CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME

Repetitive hand motion, like typing on a computer keyboard, or prolonged heavy vibration, like operating a jackhammer, can result in swelling of the median nerve. This nerve, which runs through an area in the wrist known as the carpal tunnel, provides power and sensation to the fingers.

A swollen median nerve can often lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition that causes weakness, numbness, tingling, and pain in the fingers, wrists, forearms, and elbows. Some of the causes of carpal tunnel syndrome include various sorts of trauma, diabetes, hypothyroidism, pregnancy, or rheumatoid arthritis, among other things.

The earliest symptoms include numbness or tingling or a sensation that the hand is falling asleep, especially in the middle of the night the early morning. Those with carpal tunnel syndrome may drop a coffee cup in the morning or experience other similar problems.

In most cases numbness and pain can be treated with medication, splinting, or physical therapy. Injections of anesthetics and steroids (“cortisone”) into the wrist can sometimes be extremely effective and relatively painless while helping to avoid surgery. If left untreated for a prolonged period of time carpal tunnel syndrome can lead to irreversible loss of neuromuscular function in the hand. While severe cases will eventually require surgery, most people can be helped with much more conservative measures.

The Arthritis Center has the professional knowledge and experience it takes to diagnose, treat, and if necessary, perform surgery for all phases of carpal tunnel syndrome.

The diagram on the right displays in blue the area affected by carpal tunnel syndrome.

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