Understanding

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

What is carpal tunnel syndrome?

The carpal tunnel is a passageway in the front (anterior) of the wrist that is narrow and contains the median nerve as well as the tendons of the wrist. The meridian nerve is a sensory nerve that carries information to the hand and also controls the movements in the hand and fingers. 

 

causes

Carpal Tunnel syndrome occurs where the median nerve is compressed. Have a think about what you are doing on a regular basis that would put pressure on this area.

  1. The main cause would be overuse. Use from the work you do. Perhaps it’s sitting at a desk holding a mouse for long hours. Or you may have manual work that uses the wrist a lot. It could be that you use tools that vibrate and annoy the median nerve.
  2. It could also be fluid retention from things like pregnancy or even menopause.
  3. It could be due to a secondary reason like Diabetes Mellitus, Hypothyroidism, Rheumatoid Arthritis or even Acromegaly.

signs and symptoms

Typical symptoms and signs for this condition are as follows: 

  • You may feel a tingling feeling. 
  • Numbness 
  • Pain at the median nerve. If shaking your hand relieves the pain this could be a sign.
  • Weakness when gripping something 
  • Weakness of the thumb
  • You many notice that signs are worse at night 
  • You may wake at night from the pain
  • Long term would see some muscle wasting at the base .of the thumb

diagnosis 

To diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome your health care professional may do the

1. Tinsel’s Test or

2. Phalen’s Test – preferred test

COMPLICATIONS

Complications of carpal tunnel syndrome are uncommon. Atrophy of the thumb muscle may cause issues long term as this the muscles in the base of the thumb are used on a regular basis and so may lead to a lack of dexterity in the affected hand.

what your doctor will offer you

Your doctor may offer you

  1. The Tinsel’s test
  2. The Phalen’s test
  3. A nerve conduction study, which is a medical diagnostic test commonly used to evaluate the function, especially the ability of electrical conduction, of the motor and sensory nerves of the body.
  4. For treatment that might be offered could be anti-inflammatory drugs. Also corticosteroid injections to ease the pain. Or splinting of the wrist. 
  5. You might also want to try physiotherapy
  6. Last resort would be surgery that cus the transverse carpal ligament.

 

Our advice would be to look to treat the underlying cause of why the carpal tunnel is there in the first place. Treating symptoms is a short term thing. 

Get educated!

Do some more research about carpal tunnel and find out what worked for others. You may find that your condition can be helped in other ways other than medications and surgery which is invasive and comes with its own set of risks. 

Key areas to help yourself with are to:-

  1. Treat the cause
  2. Try using herbs for the pain, swelling and inflammation
  3. Try some acupuncture
  4. Try homeopathy – treatments like arnica and ruta are great ways to help.
  5. You may also want to try osteopathy 

Take the next step to preventing carpal tunnel 

Join Ultimate Health, your journey starts here!

At Ultimate Health we look for prevention and treating the cause. Getting conscious about our body, what we put in and how our mind affects our health. We always start by wiping the slate clean with a Reboot and then looking to help support your body to heal using natural proven principles. Naturopathic solutions and a protocol that supports your body and every system that it runs. We help you to manage the many multifunctional influences that can cause carpal tunnel in the first place. Detoxification is key, as well as reducing internal inflammation. If you need a map we have the “one clear path” to support your entire journey.

Here are the Pathways we use to support you:

  1. Detoxification
  2. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet
  3. Add some extra nutrients like Vitamin B6 which is needed by the nerves and essential to preventing neural over-activity. Did you know the brain synapses use GABA a neurotransmitter produced from Glutamine. The conversion of these is dependent on vitamin B6.
  4. Resting your affected wrist, as much as you can.

References

1. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Fact-Sheet

2. College of Naturopathic Medicine – Biomedicine training

3. Natural Medicine, (Third Edition) Murray & Pizzorno 

4. Gould’s Psyhophysiology for Health Professionals, Hubert & Vanmeter, 

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