Being stupid for over a decade, I've tried many street sports without
wristguards. Before learning how to fall properly my hands and fingers
caught a beating every time I tested gravity. Every once in a while I
still grab a handful of pavement on my way down...
I've hit my thumb many, many times and seem to have developed some nerve
damage. Every time my thumb smacks something, I lose feeling in my
thumbtip for a minute or two, followed by some unpleasant tingling.
A quick Google later I find it's a superficial branch of the median
nerve. This nerve runs up either side of the thumb, one can feel it by
pinching one's thumb between the first and second joints and twisting
the thumb. Feel any tingling?
I superimposed a picture of the nerve on my poor thumb:
[image: http://scipp.ucsc.edu/~jheimann/thumb.jpg]
The arrow points to where the nerve traverses the 2nd joint of the
thumb. This is where it gets mashed in my case. It makes sense now why
I can't feel my thumbtip afterwards... this nerve branches to cover most
of the tip of my thumb!
Does anything like this happen to anyone else? Have there been any
adverse affects other than tingling? Should I be worried?
--
maestro8 - Mad Scientists for World Domination
Those are my principles. If you don't like those, I have others. --
Groucho Marx
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