Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) “affects between 3% and 6% of adults in the United States,” reports Medical News Today. Symptoms of CTS are frequent burning, tingling, or numbness in the hand and fingers. However, since these conditions can be linked with many other conditions, misdiagnosis occurs in over 50% of cases. Often the source of the problem lies in your neck, shoulder, elbow, and wrist, rather than just your wrist. A loss in the natural curve your neck leads to pressure in the nerve roots that lead to your shoulder, arm, and hand, causing pain or numbness in those areas. See if what you have is truly carpal tunnel or if it is something else!
What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), describe carpal tunnel syndrome as the “most common and widely known of the entrapment neuropathies in which the body’s peripheral nerves are compressed or traumatized.” You have close to 100 billion nerve cells throughout your body, all of which send information from that area of your body to your spinal cord and brain. It is through that information provided by nerves that you can feel hot and cold, pain or pleasure, and countless other sensations.
However, any number of nerves can become damaged or compressed, leading to health problems and chronic symptoms that can interfere with your day. One instance of nerve damage or compression that is incredibly common is carpal tunnel syndrome. The carpal tunnel in your body is the space in your wrist where the median nerve passes. This space in your wrist allows the median nerve to pass through this area, up through the rest of your arm. When you do a repetitive motion over and over (such as typing), it can irritate the area of your wrist where this small tunnel lies.
When that happens, tendon swelling in the area makes the tunnel shrink, blocking a lot of your nerve sensations. Even though nerve signals are getting blocked, patients generally feel chronic pain in a specific area of their wrist, which is what indicates that the condition is carpal tunnel.
How Do You Know You Have This?
Patients who have this may feel tenderness in their wrist or a bit of irritation. Then, suddenly they are feeling sharp pains, burning and tingling. Carpal tunnel happens over time or after lots of repetitive motions. However, patients generally don’t notice much happening in the wrist until the nerve has already been compressed. Patients will often feel:
- Chronic, sharp pains that radiate up the arm or that concentrate in the wrist and hand
- Numbness that begins in the thumb or index finger
- Burning or tingling in the hands and the fingers
- Stiff fingers
- The sensation of swelling without actually seeing swelling
- Some patients have slight swelling in the meaty part of their thumb and wrist area
- Pins and needles feeling
When patients let these symptoms persist, they may find that they put themselves at risk for worse symptoms. You never want to ignore symptoms because the area will continue to swell and healing time once you do get help will take longer. Your risk for waiting for treatment could lead to:
- Chronic pain that begins to disrupt your sleep
- Loss of grip in the hand with the compressed nerve
- Weakness that worsens over time
- Atrophy of the hand, finger and forearm muscles
- Complete numbness in the fingers and hand that can lead to minor paralysis
Effective Treatments Heal You Quicker
Did you know that you can heal much quicker from nerve injuries and compression if you receive professional therapy services for your injury? Patients who invest some time in physical and chiropractic services can heal very quickly compared to those who don’t do anything for their nerve problems. Spine Correction Center of the Rockies begins your treatment program by addressing all of the areas that the nerve may be entrapped. We have seen carpal tunnel often and know the signs of this condition.
We can see the extent of your carpal tunnel and provide you with strengthening and stretching exercises to build your wrist strength back up. The right exercises can actually reduce the swelling you have, which will soothe the chronic pain and symptoms you’re experiencing. There are many pain-management options as well that can help you get through the day without you having to use narcotics. If needed, we can do nerve testing to rule out potential wrist problems or injuries if we find you don’t actually have carpal tunnel syndrome. For patients who are in chronic pain right then, we can provide anti-inflammatory injections that will calm the irritated and swollen nerve tissues down so you can actually heal.
Don’t Wait for Carpal Tunnel Treatment!
Patients can miss out on work, social life, and the ability to do their daily tasks when they don’t seek help for their chronic conditions when they happen. It’s always better to get ahead of a chronic problem then to have it worsen over time. Don’t let carpal tunnel interfere with your work or your life! Call Spine Correction Center today at (970) 658-5115!
