Hands hurt during pregnancy

Tunnel (carpal) syndrome: characteristic symptoms

Pain occurs, as already mentioned, due to compression of the median nerve, therefore the most common localization of the syndrome is the fingers (with the exception of the little finger, since its innervation is not carried out by the median nerve, but by the outgoing branches of the ulnar nerve), wrist, palmar surface of the hand .
The period characteristic for the manifestation of this disease, when the left wrist most often hurts, is the 3rd trimester of pregnancy.

The nature of the discomfort is determined by the fact that the hands and wrists hurt, swell and become numb during pregnancy, and sometimes there may be trembling of the fingers.

Added to the above is vasoconstriction, increased sensitivity of the hands to cold, as well as pale skin. The disease most often manifests itself at night, but symptoms may also occur during the day.

If pain occurs in the little finger or on the back of the hand, then this indicates the presence of another disease, since these parts of the hand have different innervation.

Often the syndrome goes away after childbirth. The woman's normal, prenatal metabolism is restored. . However, if the disease remains, then you need to consult a hematologist (nephrologist, neurologist, cardiologist) so that he can prescribe drug therapy. Physiotherapy also helps to avoid frequent pain.

If the situation does not improve, then surgical treatment must be used.

If your hands are numb

Lately, more and more patients have been appearing in my office who are worried about one single symptom: at night they have to wake up several times due to numbness in their hands. The unpleasant sensations that accompany these phenomena are all described in a fairly similar way: a sharp awakening from pain in the hand, tingling, burning, “crawling” in combination with stiff fingers.

Usually people blame everything on the pillow (and change it more than once), the peculiarities of the posture during sleep (and they come up with various “limiters” so as not to turn on their side or on their stomach), “weak heart” (and they buy unnecessary medications in order to “ heal")...

In the end, exhausted, they come to a neurologist so that the doctor can find in their body what is interfering with proper rest and eliminate the inconvenience. And the doctor again walks in a vicious circle: pillow-pose-heart. And makes me do gymnastics. And he prescribes a bunch of studies that will take a lot of time. Couldn't it be faster? No you can not!

Where does such a misfortune come from?

If earlier such complaints were more often made by people whose professional activities were associated with sedentary work and straining their hands (computer operators, drivers, assembly line workers), now schoolchildren, students, and retirees also come. After all, computers have entered the lives of almost everyone. And almost everyone, starting from school, is faced with “computer mouse syndrome” (carpal tunnel syndrome), when mechanical compression of the nerves and blood vessels on the wrist regularly occurs, causing numbness in the fingers. Usually, wearing an orthosis and well-planned position of the keyboard and mouse quickly eliminate the problem, but with numbness at night, not everything is so simple.

Of course, most often the cause of numbness is quite banal - in 90% of cases it is compression of the neurovascular bundle along its entire length: from the spinal cord and aorta to the very tips of the fingers. But there are another 10% of cases when disruption of blood circulation and innervation occurs at a more subtle level - when the smallest vessels and nerve endings are damaged.

This ten percent includes diseases such as polyneuropathy and vasculitis. In order to exclude these pathologies, the doctor gives the night sufferer a long list of tests and examinations. These can be simple blood tests (general and biochemical), hormonal tests, electroneuromyography, duplex scanning of blood vessels, rheovasography, electrocardiogram, neuroimaging (x-ray of the neck, shoulder joints, CT and MRI). The doctor decides what to do and to what extent on an individual basis.

— Doctor, is it possible to do it somehow easier and faster?

Well, I’ll tell you what your “faster” usually looks like.

Stupid self-medication

And so we decided to save time and money on tests, because “we definitely feel that there is nothing serious,” and we enthusiastically take on treatment. On the Internet there are a lot of “folk” recommendations on the topic “how to deal with numbness in the hands”, and at the same time “how to get rid of back pain”. This includes sleeping with a potato in your hand, and massaging the joints of your hands and neck in various ways, and also making baths, compresses and rubbing in strong-smelling tinctures (probably to deter illness).

Does all this help? Yes and no. If one of the folk remedies, used in any form, accidentally affects the cause of the disease, then everything is great. But usually, for some reason, it is after somersaults with Internet advice that patients get worse. Maybe there are those who were cured once and for all by anointing parts of their bodies with turpentine, and no longer go to doctors? Alas, I doubt it...

