Options in Carpal Tunnel Treatments

There are many treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome, and the approach that is taken depends upon how severely a person is affected with the condition. There are many different levels of severity when it comes to CTS, and the condition typically begins with mild tingly or numb sensations in the fingers. The severe form of the condition eventually results in an inability to use the hands without feeling pain.

When carpal tunnel syndrome is diagnosed in the beginning stages, a night splint is often the first approach to treatment. The splint serves to immobilize the wrist and prevent it from bending too far forward or backward, to alleviate the pressure on the median nerve. Many people find that they get a certain measure of relief from the pins and needles feeling that often comes at night with carpal tunnel syndrome. A splint can also be worn during the day, though it limits mobility. Many CTS sufferers find that a splint brings a good measure of symptomatic relief.

However, if this doesn’t provide complete relief, those afflicted with the condition may use aspirin, ibuprofen, or other NSAID pain medications to treat the pain. When used alone, these medications don’t cure the underlying carpal tunnel problem, though they do help reduce inflammation. These medicines make the symptoms more manageable, but may obscure the pain and make it more difficult to tell whether the CTS is resolving. In carpal tunnel cases that don’t involve inflammation, these medicines have no effect on the condition, and they certainly won’t alleviate the numbness or pins and needles sensation that many people experience. While they can help with short term pain relief, they can result in side effects when taken for an extended period of time. Aspirin, for instance, can cause bleeding in the stomach.

If these approaches aren’t working, another alternative is steroidal medications, like subcutaneous cortisone injections under the skin on the wrist. Sometimes, as in the case of carpal tunnel symptoms in pregnancy, this may be the first line of treatment. If this therapy is successful, symptoms may abate for up to six months. Some patients find that the therapy is more effective with frequent injections, which cannot be closer together than every six weeks. The cortisone works by lessening the inflammation of the tendons and swollen membranes surrounding the median nerve.

Some people get electrical iontophresis, which is where electricity is used to move the drug’s molecules to the needed place. This is less invasive than the injections, but it also tends to be less effective.

When all other approaches have failed to provide relief, CTR, or carpal tunnel release surgery, is a last resort. This procedure requires cutting the ligament that sits at the apex of the carpal tunnel, and may be performed with a traditional, open incision, or endoscopically. Endoscopic surgery involves the use of a tiny catheter or endoscope with a camera attached that allows the surgeon to see the surgical area on a television monitor. This minimizes the invasiveness of the procedure. For a traditional, open surgery, a major incision is made and the wrist opened up so the surgeon can directly visualize the area as the ligament is snipped.

Even though each of these treatments can be effective, there are important disadvantages to each of them. Not all approaches work for all people. Fortunately, there’s an inexpensive and non-invasive way to go about getting relief from carpal tunnel symptoms. There are exercises that can be done that cost little or nothing and can yield permanent results. These exercises should be the first treatment option considered by those who are suffering from the condition.

CTS can virtually always be treated, but that doesn’t mean that the treatment is necessarily easy or desirable. Its effects can range from mildly annoying wrist, hand, and finger tingling that needs to be constantly shaken out to severe pain and partial debilitation of the hand. Treatment is discovered by Tom Nicholson, carpal tunnel exercises that are so simple to do they can be done by anyone.