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it's actually the compressed nerve that's responsible for the numbness, not the loss of blood flow.
Yeah, if it was actually cutting off the blood flow, you'd have bigger problems
What's that phenomenon where as a child you were told a "fact", internalised it, and lived your life presuming it was true until someone points out how obviously wildly untrue it was that you momentarily question reality?
Because I was today's years old when I realised how ridiculous cutting complete blood flow would be. Thank you (genuinely!)
That's called being human, I guess. Our brains wouldn't be able to function if we didn't outsource most of the processing power to the subconscious assumptions
There's gotta be some partial decrease in circulation, though, given that my fingers on the numb hand are usually colder than my non-numb hand when this sometimes happens to me.
Maybe a bit, but there would have to be a ton of pressure. Consider the fact we have to use a tourniquet to cut blood flow typically, and those hurt like hell.
Maybe. Could be the compressed nerve reduces vasodilation in your fingers. Could be that your finger only feels cold.
But then why is it that it feels like the blood flows back into my arm and that only after a few seconds, I can move my hand again.
Like, my hand literally cramps up as if it's actually lost blood flow and can only move once (as it feels) the blood circulates back throughout.
Your nerves are responsible for making your muscles move. Blood only keeps them alive, and it takes quite a while for lack of blood to actually matter. A rule for tourniquets in medicine is 4 hours if you want to keep your limb without permanent damage.
A good indicator if blood flow was actually cut off is if your limb is extremely pale (within just 1 or 2 minutes) or later goes blue. But if your nerves are unblocked, you can still move your limb for quite a while even without blood flow. Usually though, if blood is cut off, nerves also are.
Because the nerves are compressed. You move and feel your body via nerves.