What causes pins and needles? Experts explain.
“Pins and needles commonly occur in the arms, hands, legs and feet when sitting or sleeping on a body part that affects the nerve,” Dr. Laura Sander, northeast regional medical director at Heal and assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. This sensation is what happens when your leg “falls asleep,” for instance.
Dr. Jen Caudle tells Yahoo Life that the pins and needles sensation occurs when you interfere with your sensory nerves. “Sensory nerves process stimuli from our environment and send that information to the spinal cord and the brain,” she explains. “So when the sensory nerves are restricted from crossing your legs (or other body parts) too long, you first feel numbness because your nerves have stopped getting the oxygen they need to send the right messages to your brain.”
As you might expect, “once you uncross your legs, the nerves can get back on track and continue making their way back to the brain. But the brain interprets this as tingling,” Caudle says.
