Awkward manner while describing feeling arising from swollen extremities, perhaps? (15)

'manner while describing feeling arising from swollen extremities perhaps?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'awkward' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'awkward' could be 'heavyhanded' (similar in meaning) and 'heavyhanded' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ness' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?