A 42-year-old member asked:
Can a torn rotator cuff cause hand numbness when sleeping?
2 doctor answers • 3 doctors weighed in
Dr. Jennifer Tuckeranswered
20 years experience
No: These are 2 different diagnoses. Tingling in the hand at night comes a nerve impingement. A torn rotator cuff can cause shouldered pain and limited mobility of the shoulder.
4.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Dr. Andrew Bronsteinanswered
Hand Surgery 37 years experience
Yes, although rare: Numbness after a torn rotator cuff would most likely result from a change in sleeping posture. Often after the injury, patients pre- and postoperatively tend to sleep with the injured shoulder up when they sleep on their side. Sleeping on one's side, often with hands tucked under the pillow or wrists flexed is a very common cause or exacerbating factor in median neuritis or carpal tunnel syndrome.
4.9k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
Similar questions
A 46-year-old member asked:
Can sleeping hard cause hand numbness during sleep?
2 doctor answers • 8 doctors weighed in
Dr. Edward Smithanswered
Neurology 55 years experience
Yes: Sleeping hard means being so deeply asleep that the person is unresponsive to stimuli which would ordinarily cause some postural adjustment or actual awakening. If a wrist is markedly bent or the elbows markedly flexed or the shoulder abducted, this could happen.
5.9k viewsReviewed Dec 04, 2021
Last updated Jun 7, 2017
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