If you work or study in an environment that requires large chunks of time on the computer, or doing repetitive motions with your hands, you have almost
certainly heard of carpal tunnel before. The full length for this issue is known as carpal tunnel
syndrome.
The most common complaints from people that deal with this condition are numbness, tingling, burning or pain in the first three and sometimes half of the fourth fingers (Thumb, pointer, middle finger and index). Grip strength loss is also very common and can impact normal day-to-day activities or work.
Relevant Anatomy
In order to understand what is going on here, let’s start with the relevant anatomy.
There are six small bones in the wrist that interlock like small dice that all have different shapes. Together, they make all the various movements of your wrist possible.
These small bones are called “carpals”, hence the carpal from carpal tunnel.
On the inside of your wrist (palm side), these bones come together in such a way to make a tunnel into the palm and hand. Inside of this tunnel are tendons for the muscles of your fingers, arteries and veins to provide blood flow, and a very important nerve called the median nerve.
What causes symptoms?
There are several things that can go wrong in order to cause the symptoms listed earlier. The short answer is that pressure or inflammation on the nerve in the neck, shoulder, elbow, or wrist can vcause these symptoms.
Commonly we find subluxations in the neck, some rounding in the shoulders putting the nerves under tension, and a lack of space in the tunnel made by the carpal bones all contributing to this problem.
Surgical vs. Conservative Care
Generally, the traditional medical approach is to try wearing a brace, a corticosteroid injection to reduce swelling or inflammation, perhaps some physical therapy, followed by surgery if all of these interventions are unsuccessful.
Our protocol for carpal tunnel instead includes adjustments and decompression therapy to the neck to relieve nervous system tension upstream, working on the wrist directly to ensure maximum space for the nerve, nerve flossing and exercisesat home, and posture or lifestyle factors that may be contributing.
Our goal is to always avoid surgery or injections if we can. Multiple injections can actually cause connective tissue damage over time. The surgery for carpal tunnel involves slicing the thick fascia, or connective tissue, that goes around the wrist, trying to artificially increase the amount of space in the carpal tunnel itself.
While these interventions may work (at least in the short term), many patients have symptoms return and now you’ve already done the surgical procedure so your options are severely limited.
Drs. Courtney and Ruston have had many patients over the years that they have been able to resolve the true cause of their carpal tunnel syndrome, rather than trying to just cover up symptoms or surgically alter tissue. Some of them even had surgery scheduled but were able to cancel it after a few weeks of treatment!
If you or someone you know is dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome, let them know we can help! You can heal and live with full function of your hand without pain or numbness and you don’t need drugs, injections, or surgery to do it.
