Motor Nerve Damage Symptoms Might Be More Than You Think
Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy can show up in a variety of different ways. Most often, this is directly related to what type of nerve is being impacted. Motor nerve damage has its own set of unique symptoms.
Your nervous system also controls all the movements your body executes, from the large scale to the small. This means everything from climbing the stairs in your house to moving your finger to clicking on a link while shopping online.
Your motor nerves do a lot and carry a pretty heavy informational load to do so effectively. This means that your motor nerves, in comparison with the other types, tend to be thicker. And they’re covered with something called the myelin sheath, which helps them conduct information as fast as possible.
Different Nerve Types Cause Different Symptoms
Talk to any number of different people with peripheral neuropathy, and you’re more than likely to hear about them experiencing a pretty vast and varied number of different symptoms. This can be rather confusing at first, but the fog lifts as soon as one considers how much the nervous system is responsible for. In short? It’s responsible for everything.
Depending on what part of your nervous system is under attack, then, the symptoms of peripheral neuropathy can show up in any number of different ways. Similarly, symptoms will vary depending on nerve thickness as well — while thinner nerves tend to misfire and overreact in response to damage, thicker ones just shut down entirely.
And your motor nerves are usually among the thickest nerves.
Motor Nerve Damage May Cauase Loss of Motor Nerve Function
Your motor nerves are pretty tough. Since they carry a heavy informational load, they’re usually covered with a healthy wrap of the myelin sheath. This makes them pretty resilient, so they’re more likely to put up a valiant fight against nerve damage.
While they’re often among the last symptoms to show up, they can also be among the most difficult to deal with daily.
Motor neuron shutdown essentially means that you lose the ability to move your muscles. But this doesn’t stop simply at the loss of your ability to move your hand, for example. This can create symptoms of many varieties, from subtle to serious.
Some of the first indications that motor neuropathy has begun to set in can be seen in the hands and feet. Peripheral neuropathy is length-based in the way it shows its symptoms — so the nerve endings in your hands and your feet will often be the first to present symptoms of damage.
Small problems like a loss of fine motor control are typically among the first symptoms to be noticed. Maybe it’s a bit harder to make it up the stairs without knocking your toes against them as you climb. Perhaps you’ve noticed that your penmanship has gotten a little sloppy…or even that you’re having a tough time picking up that pen in the first place.
These symptoms tend to start small. Maybe a simple activity becomes irritatingly difficult. But it doesn’t stop there. As motor symptoms progress, not only do they get more severe, but the damage spreads, traveling towards the center of your body. Loss of motor control in fingers and toes is the first to go, but eventually, loss of muscle control in legs and arms may become evident in progressed stages.
What is Focal Compression Neuropathy?
One of the most common types of motor nerve damage is called focal compression neuropathy. This refers to nerve damage that has been caused by a nerve being compressed. The “focal” part of the name means that this damage is focused on one specific place in the body.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the most commonly reported types of focal compression neuropathy, arising from a condition in which a motor nerve that runs through the wrist has become compressed due to improper wrist positioning during repeated activity. Over time, if the compression gets bad enough and for long enough, the nerves become damaged and affect the use of the hand.
Motor Neuropathy May Lead to Muscle Atrophy
Motor neuropathy doesn’t always stop at trouble in the movement department. One of the most worrisome things about peripheral neuropathy is that it can lead to what we describe as cascading symptoms — one symptom can lead to another problem, which leads to another, and so forth. Often with increasing levels of seriousness.
One of the instances we can observe cascading symptoms is when motor neuropathy causes muscle atrophy in patients with peripheral neuropathy.
Your nerves, as they go about telling your muscles when to move, are actively keeping those muscles healthy as they do so. When the motor nerves in your body shut down and stop sending this information to your muscles, this lack of use eventually causes the muscles to weaken. Sometimes they can even wind up shrinking.
As muscles begin to weaken, and the weakness progresses, the signs and symptoms will start predictably enough. Weakness and loss of muscle control are typically the first to show up. Cramping may follow, and not long after might come involuntary movements like contractions, twitches, or other irritating motions. Finally, feet and hands can even begin to disfigure, as the muscles that help them keep their shape wither and weaken.
Motor Neuropathy May Lead to Swelling
One of the most surprising cascading symptoms that can come from motor neuropathy is the risk for something known as edema, or swelling. Your motor nerves, as it turns out, aren’t only responsible for moving the muscles in your body. They also help out with your circulation.
Your motor nerves help your leg muscles work against gravity, pumping blood up and out to the rest of your body so that it doesn’t pool and collect in your legs (edema).
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