House Call Doctor available on QuickAndDirtyTips.com
More episodes of the House Call Doctor available on QuickAndDirtyTips.com
Image: Quick & Dirty Tips
-
The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
Read More »
Scientific American presents House Call Doctor by Quick & Dirty Tips. Scientific American and Quick & Dirty Tips are both Macmillan companies.
Our hands are so important to everyday life. We write, eat, work, hold our children, and even talk with our hands. We generally take them for granted, until something happens and we are no longer able to use them as we did before.
By far the most common ailment affecting my patients’ hands is carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), which causes tingling and numbness in the fingers. It’s quite common, and can affect anyone at any age, but tends to occur more in women and in those who are overweight. Most of the time, it is triggered by our daily routine activities. Since it’s such a common medical issue, I’d like to give you some tips on its causes, symptoms, and treatments.
What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
There is a band of tissues encircling our wrists that includes ligaments and tendons. Then there’s a nerve that runs through this band of tissues called the “median nerve.” The median nerve feeds the sensation in our first three and a half fingers, starting with the thumb. It does not affect our pinky finger.
When this band becomes inflamed and thickened, it compresses the median nerve and we start to experience tingling and numbness in those fingers.
Listen to this Podcast> Continue reading on QuickAndDirtyTips.com
See what we're tweeting about
5 Comments
Add CommentIn fact, carpal tunnel symptoms, especially in this era of computer-hunched workers, are very likely to be caused by thoracic outlet syndrome, or thoracic-scapular dysfunction. Chronic posture imbalances and inappropriate muscle recruitment result in nerve and artery compression at the thoracic outlet, where the nerves and arteries exit the thorax to the arms. Because nerves cells are very long single cells (nerves are bundles of nerve cells, rather like bundles of ethernet cables), impingement closer to the spine leads to vulnerability and symptoms further down.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere's no point in treating for carpal tunnel when the cause is elsewhere. It will only recur. Appropriate treatment for thoracic scapular dysfunction is a long, rigourous course of physical therapy/OT which trains approriate recruitment of mid-back muscles instead of high-shoulder muscles and neck muscles for arm and shoulder movement.
If you've been diagnosed with carpal tunnel but have kind of round shoulders and/or a forward head and/or a lot of upper back and postural discomfort, get another opinion from someone who has some better expertise.
I learned this the long, hard painful way. And why is the SciAm linking to this cheesy ad-driven inaccurate canned blog?
We used to call it milker's cramp when starting hand milking. It usually went off after a few days.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you feel it starting just stop whatever activity may be causing it for a while, if you can.
PatriciaJH's comment is far more valuable than the half-assed blog post. The issue is rarely (never?) in the hands and wrists but in the upper back, shoulders and pectoralis minor muscles. See a physical therapist who knows the evils of the pec minor and stay far away from anyone who wants to focus on (or cut open) your wrist.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry to say, PatriciaJH, but you are confusing symptoms with causes. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is ONLY the compression of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel. Indeed, its symptoms can be produced by other neuropathic problems, but these have their own names, diagnostic approaches and treatment modalities.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou are certainly correct that the hunched and forward rotated shoulders can set the stage for impingement of the median and radial nerve. However the proper diagnostic test - EMG is the gold standard - will indicate whether one is dealing with compression in the carpal tunnel or elsewhere up the nerve. Without the proper tests, assigning treatment is a bit of a shot in the dark.
What was not stated in the blog was that tendinitis in the wrists and elbows is much more prevalent than true CTS and is much more likely to respond to conservative treatment. It is often when the symptoms of tendinitis are ignored or "worked through" that the condition can progress to CTS.
I really like it when people write such great articles on topics that I am passionate about, if you have anymore questions regarding Carpal tunnel syndrome that you haven't found in this great article please visit my blog to read all the info that you may require.<a href="http://carpaltunnelv.com/">click Here</a>. Also join our dedicated Facebook page so that you can interact and share experiences with other CTS patients.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this