Elbow numbness or tingling

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Elbow numbness or tingling

Numbness is the inability to feel anything when your skin is touched. It may feel like the part you touch does not belong to you. Tingling (paresthesia) is a pins-and-needles sensation, like when your hand falls asleep. If you bump your "funny bone," you may feel intense pain with numbness and tingling shooting down your arm. This feeling is not serious, lasts only briefly, and will go away on its own.

Numbness and tingling may mean that nerves have been injured or pinched, swelling is putting pressure on nerves, or blood vessels have been injured. This can occur gradually from an overuse injury or from a sudden (acute) injury, such as a fracture, dislocation, or severe sprain. It is normal to have temporary changes in feeling after an injury or when you have swelling. Home treatment may help relieve swelling that can cause numbness or tingling.

Numbness and tingling may develop even when there has not been an injury.

• Numbness and tingling may be present with other conditions such as arthritis, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, peripheral arterial disease, and peripheral neuropathy.
• Numbness and tingling in the arm with chest pain that is crushing, squeezing, or increasing in intensity can be a symptom of a heart attack, which requires emergency care.
• Sudden arm weakness or numbness with loss of function can occur in conditions such as a transient ischemic attack, a stroke, or a migraine headache, which require emergency care.

Numbness and tingling are more serious when:

• You have a complete loss of feeling.
• You have symptoms of impaired blood flow to your arm (such as pale, white, blue, or cold skin or no pulse at the wrist).
• Your symptoms don't go away.
• Your symptoms get progressively worse.
• Your symptoms go away but keep coming back.
• You have muscle weakness that is not caused by pain.
• You have symptoms of a heart attack or loss of function.
• You have severe pain and swelling of the forearm and hand which may be compartment syndrome.

Credits

Last updated:	April 03, 2007
Author:	Jan Nissl, RN, BS
Reviewed By:	William M. Green, MD - Emergency Medicine, H. Michael O'Connor, MD - Emergency Medicine
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Tracy Landauer