It’s all too often that we hear about patients having tingling or asleep hands when they wake up. Often this is purely due to sleep position. Let’s talk about nerve traction and what is happening here physiologically.
There are 3 main nerves that supply sensation down the arm and into the hand: ulnar, median, and radial. Each of these nerves begin with roots in the neck before traveling down through the underarm and into the arm. Each of these nerves can be stretched or subjected to traction via different positions. The ulnar nerve, for example, gets stretched to its max in this position:
Therefore, if you sleep with a lot of bend in your elbows, there’s a good chance that this nerve will get compressed to a degree and the area it supplies will tingle or “fall asleep”.
The elbow bending does not impact the other two nerves as much, but having the shoulder elevated beyond 90 degrees does. The radial and median nerves are stressed by the following positions:
So if you’re someone who likes to sleep in a position like this with your shoulder elevated, this can also create that morning tingling sensation.
This is not to say that this is the only reason your hands could be falling asleep at night. Other causes could include diabetes, neck and/or mid back tension, and nutritional deficiencies. However, my first suggestion to someone suffering from this is to tweak your sleeping position. Try having your shoulders in a relaxed, neutral position with minimal-to-slight elbow bend. Or something like this:
Whatever the case may be, please get a professional opinion to help solve what the underlying cause may be. It may be as simple as moving your arm a little bit while we’re resting.
