medical question

If you are talking about cutting through a nerve, it takes years.

But if you mean a bruise on a joint, I don't think it takes very long. Few minutes maybe?

I can't think of a reason why a cut would make your hand numb for only a couple of days.

Not a problem

If you are talking about peripheral nerve damage, the axons regenerate at a rate of 1 mm per day (I've heard some people say as high as five), which translates to about a foot per year. For the arm we're talking a few months to as much as two years.

Maybe you could have swelling for some reason that squished a nerve. I could see that going down in a few days with a cut. I get inflammation that squishes nerves (in my neck) that can go away in hours, depending on how the inflammation is doing.

Cutting or nicking a nerve takes a lot longer to heal, though, yeah. I've heard espresso5's stats, too, but I have some numb, tingly toes due to a cut on my foot that are taking way longer than that. Apparently there are individual differences?

I expect so. I cut through the nerve in my left hand little finger about 20 years ago. The cut went down to the bone. The end of my finger was numb for over two years. So yeah, maybe it depends on where the cut is and the individual physiology.

I cut a nerve on my right index finger over twenty years ago and while the numb area has reduced with time, the feeling has never returned.

I banged my lower leg about three years ago and there was a numb patch at the nerve. The full feeling has just come back. I was giving blood and the tech hit a nerve. I had a small numb patch on my arm near where the needle went in that took about five years to get full feeling.

stitchingirl said:

I know that everyone is different in terms of this, but just to get a ballpark idea.

If someone got cut on their arm and it made their arm and hand tingle and maybe a little numb, how long does it take for it to come back. No major injuries to the arteries occured though.

Would it be like two days, or maybe three, before feeling was restored?

Click to expand...

If you want it to be fast, have the character freak out about the blood and place a tourniquet. The compression from the tourniquet cuts off the blood supply, results in tingling then numbness then a heavy sensation and then someone else says, "Hey your arm is purple!"

Take off the tourniquet and within about twenty minutes (assuming you don't want complications) first there's a dull ache, then a throbbing pain that gets worse if you move your arm at all and you need to just let it dangle motionlessly. Flailing makes this pain like lightbulbs are exploding on your arm. Just stand still. Finally the numbness to touch and the pain that's just there fades and the color returns. Now you can open and close your hand and raise your arm to scratch your ear.