Your own diagnostician

To figure out for yourself whether there is reason for concern or whether you are simply “tracking” your hands in your sleep (and then just change your position), here are a few simple tests.

Try raising your arms above your head and holding them for 30 seconds. Do you feel tingling? Going numb? Dress for the weather - and go to the neurologist. Do your joints hurt? Make an appointment with a rheumatologist. Place the blood pressure cuff on your arm below the elbow. Increase the pressure in the cuff to 130–140 mm Hg. If no unpleasant sensations appear within a minute, then there is no reason to worry. What if they appeared? And does your left hand go numb when you're nervous? Go ahead - to the cardiologist! Do both hands go numb at once when you're nervous? You may need to consult an endocrinologist. Well, what if there are none of the above symptoms? Then search again. Joke..

Tips to help

First, pay attention to sleep hygiene.

Do not smoke or drink alcohol before bedtime. Nicotine and ethyl alcohol promote short-term vasodilation. Their narrowing will be just in time for the sweetest dream and will provide you with an unforgettable night. Also, don't overeat. The body, which is busy digesting food, simply will not notice the catastrophe on the periphery, in the limbs. There is no need to fall into bed immediately after hard physical work or strength training. Any athlete and loader will tell you how, in this case, overworked muscles ache, spasm to the point of cramps, swell and hurt. And how gratefully they respond to relaxing water treatments and light massages! And less water before bed. Patients with diabetes and pregnant women are especially sensitive to this. Swelling of tissues disrupts metabolism in them and causes irritation of nerve endings. And then numbness and convulsions may occur...

Secondly, you should not sleep in one position all night.

Toss and turn! But at the same time, do not put your hands under your head, do not put them under the pillow. Try not to throw your arms and legs over your bedmate at night. If the fair half has the habit of falling asleep on the chest of a loved one, it is worth learning another habit - to crawl away no later than half an hour of being pressed down, no matter how brave the person being pressed is. For those who like to hug someone in their sleep, there are special C-shaped pillows. Try it - it's very convenient!

Thirdly, the pillow should be comfortable

so that your neck does not bend when lying on your side and does not arch when you lie on your back or stomach. By the way, not everyone likes orthopedic pillows. Many people prefer a “forming” pillow, which you want to roll out “into a pancake”, but you want to knock it into a ball. Plus a light blanket and comfortable, non-squeezing and non-restrictive clothing to help you sleep sweetly! But it’s better to remove jewelry - it’s better for both safety and health.

The population's excessive enthusiasm for mattresses that are too hard (“for back health”) is not at all useful and unnecessary. To experiment, let your pet choose soft or hard bedding - and animals know a lot about a good sleep! - and you will immediately understand what I mean.

Well, fourthly, move!

During the day, try to change your working position, twirl your arms, neck, bend and straighten. Do not hold the telephone receiver between your neck and shoulder, either at work or in the car (talking on the phone is also prohibited by traffic rules), or before going to bed, or in bed at night. Move - it revitalizes! If you carry heavy bags on your shoulders, buy those with the widest handles. If your breasts are larger than B, the bra should have straps +1–2 cm wide for each size. If your neck aches in the evenings, you can put on a Shants collar and walk around in it for 1 to 1.5 hours a day for 2 weeks. Massage also helps a lot.

Well, if all these tricks still don’t lead to the desired relief, make an appointment with a doctor. Helps. Verified.

Valentina Saratovskaya

Photo thinkstockphotos.com

Cause of pain

So, why do your hands hurt during pregnancy? As a rule, during this period the woman begins to gain weight, which is the physiological norm for this condition. However, after gaining weight, swelling may appear, indicating a violation of water-salt metabolism in the body. Here a woman may complain that her hand joints hurt during pregnancy. Along with impaired water-salt metabolism, there is a decrease in blood flow.

The innervation changes due to compression of the nerve. Due to the current situation, the nerve cannot conduct nerve impulses normally, and this, in turn, leads to a lack of impulses in the area of the wrist and hand.

Women who have problems with the kidneys, heart, as well as excess weight, rheumatic diseases, and fractures in the area of the hands are most often affected by the disease. Pregnant women also have reduced immunity, so most often their chronic diseases become worse.

