Numbness or Abnormal Sensation
Free Symptom Checker
with Physician-supervised AI
Worried about your symptoms?
Start the test with our free AI Symptom Checker.
This will help us personalize your assessment.
By starting the symptom checker, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Try one of these related symptoms.
Tingling
Numbness
Hand tingling
Off balance
The left half of the body is numb
Poor coordination
Can't feel when I touch my skin
Have numbness
Body tingling
Feeling imbalanced
Numbness is worse on the left side
My hands and feet are clumsy
About the Symptom
Numbness describes a loss of sensation, a loss of feeling, or abnormal sensations in a part of the body. Occasionally, "numbness" will be used to describe muscle weakness.
When to See a Doctor
Seek professional care if you experience any of the following symptoms
- Peripheral cyanosis
- Back pain
- Numbness of lower limbs
- Different degrees of numbness on each side
- Recent weight loss
- Unexplained weight loss of 5% or more in 1 month
- Numbness / sensory disorder
- Abnormal sensation (tingling, prickling)
- Difficulty urinating
- double vision
- Involuntary movements
- Low back pain
Possible Causes
Generally, Numbness or abnormal sensation can be related to:
Ossification of the Ligamentum Flavum (OLF)
Ossification of the Yellow Ligament (OYL) occurs at the lower thoracic level and causes various neurological symptoms depending on the compression level of the spinal cord.
- Piriformis Syndrome
The sciatic nerve is responsible for muscle control and sensation of the leg. Sometimes, it can be compressed by the piriformis muscle in the buttocks. This can result in symptoms that are often similar to a slipped disc or nerve compression in the spine.
- Transverse Myelitis
Transverse myelitis is an inflammation of both sides of one section of the spinal cord. There is often damage to the covering of nerve cell fibers (myelin), which interrupts the messages from the spinal cord nerves to the rest of the body. Causes include infections and immune system disorders that attack the body's tissues.
- Arteriosclerosis Obliterans
- Trigeminal Neuralgia
- Syringomyelia
- Cervical Spondylosis
- Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
Related Serious Diseases
Sometimes, Numbness or abnormal sensation may be related to these serious diseases:
- Cervical Cord Injury
Injury to the spinal cord at the neck level, often caused by falls or accidents.
- Spinal Cord Abscess
Doctor's Diagnostic Questions
Your doctor may ask these questions to check for this symptom:
- Have you been experiencing any numbness or tingling?
- When did you first notice the numbness or tingling?
- Which of the following best describes how your numbness or tingling appeared?
- How often do you experience numbness or tingling?
- Do you have numbness or tingling that's stronger on one side of your body?
Reviewed By:
Benjamin Kummer, MD (Neurology)
Dr Kummer is Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), with joint appointment in Digital and Technology Partners (DTP) at the Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) as Director of Clinical Informatics in Neurology. As a triple-board certified practicing stroke neurologist and informaticist, he has successfully improved clinical operations at the point of care by acting as a central liaison between clinical neurology faculty and DTP teams to implement targeted EHR configuration changes and workflows, as well as providing subject matter expertise on health information technology projects across MSHS. | Dr Kummer also has several years’ experience building and implementing several informatics tools, presenting scientific posters, and generating a body of peer-reviewed work in “clinical neuro-informatics” – i.e., the intersection of clinical neurology, digital health, and informatics – much of which is centered on digital/tele-health, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. He has spearheaded the Clinical Neuro-Informatics Center in the Department of Neurology at ISMMS, a new research institute that seeks to establish the field of clinical neuro-informatics and disseminate knowledge to the neurological community on the effects and benefits of clinical informatics tools at the point of care.
Shohei Harase, MD (Neurology)
Dr. Harase spent his junior and senior high school years in Finland and the U.S. After graduating from the University of Washington (Bachelor of Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology), he worked for Apple Japan Inc. before entering the University of the Ryukyus School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital, where he received the Best Resident Award in 2016 and 2017. In 2021, he joined the Department of Cerebrovascular Medicine at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, specializing in hyperacute stroke.
Content updated on Feb 6, 2025
Following the Medical Content Editorial Policy
Was this page helpful?
Tell your friends about us.
We would love to help them too.
Just 3 minutes.
Developed by doctors.
Try Free Symptom QuizHow Ubie Can Help You
With a free 3-min quiz, powered by Ubie's AI and doctors, find possible causes of your symptoms.
This questionnaire is customized to your situation and symptoms, including the following personal information:
Biological Sex - helps us provide relevant suggestions for male vs. female conditions.
Age - adjusts our guidance based on any age-related health factors.
History - considers past illnesses, surgeries, family history, and lifestyle choices.
Your symptoms
Our AI
Your report
Your personal report will tell you
✔ When to see a doctor
✔︎ What causes your symptoms
✔︎ Treatment information etc.
People with similar symptoms also use Ubie's symptom checker to find possible causes
- Feeling at the base of the foot is strange
- The sense of the right half of the body is strange
- I can no longer do fine work with my hands
- The soles of the feet are tingling
- I have a strange sense of balance
- Decreased sensitivity to pain
- The sensation of the buttocks is strange
- The sense of the left half of the body is strange
- Have troubles with coordinating movements
- Pins and needles feet and hands
- Lose my balance when walking
- Sensory processing disorder
- I don't know the skin pain
- Feeling of the foot is strange
- The right half of the body has a strange feeling
See full list
Find Similar Symptoms
Similar symptoms or complaints
Symptoms from similar body parts
Symptoms treated by the same specialty
Ubie is supervised by 50+ medical experts worldwide
Our symptom checker AI is continuously refined with input from experienced physicians, empowering them to make more accurate diagnoses.
Ubie is recognized by healthcare and tech leaders
“World’s Best Digital
Health Companies”
Newsweek 2024
“Best With AI”
Google Play Best of 2023
“Best in Class”
Digital Health Awards 2023 (Quarterfinalist)
Which is the best Symptom Checker?
Ubie’s symptom checker demonstrated a Top-10 hit accuracy of 71.6%, surpassing the performance of several leading symptom checkers in the market, which averaged around 60% accuracy in similar assessments.
Link to full study:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.08.29.24312810v1References
Jankovic J, et al., eds. Disorders of peripheral nerves. In: Bradley and Daroff's Neurology in Clinical Practice. 8th ed. Elsevier; 2022.
Freedman M. Numbness. Merck Manual Professional Version. Oct 2023
https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/neurologic-disorders/symptoms-of-neurologic-disorders/numbness