Understanding Carpal Tunnel Symptoms

Using one’s hands on the job is important for success in most careers. Some jobs require workers to use their hands more than others, for example, word processing or data entry in an office, or manual labor like construction. Using your hands is necessary to accomplish important job-related work, whether this involves creating a spreadsheet, using a screw driver, or compiling reports. This is why carpal tunnel syndrome can be such a devastating condition.

Many of us completely disregard our hands and wrists. We tap away at our keyboards, without a thought for proper positioning or ergonomics. For example, many people put unnecessary pressure on the wrists or lean forward on the elbows. For those who do manual labor, poor posture while performing tasks like drilling, hammering, or sanding can lead to exhaustion. A few hours of this won’t cause long term problems, but unfortunately, performing these same repetitive tasks day after day can eventually lead to carpal tunnel symptoms.

What exactly is carpal tunnel syndrome? To explain it simply, carpal tunnel syndrome (or CTS) results from the compression of the median nerve that sits within the carpal tunnel of the wrist. This compression results from a tightening, stress, and inflammation of the carpal ligament and surrounding tissues that happens after injury from repeated stress to the wrists and hands. The carpal ligament is what provides you with leverage and support to move the wrists and hands. This is why carpal tunnel can be not only uncomfortable, it can be quite debilitating and can cause those who suffer from it to become depressed as a result of the inability to complete basic tasks without pain.

What are the symptoms associated with carpal tunnel syndrome? In reality, if you have the condition you can’t help but notice it. You might begin to experience numbness or a ‘pins and needles’ sensation in your hands and fingers. More commonly, people experience hand and wrist pain that sometime travels up the forearm. In the most extreme cases, sufferers can eventually lose the use of the hands and fingers entirely, if appropriate treatment isn’t sought. But, you can injure more than just your hands with this condition. As the pain progresses, people with the condition automatically compensate by adjusting their position. This can results in strain of the legs, back, and shoulders, and this tension may result in back and neck problems, or headaches.

You might have had one or more of these symptoms in the past, and simply didn’t pay attention to them. It’s important to take them seriously, because they could lead to a problem that prevents you from working. So, how can you deal effectively with the condition? Not surprisingly carpal tunnel surgery, in which the transverse carpal ligament is cut, is one of the first remedies that people consider. But, this can lead to additional complications later on.

What you should do instead is use exercises and stretches to alleviate your carpal tunnel symptoms. Every few hours throughout the work day, stand and stretch your body. This will help loosen and relax all of your muscles, including those in your arms and hands. Next, gently bend and flex your wrists from front to back. This ensures that you don’t stay in any one position for too long, and helps break the cycle of repetitive motion that could cause CTS.

The experience of many CTS sufferers has shown that exercises and stretching can effectively relieve the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. This routine becomes far more appealing when you consider that the alternative is an expensive and risky surgery.

What are CT symptoms? Carpal tunnel symptoms, quite simply, is the squeezing of the median nerve at the wrist where the transverse carpal ligament has become tightened and stressed.. Check CT exercises to minimized this symptoms .