What Is Peripheral Neuropathy?
Dr. Matthew Dunn is a Chiropractor practicing in Bellevue, WA. Dr. Dunn specializes in preventing, diagnosing, and treating conditions associated with the neuromusculoskeletal system, while improving each patients functionality and quality of life. He treats conditions including sciatica, neck pain and arthritis pain, among... more
Peripheral neuropathy is any damage to the small nerves that exist in your hands and feet. The symptoms that you may experience include burning, tingling, numbness, and pain. This damage can be caused by a number of factors, but the most common is diabetes. The diabetes condition can damage the small blood vessels that feed blood to the skin around the hands and feet. When these small blood vessels are damaged, they don't supply blood to the nerves in that area, which causes the nerves to become damaged.
Damaged Nerves
Damaged nerves will produce incorrect signals, which are then sent to the brain. The brain interprets these poor signals as symptoms such as pain and tingling. As the nerves become more damaged throughout time, eventually, the brain is getting very little signal from the nerves at all. This is when the numbness sets in. In addition to that, you can develop balance problems, because your brain no longer knows where your feet are. This can lead to a debilitating fall and even death.
Chemotherapy
Another common reason for peripheral neuropathy is chemotherapy. The chemotherapy drugs can wreak havoc on your blood vessels and nerves, in their attempt to kill cancer cells. A typical side effect of a chemotherapy treatment is peripheral neuropathy. I have had clinical success with treating both types of neuropathy, as well as many neuropathy cases that don't fall into either category. In my next article, I will discuss the diagnosis and treatment of peripheral neuropathy.
