The best treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome is a 3-pronged approach. It's nonsurgical, inexpensive, and actually works exceptionally well. It requires night bracing, stretching exercises, and myofascial release massage.

In fact, for most cases this remedy can relieve symptoms completely. It can also keep carpal tunnel symptoms away permanently. The only downside to this remedy is that you need to be persistent with each component for at least 4 weeks in order to eliminate symptoms.

• FIND OUT: do you have carpal tunnel? No strings attached self-test.

Carpal tunnel syndrome can affect anybody. It afflicts millions of people each year. Yet it has no actual cure. In that way, carpal tunnel syndrome is similar to diseases like diabetes because neither one has a cure. 

However, both conditions can be treated effectively. In fact, the best treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome works so well that symptoms usually disappear and never return.

An effective carpal tunnel treatment works by addressing the underlying problem: inflammation. Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs due to tendon adhesions which produce tendon inflammation. Typically, this happens when tendons inside the carpal tunnel inflame and start to swell. As they swell, the tendons push against the nearby median nerve. 

The swelling on the median nerve starts to compress it. And it’s that compression which causes all of the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. 

A carpal tunnel doctor may advise having carpal tunnel release surgery to relieve symptoms. However, surgery is just ONE type of treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s not a cure.

Again, there is NO cure for this condition. There are only ways to manage the symptoms.

It's important to note that surgery does not eliminate the problem of tendon inflammation. In fact, carpal tunnel surgery merely reduces the compression on the median nerve. Sure, decompressing the nerve can relieve symptoms for a while. But in over 50% of patients the symptoms return. Why?

Imagine a garden hose with a spray nozzle. Open the water valve and pressure builds up and swells the hose. But if you spray the water out, you relieve the hose’s pressure. Stop spraying, and pressure increases once again, swelling the hose. 

A better way to eliminate the hose’s pressure is to turn off the water valve. An open valve is the cause of the hose’s pressure and swelling.

Similarly, surgery does not attempt to eliminate the tendon swelling. It does not eliminate adhesions or inflammation which cause the swelling. It merely opens a passageway so fluid build-up can drain out.

Therefore, swelling can easily return again. In fact, this is the reason why approximately half of carpal tunnel surgery patients are dissatisfied with their results 2 years later.

Any good treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome address the actual problem of tendon inflammation and swelling. Indeed, the treatments outlined below are highly effective because they reduce inflammation.

Most importantly, you should use all of these treatments simultaneously. That way your carpal tunnel won't have a chance to bother you anymore.

Myofascial release massage of the wrist and forearm is a popular treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. Therapists primarily use it to eliminate mild, moderate or severe symptoms. 

Myofascial release directly attacks the root cause of the inflammation: adhesions on the tendons. Therefore, if you eliminate the adhesions, you eliminate tendon inflammation - and swelling. 

The myofascial release massage has two other benefits in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. Both of them are critical for the healing process:

• First, the massage encourages excess fluid drainage (further reducing pressure and inflammation)
• Second, it promotes fresh blood flow (a major requirement for healing)
  

For maximum effectiveness, you should have this massage every day for at least for 4 weeks. Usually a therapist or a trained partner must help because the myofascial maneuvers require two thumbs.

When we sleep, we unconsciously bend and twist our wrists. If tendon swelling compresses the median nerve inside your wrist joint, you can aggravate it with such extreme movements.

But a carpal tunnel wrist brace will prevent this without harming your wrist joint. As a result, your wrist joint rests by remaining motionless. This allows healing to occur naturally. 

But you should never use a brace that’s not certified for carpal tunnel syndrome. In fact, other generic or multi-use braces found at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, etc., can actually make your condition worse.

A sign you're wearing the WRONG brace is when you wake up in the morning with worse symptoms despite wearing the brace.

A certified carpal tunnel night brace will avoid any harm that other generic braces can cause. The most important feature of a good night brace is that it does not have a palmar spine.

See a list of the best & worst carpal tunnel braces here.

The least expensive and easiest treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome is a routine of stretching exercises. Actually, finger, hand, and wrist exercises for carpal tunnel are very specific to this condition. 

Perform them as often as possible to see the best results. Moreover, do them when using your hands a lot. The finger, hand, and wrist exercises take only a minute to complete. However, they make a world of difference in both treating and avoiding carpal tunnel. The "prayer exercise" shown above is one of the more common examples. 

Most doctors and therapists suggest the "30-30" treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. That means 30 seconds of stretching exercises for every 30 minutes of work. Usually, this will avoid additional symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome like pain and numbness. 

Stretching works because it helps break apart tendon adhesions. This reduces tendon swelling. Also, stretching promotes fluid drainage and increases blood flow. Therefore, it keeps tendon inflammation and swelling from taking hold.

The best treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome attacks the root cause of the problem: tendon inflammation and swelling. Myofascial release massage, night bracing, and routine stretching exercises all act in this way to eliminate symptoms. They are highly effective when properly done so that your symptoms never reappear.