Patients always ask about carpal tunnel gloves and how good they really are. Basically, there are two types of gloves:

• Ordinary carpal tunnel gloves
• Carpal tunnel compression gloves

There's a big difference between these two products. In fact, you should never use carpal tunnel compression gloves if you have carpal tunnel syndrome. The following article explains everything you need to know to help eliminate the pain, numbness, and tingling of this disorder.

Contents of this article:

• What gloves can do for carpal tunnel syndrome
• Why some patients are helped by carpal tunnel gloves
• Which carpal tunnel gloves help
• Which carpal tunnel gloves to avoid
• The dangers of compression gloves
• Using wrist braces
  

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a type of peripheral neuropathy. That means there is a damaged nerve inside your wrist joint. The damage to the nerve causes unusual sensations like pain, numbness, tingling (pins-and-needles), burning, itching, shooting electric shocks, weakness, and clumsiness.

Nobody knows for sure why that nerve, the median nerve, gets damaged in the first place. But we know that people in certain occupations are prone to getting this disorder.

 Want to know how severe your carpal tunnel really is?

 Take this 60 second Quiz designed by Dr. Z.

These occupations all have one thing in common: they require rapid, repetitive or forceful use of the hands or fingers. That's why the following professions are prone to getting carpal tunnel syndrome:

• Hairdressers
• Typists
• E-sports & video gamers
• Artists
• Dental hygienists
• Knitters and sewers
• Truck drivers
• Graphic designers
• Musicians (especially guitar players)

Added to that, people are also at particularly high risk for developing carpal tunnel syndrome if they meet one or more of the following scenarios:

• Are female
• Have a sibling or parent with the disorder
• Are pregnant
• Have rheumatoid arthritis
• Have a small body frame
• Are under emotional stress

 Carpal tunnel gloves are among the most popular products available to patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. There are 4 reasons for their popularity:

Gloves keep your hands warm - and this is good! Warmth helps the body heal. And since the median nerve is damaged inside the wrist joint, keeping your hand and wrist warm will speed the nerve's healing.

The gloves have a tremendous placebo effect, especially on pain. The placebo effect reduces pain temporarily. But within hours, the pain returns as the effect wears off. The placebo effect is especially strong with "compression gloves" (see below). The constant compression "reminds" you that you're wearing something that's supposed to help ease the pain. And therefore it does - temporarily.

Most carpal tunnel gloves cost under $25. But considering the fact that they're merely ordinary hand gloves, the cost is actually high. Also, paying top dollar for a "therapy product" adds to its credibility, which helps feed the placebo effect. And most companies will do or say anything (including lying about a product's effectiveness) to grab a piece of the $60 billion pain market.

Carpal tunnel gloves are greatly hyped. Most companies even resort to false advertising to pump up the hype. In reality, any glove that advertises "helps carpal tunnel syndrome" is false advertising. That's because NO research to date has tested the clinical effects of gloves on this disorder. Therefore, such a claim is a lie - and illegal. (Companies promoting "copper infused" gloves are telling the biggest lies - see below.)

Once again, gloves don't provide much therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome. The most powerful result of wearing a carpal tunnel glove is the placebo effect.

But the small benefit of keeping your hand warm can be gained by wearing just about ANY hand glove, and not necessarily a "carpal tunnel glove". So why spend the extra money?

Therefore, if you insist on wearing  a glove for your carpal tunnel syndrome, buy an inexpensive thermal glove from your local clothing store or online. Remember, it doesn't matter if it's not a "carpal tunnel glove".

And avoid compression gloves at all costs (see below).

The manufacturers of carpal tunnel gloves listed below make outrageous claims. It's false advertising, and also illegal. Eventually, the Federal Trade Commission will catch up, and force them stop making the false claims.

Also, remember to avoid using compression gloves. They will worsen carpal tunnel syndrome. Therefore, specifically avoid products sold as:

• Copper Fit
• Imak
• Kapmore
• Mediven
• Ironclad
• Vive
• Dr. Frederick’s
  

Nerve compression causes carpal tunnel syndrome

Many carpal tunnel patients first try treating their symptoms by buying a wrist brace from Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, etc. But like gloves, such braces are not designed to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.

In fact, like compression gloves, they can actually worsen your condition. This especially happens when you wear the wrong brace or wear one all the time.

Here's when and how to use wrist braces properly if you have carpal tunnel syndrome:

Never wear a wrist brace when you're working with your hands. This is contrary to what many doctors tell their patients. But wearing a wrist brace while your hand is active during the day only makes the problem worse. Why?

With carpal tunnel syndrome, your wrist joint is already damaged. Restricting it's movement with a brace only causes you to fight the brace (subconsciously) while working. This causes double-stress (and double-damage) to the wrist.

Instead, it's much better to allow your wrist to be free, even though it may be bothersome. At least you're not causing more damage to your wrist and making your condition worse.

OK, if you have carpal tunnel syndrome you should NEVER wear a wrist brace during the day. However, you should ALWAYS wear a wrist brace while sleeping. The reason?

When we sleep, we all  unconsciously bend our hands backward. That "hyper-extension" is very bad if you have carpal tunnel syndrome. That's because hand hyper-extension causes compression of the median nerve inside your wrist joint.

However, a brace prevents such over-bending. Essentially, it allows your hand to rest while you sleep. But be sure you only wear a "certified carpal tunnel brace" at night (see below for explanation).

Do you wear a night brace but still have nighttime or morning symptoms? Chances are you're not wearing the proper brace.

Most ordinary wrist braces (found in CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, etc.) contain a metal spine on the palmar surface of the brace. This is called a "palmar spine" (see picture above). The spine acts as s stiffener to keep your hand in a straightened ("neutral") position as you sleep.

However, if you try bending your hand backward with a brace containing a palmar spine, the spine will push into your wrist joint. That increases the compression on the median nerve. And we already know that the median nerve is highly sensitive to such pressure changes.

But a "certified carpal tunnel brace" contains a spine on the lateral or dorsal side of the hand, not on the palmar surface (see picture below). That way, any hand movement does not cause compression on the median nerve.

So look for a "certified carpal tunnel brace" which does not contain a palmar spine. The most popular of such braces are listed below (priced highest to lowest at publication):

1. AliMed Dorsal Resting Splint (approx. $138)
2. BSOS Dorsal Splint (approx. $100)
3. Comfy Dorsal Hand Orthosis (approx. $98)
4. LEEDer Dorsal Orthosis (approx. $85)
5. CarpalRx Night Brace (approx. $50)
6. RCIA Dorsal Splint (approx. $48)
   

Carpal tunnel gloves are only slightly useful for fighting carpal tunnel syndrome. They don't do much except keep your hand warm. And warmth alone isn't going to eliminate symptoms.

Carpal tunnel syndrome isn't just an annoyance. It's an extremely common yet serious disorder of the hand. And unfortunately, there's no cheap or quick way out of it.

The answer to stopping carpal tunnel syndrome before it gets worse is to use real medical therapy that's applied every day for several weeks. Only this kind of dedication and persistence will eventually resolve symptoms permanently.

The alternative is to allow the condition to worsen week by week. And the longer it goes untreated, your symptoms will become more intense -- and more difficult to treat.

Which non-surgical therapies are best? 

• Routine finger and hand stretching exercises.
  
  
• Night bracing using a certified carpal tunnel brace.
  
  
• Myofascial release massage of the forearm and wrist.

It's important to note that the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons advises all patients to use the above remedies first, before considering surgery. These therapies are extremely effective in most patients in eliminating carpal tunnel symptoms for good.