Here's how to prevent carpal tunnel from making your life miserable. Most doctors prescribe one or two of these time-tested techniques. But many doctors prefer to recommend all four of them.
They are simple and highly effective to prevent carpal tunnel from ever happening. By incorporating all four techniques it will insure you'll never be visited by this painful and numbing hand disorder.
The four techniques are:
In fact, you'd use these same techniques as treatment measures if carpal tunnel symptoms have already begun.
This article details what you need to do in order to keep carpal tunnel away for good. And if you're already at high risk for getting this disorder (see below for the definition of "high risk"), then this is something you MUST do to prevent misery later on.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disorder of the fingers and hand. It generally occurs in people with certain risk factors, as listed below.
The symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome are straight forward. Each one varies in intensity. And you can have one or more of them simultaneously. They include:
These symptoms are concentrated in the fingers and palm of the hand. But the little finger is never affected. In some patients symptoms may extend up the arm to the elbow. Sometimes more than one of these symptoms is present at the same time - usually pain, numbness, and tingling occur together.
Carpal tunnel symptoms most often begin slowly, without you hardly noticing them. The most common early sign is when finger or hand numbness wakes you up at night. You feel the need to shake out the numbness or hang your hand over the bed. When pain is the primary symptom it's usually felt most in the thumb, pointer finger, and palm.
As the condition worsens, symptoms become present when you wake up in the morning. Eventually, as the disorder progresses further, they're present all day long. And the symptoms are much more intense.
Many people wonder if they have wrist tendonitis instead of carpal tunnel. But there's a way you can tell. In the beginning, as symptoms are still mild, carpal tunnel appears only when your hand is resting. But wrist tendonitis symptoms appear only when your hand is working.
You can also take this
simple self-test to see if you have carpal tunnel or wrist tendonitis.
In general, there are certain risk factors which increase the probability of your getting carpal tunnel syndrome. You can change some of these risk factors. But you have little control over the others.
The NIH and CDC have identified high risk occupations which are known to have a high incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome. The incidence of carpal tunnel in many of these occupations is over 6 times higher than normal. The most high risk occupations include:
Unfortunately, you can't easily change most of the risk factors associated with getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Being female, having a family history or arthritis are permanent. But the one important risk factor you certainly have control over is your occupation.
In fact, occupational hazards is among the most often-cited risk factor which contributes to getting carpal tunnel. Plus, you can do something about these hazards to lessen the risks!
Remember that repetitive stress on the job is the culprit. While on the job, you can repetitively stress your hands in one of several ways:
Does your occupation involve any one of the above hand motions & activities? If so, then you're at high risk for developing carpal tunnel. And knowing how to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome should be VERY HIGH on your to-do list.
As COVID 19 sweeps across the world, more and more people are working from home. And given that most people don't pay attention to their sitting posture, it's no surprise that more and more cases of carpal tunnel syndrome are being reported.
Good sitting posture is crucial to hand health. Why? The musculoskeletal forces during bad posture transmit up the spine and down the neck and shoulders, ending at your hands. Imbalance in any of those forces result in imbalance in the hand's biomechanics. The result is hand pain, numbness, and tingling due to carpal tunnel syndrome.
You should seriously consider tips on improving your posture at home in order to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome. The diagram below highlights the key elements of good sitting posture.
Simple rest is one of the most important ways to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. In fact, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says taking regular breaks is one of the crucial things you can do to prevent most musculoskeletal disorders.
NIOSH recommends taking rest breaks lasting up to 3 minutes when you're using your hands. During these breaks, it's most helpful if you can also:
One of the most obvious ways to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome is to avoid any stressful hand activity. Of course, some jobs require certain activities that just can't be avoided. But you can minimize stressful forces on your hands with a few simple adjustments.
Safeguarding your hands means protecting them from external damage. You can do this in several ways.
I often tell patients, "Do these stretches and you'll never see carpal tunnel syndrome." It's absolutely true. If you're at high risk, and symptoms of carpal tunnel didn't start yet, you can completely avoid them with regular hand and finger stretches.
There are 4 key stretches everyone at high risk must do. These are called core exercises. They're designed to stretch your flexor tendons so you can avoid carpal tunnel syndrome altogether.
These stretches are designed to lubricate the flexor tendons. They also break apart any adhesions on the tendons. Such adhesions are responsible for causing carpal tunnel syndrome.
Best of all, each stretching exercise can be done quickly. In total, all four exercises take no more than 2 minutes to complete.
Do these stretching exercises
at least three times per day.
More is always better.
Prayer stretch
The prayer stretch is designed to lubricate the entire length of your flexor tendons. Place both palms together as in a prayer position, with fingers pointing upward. Keep your hands close to your body and at the level of your breastbone.
