Why do the back of my legs go tingly when someone tells me of an injury?

Question

I have rpesumed that it is because I have damaged my legs so many times when playing rugby...is their a medical reason for this?

Answer 1

Yes, it's caused by the conscious brain producing a reaction in the vagus nerve which in turn inhibits several major motor nerves in the lower body. In some people it can lead to total loss of control of the legs when they are subjected to psychic stress such as seeing blood.

The vagus nerve does a lot of weird things like that in response to pain and/or psychic stress, such as making people want to vomit and causing a dramatic blood pressure drop leading to fainting. Some people suffer very strongly from all three; vomiting, weakness of the legs and fainting; some people like you just suffer very weakly from one response. Other people like me don't appear exhibit any of those symptoms regularly but when they do hit it is totally inexplicable and we tend to get all three at once.

Some people get the reactions only in response to certain types of pain, some like you get them in response to psychic stress such as gory stories or the site of blood, others like me seem to get them for either reason but we only exhibit the reaction once every several years.

Why this trait evolved is still unclear. It has been suggested that it is an atavism from the days when freezing in response to a predator attack on a comrade was a good idea. Others suggest that it is because even adult humans are neurological infants in many ways and we respond to stress as most young mammals do, by freezing.

A third possibility is that your specific trait is the result of crossed wiring in the sexual reflex, In most mammals, including humans, sexual excitement results in a weakening of the leg muscles due, once again, to vagal nerve stimulation. The parts of the brain that control our responses to sexual stimulation are also connected to the parts that deal with pain and horror, hence the popularity of S&M. When the two stimuli get confused the vagus nerve is stimulated to provide a sexual response at an inappropriate time. But I wouldn't recommend you telling your mates that.

Answer 2

It's a human psychosomatic responce. If you show a group of poople a picture of a rather gruesome knee surgery while the knee is opened and all that then they will go eughh, and many people will feel something (probably not pain, just tingling like u mentioned) in their knee, especially those people who have had some problems with their knee at some point. But you can in fact have the operation without much pain. Purely a human response to seeing such a picture.
U possibly see in ur mind when someone tells you of an injury an so you associate it with your pain.

Answer 3

Make sure you keep warm, sounds obvious but it's true wear gloves and a hat even indoors and that should help with being cold. For the pain I'd suggest hot baths or heat patches that you can put on your back and make sure you don't lie down awkwardly, be propped up. Try honey and lemon or lemsip for the cold and throat. I had something where they said the test were normal but I felt rubbish, guessing you've been to a doctor. If you can try excersizing as it does make you feel a bit better, try strecthing if it doesn't hurt. Hope you get better soon and some of this helps.

Answer 4

My guess is that you feel empathy. I believe we all react to certain stories in certain ways. I for one get a very uncomfortable feeling in my groin area when I see anyone in my family get injured or tell me about injuries they suffered. This holds true for both of my sons. We all think it is weird, but it seems to be an inherited reaction. We actually cringe and grab hold on as if to protect ourselves. I am sure it also has to do with fear, as this is the same exact feeling I get when I look down from high elevations, or free falling.

Answer 5

It means you're gay and our craving the manmeat.