Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition that comes in my office and can be a wide variety of cases. This is a condition that some people have had for a long time, or others may be just starting but wanting to get on top of it quick because they don’t want it to get worse. There is a lot of misinformation about this condition about what it is and what you can do about it. Realistically, this type of condition has a lot of options that have been studied and are effective at treatment, way before surgery is needed.
First off, what is carpal tunnel syndrome? The carpal tunnel is a small opening on the palm side of the wrist that the median nerve goes through to get to your fingers. The nerve will innervate the pointer through half of the ring finger. So, if your tingling is in the pinky finger, it definitely is not carpal tunnel syndrome because that nerve doesn’t affect that finger at all. Nerve pain typically uses words like tingling, numbness, pain, pins, and needles, burning, electrical, etc. when used to describe nerve pain. Carpal tunnel syndrome is when the injury is at the wrist through that tunnel. The median nerve comes from the neck and down to the fingers and has a few different common areas that the nerve can be compressed like the neck, shoulder, elbow, or wrist. At any one of those areas, it can cause “carpal tunnel” symptoms because it all affects the median nerve. This is why surgery at the wrist can do absolutely nothing because the median nerve is being affected up closer to the neck.
The starting point for treatment is determining where that nerve is being irritated or compressed. The next step is determining if there are aggravating factors that are making the symptoms worse. For example, if you sleep with your hands all curled up by your face, that will cause worsening of these symptoms and could make it worse at the wrist or elbow. Another more common concern is sitting at a computer and resting your wrists on the table and extending or lifting your fingers up to the keyboard. However, in both situations, addressing this nerve up stream in the shoulder and neck have been shown to be extremely effective as well and that is what we are looking to do to get you better quicker and not have to resolve to surgery.
This is a common condition that I work on and depending on your case we may work and focus on a few areas. You may have one area that is really bad and needs extra care or we may work on the whole pathway in order to improve the mobility of the nerve from the neck down to the fingers with soft tissue work and adjusting along the way. This is a big concern as well that can cause a lot of pain and deficits. Addressing this concern early rather than later is also another key factor if you want to avoid some more serious treatment options like surgery. Hopefully, this gives you an idea of what carpal tunnel syndrome is and how to manage it. Hope to help you get moving better and more often.
There are some details here on more research that needs to be done but is showing some effectiveness with exercise and mobilization.
Tahoe’s Premiere Sports Chiropractor
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