While holding your hands at the same level, slowly elevate both elbows as high as you can. Hold the stretch for 10 seconds and then relax. Drop your hands to your sides and shake them out for a few seconds.
Stop stretch
This stretch concentrates on the flexor tendons inside the wrist joint. Hold one hand out in front of you as if you're saying "Stop!".
Use your other hand to bull back on all your upturned fingers, except your thumb. Pull backward gently, but with as much force you can bear. Hold for 10 seconds. Drop your hand to your side and shake it out. Then switch hands and repeat.
Finger interlace stretch
The finger interlace stretch is similar to the "stop stretch" above. But it also helps stretch other muscles (lumbricals) in the fingers.
Interlace the fingers of both hands. Rotate your wrists so your palms are facing away from you. Then push your hands out and straight in front of you. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Then drop your hands to your sides and shake them out.
Thumb stretch
The thumb is the finger most often affected by carpal tunnel syndrome. So we must pay extra attention to it.
Grab one thumb and pull it backward as far as you comfortably can. Hold it for 10 seconds. Then rotate it like a helicopter blade a few times. Then switch directions for a few more times. Drop your hand and shake it out. Repeat for the other thumb.
The preventive measures above outline how to prevent carpal tunnel from happening in the first place. But what if symptoms are already present? What if the pain or numbness wakes you up at night?
That means by now, it's too late for prevention. You're therefore in the treatment phase. But if symptoms are only in the mild stage, then consider yourself lucky. It's relatively easy to treat mild carpal tunnel, and with great success.
In contrast, if carpal tunnel symptoms are in the severe stage, then it's much more challenging to treat and get good results. It's not impossible to reverse symptoms and restore your hands. It just requires more aggressive therapy.
If carpal tunnel symptoms have just begun, treating is relatively simple. You should still take all the preventive measures listed above. Doing so will prevent carpal tunnel from returning.
In addition, you must get started on 2 other remedies: night bracing and more intense stretching exercises. These are outlined below.
Night bracing your wrist is a treatment that most doctors advocate to treat mild carpal tunnel symptoms. You must wear a carpal tunnel night brace every night until symptoms are gone.
However, be aware that not just any wrist brace will work. In fact, most braces sold in stores like Walmart, Walgreens, and CVS will worsen your condition. That's because they are not designed for carpal tunnel syndrome (even though the packaging says it is).
Here's how to tell: see the image above. If the brace has a palmar spine (a metal support on the palm surface) then it's not made for carpal tunnel syndrome. A spine on the palmar surface will push into your wrist, further irritating your condition. In contrast, a certified carpal tunnel night brace has no such spine.
Also, if you already have symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, never wear a wrist brace while you work. Doing so only makes your hand fight the brace while it's performing its regular activity. That further irritates your condition.
The stretching exercises above are great for any stage of carpal tunnel syndrome. But more thorough stretching exercises will work best to relieve mild symptoms.
These more thorough stretching exercises can be found on this link. They are broken down into wrist exercises, finger and hand stretches, forearm stretches, neck and shoulder exercises.
They should be performed at least 3 times per day. More is better. But you should especially do these exercises once per 2-3 hours of working with your hands.
Treating severe stage carpal tunnel syndrome uses the same protocol as treating mild symptoms, with one exception. You must include myofascial release massage.
This technique is nearly 97% effective against carpal tunnel syndrome. And that includes moderate and severe stage patients. The reason it has a high effectiveness rate is because myofascial release massage breaks up the adhesions causing carpal tunnel syndrome.
Once the adhesions are broken apart, symptoms dissolve. Best of all, the effect is permanent.
The downside to this remedy is that myofascial release must be performed by someone else. It requires two hands to knead the tissue over your forearm. The kneading transmits to the flexor tendons to loosen restrictions. The therapy must be applied daily and for at least 30 days to provide effective results.
When nonsurgical remedies fail to provide relief from carpal tunnel syndrome, there are two other options available. They are more aggressive therapies, and reserved only for severe stage carpal tunnel syndrome. They include steroid injections and carpal tunnel surgery.
Steroid injections ("steroid shots") are effective in about 45% of patients. And when the injections are effective, they wear off in a few weeks to months afterward. In other words, the relief is only temporary.
Carpal tunnel surgery has similar results. About 57% of operated patients are not satisfied with their results by 2 years. The main reason for reports of dissatisfaction is return of symptoms or persistent pain.
However, since most people get good results with the nonsurgical remedies discussed above, steroid shots and surgery are becoming less and less popular.
Just how to prevent carpal tunnel is not complicated. It requires resting your hands, avoiding stressful activities, protecting your hand from damage, and a dedication to daily stretching exercises. These techniques will almost guarantee carpal tunnel will not visit your life. But if it does, there are proven and effective ways to eliminate symptoms for good.