The hands are the most painful, since everything has to be done with the hands. In addition to numbness and pain, sensations such as: hand tremors may occur in the hands; heaviness in the hands; feeling of weakness in the fingers; itching in the palms of the hands.

Many women, due to severe discomfort and pain, are forced to remove jewelry from their fingers and hands.

Osteoporosis during pregnancy: how to treat and whether to terminate the pregnancy

Sometimes you can find out about this disease only after the first bone fracture, since people are not often examined for osteoporosis, and the disease itself is completely asymptomatic. The most important thing is that recently pregnant women are more likely to suffer from osteoporosis. When planning a child, they undergo an examination, and if everything is in order, then this is not a reason to rejoice, because bone fragility can develop during pregnancy. This threatens the health of not only the unborn child, but also the mother.

Description of the disease

Osteoporosis is a disease in which bone density decreases, causing a high risk of fractures. The worst thing is that sometimes the tissue density decreases only in one place, and not throughout the body, then it will be much more difficult to cure a certain area. For example, the back area becomes fragile, which can lead to such serious problems as spinal injuries

During pregnancy, the body experiences a lot of stress, which can affect the mental and physical health of the mother, as well as the condition of the baby. If the embryo does not have enough vitamins, then it has to take them from the mother’s body. This is the main cause of osteoporosis.

A lack of calcium, vitamin D and phosphorus stops the development of the embryo, so without borrowing these vitamins from the mother, further growth will be difficult. And if nothing is done about it, the child in the future will have huge problems with teeth, nails and bone fragility.

The mother herself may have numerous fractures during pregnancy, her teeth will also crumble and her hair will fall out. The worst thing that can happen due to osteoporosis is a hip fracture during childbirth or pregnancy itself. A fracture, of course, cannot happen just like that, but since the bones become fragile, any careless movement contributes to a fracture.

Treatment

When treating osteoporosis, the main goal is to reduce bone loss, since the degree of tissue destruction may be different, and the drugs for treatment will also be different. Basically, patients are selected:

Hormonal agents;
Vitamin D;
Calcitonin (reduces the rate of calcium excretion from the body).

Basically, treatment of osteoporosis in pregnant women is carried out with a specialized diet and taking large amounts of vitamins. In addition to proper nutrition and medication, it is worth noting a healthy lifestyle. If a pregnant woman already has some degree of bone loss, then a rational approach to her health can be used to prevent complications. Physical exercise, walks in the fresh air and awareness of the development of osteoporosis under the supervision of a doctor will help cope with this disease.

If you follow the regime and take all the vitamins prescribed by the doctor, then a pregnant woman has every chance of giving birth to a full-fledged and healthy child who will not have health problems in the future. You can also take care of your body, because your teeth and bones will be intact.

Despite complications in the form of fractures, a woman has every chance of recovery after childbirth, but she should continue to take vitamins, especially if another pregnancy is planned for the future.

Abortion

When deciding to keep a child, many women have a question about whether osteoporosis will be inherited by the embryo and how this will affect its development.

And here people have three opinions:

Many people believe that it is better to terminate the pregnancy in order to recover without risks to their own health and the health of the unborn child.
Some women are very purposeful in this regard, and believe that proper nutrition, being under the supervision of a doctor and vitamins will help maintain not only their good health, but also affect the health of the baby.
And the last type of women with osteoporosis do not even know that they are sick. Typically, this disease does not manifest itself until a fracture occurs, which may never occur. Even under the supervision of a specialist who monitors the condition of the embryo, you may not always find out about your diagnosis. To detect the disease in the early stages, it is necessary to undergo diagnostics, but usually this is done only when there is a suspicion of the disease.

It is worth checking with your doctor whether to terminate the pregnancy or not, because the condition of the body depends on the stage of osteoporosis. If a woman has multiple fractures that do not allow her to bear and give birth to a healthy child, then it is worth terminating the pregnancy. If the stage of the disease is not so serious, then vitamins and a healthy lifestyle can really correct this situation. And in order not to be in the dark, you need to undergo a bone density test, otherwise, if you do not know the details about your health condition, you may miss the occurrence of serious consequences.

Prevention measures

To restore the normal state of your body, you need not only to take vitamins in the form of tablets, but also to partially change your diet. Many women follow a diet during pregnancy (not for weight loss, but for proper nutrition with plenty of vitamins), which allows them to monitor the condition of the body. And with the development of osteoporosis, you also need to follow a diet and drink a complex of vitamins.

