of communication are adversely affected, causing a number of things to happen.
What Are the Common Symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy?
When you’ve had any kind of trauma or damage to your peripheral nerves (those on the outside of your brain and spinal cord), your body may react in many ways:
- You can experience muscle weakness
- You may struggle with coordination or keeping your balance
- It’s common to be extremely sensitive to touch
- You may experience progressive numbness, tingling or prickling sensations in your hands or feet, or throughout your arms or legs
- You may have sharp or jabbing pain, or a throbbing/burning pain
- It can feel like you are wearing socks or gloves, even when you’re not
- You may suffer pain or discomfort from simple things, such as the weight of a blanket on your feet
- You can even develop some paralysis
What Are the Common Causes of Peripheral Neuropathy?
Your peripheral nervous system may be damaged by a wide array of things, from traumatic or accidental injury to illness, infection, exposure to toxins or the use of certain pharmaceutical products. Among the top factors leading to peripheral neuropathy are:
- Diabetes
- Chemotherapy
- The use of medications, such as statins
- Back or neck injury or illness, including herniated or bulging disks and spinal stenosis
- Alcohol abuse
Schedule an Appointment with a Core Medical Center Physical Therapist Today
Take action today to minimize your pain. At Core Medical Center, with offices in Blue Springs, Missouri, we take the time to get to the source of your pain, offering treatment with a long-term approach. To schedule an appointment, contact us online or call our offices at (816) 427-0201 . We have licensed physical therapists on staff.
