Carpal tunnel treatment in Tucker – what is it?
First you need to know that along the palm of your hand, running across your wrist and into your forearm sits a nerve. This is called the median nerve, and its job is to get feeling into the palm of your hand. The inner palm, to be precise. This nerve is pretty exposed, as it runs over your wrist, so it sits within a tunnel – the carpal tunnel. Guess what carpus means in Latin:
Wrist!
Now it all makes sense. This tunnel is a hard, small place. When the nerve inside of it gets pinched it’s got nowhere to go. The hard wall of the tunnel is made of bones and tendons. These tendons can become inflamed from overuse, and this can worsen until the tendon presses against the nerve. This will result in numbness and quite a lot of pain.
Like many pains, this one starts small and grows big. It can at first feel like a burning sensation, with numbness, or with the feeling of pins and needles which extends from the palm and radiates outward to the fingers. The locus of the problem, however, will remain in the middle of the hand, index finger, thumb and every finger except your pinky. This is saved because it’s served by a different nerve than the median. This condition usually is painful at night – after work – at least in the beginning. That is when the wrists lay tight in bed, unmoving. Eventually the pain will come to grab you during the day as well.
This condition will lead to the inability to operate your hand properly because of the stress on the nerve and tendon. The inflammation within the carpal tunnel can hurt the median nerve, causing the muscles in the bottom of your thumb to grow weak.
Strangely, the common reason for carpal tunnel syndrome – being a lot of repetitive work with your wrist – is not entirely accurate. It’s difficult to pinpoint the true cause. Whether it is a narrow carpal tunnel or stress to the area, it’s never easy to understand which is the villain. Currently there’s no verification that proves the aggravation you see in carpal tunnel is caused by overuse.
There are a variety of treatments, beginning with laying off the wrist and applying cold packs. However, since the cause could be overwork or another condition such as diabetes or a form of arthritis, these also need to be analyzed and treated.
Wrist exercise can help condition the tendon and the muscles surrounding it. Chiropractic care can also align the nerves that are responsible for wellness in the wrist and arms. However, if the work doesn’t improve your symptoms for about six months, the surgical option presents itself. There are now minimally invasive procedures that can almost negate the effects of the condition, by removing the ligament that presses down over the carpal tunnel and covers the median nerve.