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Back pain with numbness and tingling
Numbness is an inability to feel anything when you touch your skin. Tingling is a pins-and-needles sensation, like when your foot falls asleep. You may feel as though the part you touch does not belong to you. It is normal to have temporary changes in feeling after an injury or when swelling is present. Home treatment may help relieve swelling.
When you have back pain, you also may have numbness or tingling that comes and goes in the buttocks and thigh area. Numbness or 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, severe sprain, or a herniated disc.
Numbness or tingling that extends below the knee and into the foot is more serious when:
- You have a complete loss of feeling.
- You have symptoms of decreased blood flow, such as pale, white, blue, or cold skin.
- You have muscle weakness that is not caused by pain.
- Symptoms do not go away.
- Symptoms go away but keep coming back.
Credits
| Author | Jan Nissl, RN, BS |
| Editor | Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA |
| Associate Editor | Tracy Landauer |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | William M. Green, MD - Emergency Medicine |
| Specialist Medical Reviewer | H. Michael O'Connor, MD - Emergency Medicine |
| Last Updated | August 28, 2007 |
| Last updated: | August 28, 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 |
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