Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can cause great pain and interfere with your life and productivity. Its effects can range from mildly irritating wrist, hand, and finger tingling that needs to be constantly shaken out to severe pain and partial debilitation of the hand. CTS can virtually always be treated, but that doesn't mean that the treatment is necessarily easy or desirable.
Many different ways exist of treating carpal tunnel syndrome. They depend partially on how severe your condition is and partially on what happens to work best for you. In the majority of cases, the first thing that gets recommended is that you put on a wrist brace to immobilize the movement of the wrist's ligaments so that they don't deteriorate with more repeated movements. But the brace is almost always worn only at night during sleep. The hand is left free for use during the day, but it's recommended that the hand's normal range of activity be curtailed as much as possible. This can even extend to not using the dominant hand, if that's the injured one, to open the door, brush your teeth, and do all of the little routine things that you do without thinking. This can make for some clumsiness but is supposed to help with the healing.
Oftentimes, a treatment recommended is that one wear the brace(s) for a period of two weeks, along with the possible use of anti-inflammatories available over the counter like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or aspirin. One particular company has also developed a patented device that is somewhat similar to the traditional brace, but is purported to be better fitting and more flexible. Its purpose is not to necessarily immobilize the wrist so much, but to gently pull on the inflamed and swollen joint areas so that the pressure on the median nerve is reduced.
If you spend a lot of time keyboarding, an ergonomic keyboard may help avoid or minimize symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. A wrist pad, too, will help alleviate or avoid symptoms. Make sure forearms, wrists and hands are aligned and parallel to the floor, and that you take about a 10 minute break every hour to massage your hands during work. During this time, you can also do specially designed CTS exercises meant to minimize or eliminate carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms.
If you follow these methods of treatment (including use of over-the-counter anti-inflammatories as applicable) and you still have carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms, your doctor may be able to prescribe stronger medications that are corticosteroids. You cannot buy these over the counter and they also do have side effects. If you've come to this point, you may want to look into other treatments that are available for carpal tunnel syndrome as well. Chiropractic medicine may be able to help, with treatments such as joint and spinal manipulation and ultrasound. Acupuncture, too, is often effective with carpal tunnel syndrome, although acupuncture also usually includes dietary changes and herbal treatments. With acupuncture, traditional needles or laser application may be used.
If you've tried all of these methods and nothing has seemed to work for long, your doctor may recommend surgery. If this is shown to be the best method for you, your doctor may recommend endoscopic surgery or traditional surgery. Endoscopic surgery has the advantage of being less invasive than traditional surgery, with a shorter recovery. With either type of surgery, the transverse carpal nerve is cut in order to relieve symptoms. This certainly should not affect the use of your hands either in terms of mobility or strength, but you can and probably will have at least minimal scarring. You'll also have some temporary swelling and pain immediately after the surgery that will diminish quite quickly. And of course, as with any surgery, there are risks, including nerve damage that may result from the surgery itself.
But what might be the best way for every individual to prevent CTS is to do special exercises designed to treat it and prevent it. These involve no drugs, they are always non-invasive, and they are inexpensive and convenient. They should probably be into before anything else.
Many different ways exist of treating carpal tunnel syndrome. They depend partially on how severe your condition is and partially on what happens to work best for you. In the majority of cases, the first thing that gets recommended is that you put on a wrist brace to immobilize the movement of the wrist's ligaments so that they don't deteriorate with more repeated movements. But the brace is almost always worn only at night during sleep. The hand is left free for use during the day, but it's recommended that the hand's normal range of activity be curtailed as much as possible. This can even extend to not using the dominant hand, if that's the injured one, to open the door, brush your teeth, and do all of the little routine things that you do without thinking. This can make for some clumsiness but is supposed to help with the healing.
Oftentimes, a treatment recommended is that one wear the brace(s) for a period of two weeks, along with the possible use of anti-inflammatories available over the counter like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or aspirin. One particular company has also developed a patented device that is somewhat similar to the traditional brace, but is purported to be better fitting and more flexible. Its purpose is not to necessarily immobilize the wrist so much, but to gently pull on the inflamed and swollen joint areas so that the pressure on the median nerve is reduced.
If you spend a lot of time keyboarding, an ergonomic keyboard may help avoid or minimize symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. A wrist pad, too, will help alleviate or avoid symptoms. Make sure forearms, wrists and hands are aligned and parallel to the floor, and that you take about a 10 minute break every hour to massage your hands during work. During this time, you can also do specially designed CTS exercises meant to minimize or eliminate carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms.
If you follow these methods of treatment (including use of over-the-counter anti-inflammatories as applicable) and you still have carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms, your doctor may be able to prescribe stronger medications that are corticosteroids. You cannot buy these over the counter and they also do have side effects. If you've come to this point, you may want to look into other treatments that are available for carpal tunnel syndrome as well. Chiropractic medicine may be able to help, with treatments such as joint and spinal manipulation and ultrasound. Acupuncture, too, is often effective with carpal tunnel syndrome, although acupuncture also usually includes dietary changes and herbal treatments. With acupuncture, traditional needles or laser application may be used.
If you've tried all of these methods and nothing has seemed to work for long, your doctor may recommend surgery. If this is shown to be the best method for you, your doctor may recommend endoscopic surgery or traditional surgery. Endoscopic surgery has the advantage of being less invasive than traditional surgery, with a shorter recovery. With either type of surgery, the transverse carpal nerve is cut in order to relieve symptoms. This certainly should not affect the use of your hands either in terms of mobility or strength, but you can and probably will have at least minimal scarring. You'll also have some temporary swelling and pain immediately after the surgery that will diminish quite quickly. And of course, as with any surgery, there are risks, including nerve damage that may result from the surgery itself.
But what might be the best way for every individual to prevent CTS is to do special exercises designed to treat it and prevent it. These involve no drugs, they are always non-invasive, and they are inexpensive and convenient. They should probably be into before anything else.
About the Author:
Practicing these easy carpal tunnel exercises, as shown by Thom Nicholson (noted CTS Guru), can help you holistically treat your symptoms and ease the pain caused by Carpal Tunnel Syndrome without invasive surgery. Help your body heal itself!
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