There are also vitamins that do not come from food, but are sold in tablet form or synthesized from the environment.
For example, a person can only get vitamin D from sunlight, so walking during pregnancy is very important, because osteoporosis develops not only due to a lack of calcium, but also if there is no vitamin D in the body . Author: K.M.N., Academician of RAMTN M.A. Bobyr

How to get rid of the disease

If you are still overtaken by this disease, first you need to adjust your lifestyle and diet.

Taking into account the fact that a restructuring is taking place in a pregnant woman’s body, she needs so-called “building materials”. These include vitamins (especially vitamins K, B12, B6, C, E - they are all involved in hematopoiesis). Therefore, you should eat meat products (poultry), vegetables (peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers), fruits (oranges, lemons, apples, bananas, kiwi), berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries), also legumes, dairy products. Flour products and foods rich in starch should be excluded from the diet.

After adjusting your diet, you need to get your physical activity in order. So, if you are busy with one thing, during which the woman does not move much, you need to periodically perform hand exercises: shake, make circular movements with your hands, clench and unclench your fingers several times, bringing them into a fist.

If possible, you should try to avoid unnecessary stress on your arms (lean less on your arms, use special splints during night sleep). Do not forget that some pain sensations are a sign of the presence of severe or chronic diseases, so you need to talk about these sensations to your doctor, who monitors you throughout your pregnancy. Compliance with all these rules will help you reduce painful sensations, or even get rid of them completely. And also spend your difficult, but very happy nine months in a good mood.

Prevention measures

In most cases, you can get rid of unpleasant symptoms with the help of simple preventive measures, which should be taken at the first signs of swelling or numbness in the hands:

Load control. It is strictly contraindicated for a pregnant woman to spend a lot of time at the computer. But if your line of work requires you to do this, then try to control the load on your hands and give them short rest several times during the day. Make it a rule that after every hour of working with the mouse or keyboard, you take a break, which you fill with relaxing hand exercises or a light massage.
Fluid restriction. This becomes increasingly important starting in the second trimester. The kidneys of a pregnant woman already work for two. And if they cannot cope with the load, swelling, late toxicosis, shortness of breath, numbness of the hands and other unpleasant symptoms appear. The maximum permissible amount of fluid consumed in late pregnancy is 8 glasses per day. You should not drink a lot immediately before bed, otherwise morning swelling cannot be avoided.
Proper nutrition. Often, numbness occurs not only due to vitamin deficiency or lack of minerals, but also due to large excess body weight, which can only be controlled with a properly formulated diet. A pregnant woman's menu must include fresh fruits and vegetables every day. During the spring and winter, your doctor may recommend taking additional multivitamin complexes. It is especially important that the expectant mother receives sufficient amounts of iron and calcium, since anemia often causes numbness in the limbs during sleep.
Prevention of diseases. The ideal option if you have chronic diseases is to treat them 2-3 months before the planned pregnancy. But this is not always possible. Sometimes the appearance of a future baby in your belly becomes a pleasant (or not so pleasant) surprise. In this case, it is important to try to prevent the exacerbation of diseases and not to “catch” new ones, especially of an infectious nature. When registering, be sure to indicate to the doctor all existing diagnoses. And during pregnancy, try not to visit crowded places unless absolutely necessary.
Physical activity. Pregnancy is not a disease. Moderate physical activity will only benefit the expectant mother and baby. It allows you to maintain muscle tone throughout the body, normalizes heart function, trains blood vessels, and provides additional oxygen flow. During physical activity, blood circulation increases and even the fingertips receive sufficient nutrition to prevent the feeling of numbness in the hands. But you need to choose the type of training extremely carefully and it is better to consult a doctor about this. If there is a threat of premature termination of pregnancy, any activity is contraindicated, even harmless gymnastics.

Don’t forget that you can simply rest your hands while you sleep. Stiffness in the limbs can be caused by an uncomfortable position of the body, the weight of which increases significantly during pregnancy.

To prevent this from happening, choose an elastic, moderately hard mattress that can support the spine and prevent the body from sinking. The pillow should also not be too high, otherwise the neck will become numb and the numbness will spread to the arms.