What Treatment Are Considerable For Carpal Tunnel Symptoms?

By Tom Nicholson

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disorder that can cause great pain or at least discomfort, and can certainly interfere with normal activities and with life in general. Its effects range from mild discomfort in the hands, wrists and fingers to severe pain that partially or even completely debilitates you. It can almost always be treated, but some treatments are more painful and less desirable than others

Many different ways exist of treating carpal tunnel syndrome. They depend partially on how severe your condition is and partially on what happens to work best for you. In the majority of cases, the first thing that gets recommended is that you put on a wrist brace to immobilize the movement of the wrist's ligaments so that they don't deteriorate with more repeated movements. But the brace is almost always worn only at night during sleep. The hand is left free for use during the day, but it's recommended that the hand's normal range of activity be curtailed as much as possible. This can even extend to not using the dominant hand, if that's the injured one, to open the door, brush your teeth, and do all of the little routine things that you do without thinking. This can make for some clumsiness but is supposed to help with the healing.

In most cases, the brace is worn for about two weeks, and the treatment can be combined with use of anti-inflammatories like aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or naproxen sodium. One company has also developed a device that is purportedly similar to the standard brace but is more flexible and fits better. It also gently pulls on the swollen inflamed areas so that the pressure on the median nerve is reduced and therefore symptoms are also reduced.

If you use keyboards a lot at work it's recommended that you get an ergonomic keyboard. Also get a wrist pad. Your hands, wrists, and elbows should always be aligned and parallel to the floor when you're typing. You should take 10-minute breaks about every hour and during that time for a walk and massage your hands. Massage your hands a few times while at home, too.

If pain and symptoms are still a problem, see your doctor; he or she may be able to prescribe you corticosteroid medications, which cannot be bought over the counter. These contain steroidal medication, so they do also have some risks. If you've come to this point, other treatment options for CTS may also be beneficial to you. One of these, chiropractic medicine, has been shown to be of benefit to CTS, and may utilize techniques like joint or spinal manipulation and ultrasound. Acupuncture, too, may be of help with CTS, and usually include dietary practices and herbal treatment in addition to the acupuncture. The acupuncture itself may be either traditionally based with needle usage or may be done through the use of lasers.

If all else fails, you may have to go in for surgery. The surgery could be endoscopic or just full-open. Either way,the transverse carpal nerve gets cut to relieve the symptoms. This does not seem to harm the hand's motion abilities or strength, but there can be scarring from the procedure. You will also experience pain and swelling in the hand immediately after the surgery. And although uncommon, there can be some very bad complications from the surgery including nerve damage.

But what might be the best way for every individual to prevent CTS is to do special exercises designed to treat it and prevent it. These involve no drugs, they are always non-invasive, and they are inexpensive and convenient. They should probably be into before anything else. - 30540

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