This article describes how yoga for carpal tunnel syndrome is effective for relieving symptoms. If you have signs and symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, you may want to spend a moment to learn how yoga helps.

• Click here to see specific carpal tunnel yoga poses and exercises.

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

The current medical view is that carpal tunnel syndrome results from using your fingers and hand repetitively, especially with forceful motions. Gripping a shovel or a hairbrush for long periods of time are common examples. 

But a large percentage of people develop carpal tunnel syndrome without ever engaging is such repetitive or forceful activities. Obviously, there’s much to learn about this disorder.

It's not unusual for anybody to experience hand or finger pain. Most people do so at one time or another in their life. Overworking or straining your hand on the job (or when gardening, knitting, guitar playing, etc.) can produce pain.

But if the pain is persistent it may not be simple hand or finger strain causing the problem. And if you feel numbness or tingling, then it’s likely not simple hand strain at all.

According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), if one or more of those symptoms persist, then you likely have carpal tunnel syndrome. That means you’re in the company of 5 million Americans with the same problem. 

Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the most common neurological conditions today. Its primary symptoms are hand or finger:

• Pain
• Numbness
• Tingling (pins & needles)
• Weakness

But other unpleasant sensations can also manifest. These include burning, soreness, puffiness, hand clumsiness, and loss of grip strength. Sometimes patients feel shooting electric shocks through their hand.

Any of the above sensations can be mild, moderate or severe. Actually, many people with carpal tunnel syndrome have such severe symptoms they can no longer perform the demands of their job. 

In the early stages, carpal tunnel syndrome usually comes and goes. This distinguishes it from wrist tendonitis which persists for a while, then resolves with rest. A simple self-test can tell the difference between carpal tunnel and tendonitis.

In the early stages, you usually notice carpal tunnel symptoms at night as you’re trying to sleep. Patients often report having to wake up and shake out the numbness in their hand or fingers.

As carpal tunnel syndrome becomes more severe, symptoms persist into the day with almost no relief. The intensity of symptoms (usually pain or numbness) increases to seemingly unbearable levels.

It’s not clear which specific hand activities lead to developing carpal tunnel syndrome. But what is clear are the events and pathophysiology (or microscopic processes) causing the condition.

Carpal tunnel syndrome begins with microscopic rips on the tendon's surface. The rips then create collagenous adhesions The adhesions make the tendons sticky. They restrict tendon movement and inhibit them from gliding smoothly.

Such restrictions to movement produce irritation & inflammation, which manifests as tendon swelling. Swelling is accumulation of fluid pressure around the tendons and their coverings (sheaths).

Anywhere else in the body, such swelling resolves with a little rest. But when the swelling occurs inside the wrist joint, it’s a totally different matter.

Swollen tendons push on the median nerve deep inside the wrist joint, in a space called the “carpal tunnel” (see diagram above). Eventually, the swollen tendons crush the nerve with extreme fluid pressure.

• Amazing Fact: When surgeons cut into the carpal tunnel space, the fluid pressure is often so high that fluid squirts out the incision, hitting the overhead lights!
  

To permanently relieve the inflammation, just eliminating pressure on the median nerve (like surgery does) is not enough. In fact, that’s the main reason carpal tunnel surgery fails about 50% of the time. Surgery reduces swelling, but not the source of the swelling (i.e., the adhesions). 

That's why tendon swelling invariably returns after surgery. And this is why carpal tunnel surgery is no longer used as the first treatment method for carpal tunnel syndrome. 

For any remedy to be effective, it must eliminate the tendon adhesions and restrictions. 

This is why yoga for carpal tunnel syndrome is effective. The yoga stretches break up the adhesions and restrictions by tugging and pulling the tissues near the tendons. With adhesions eliminated, there's no longer irritation and swelling. That means the median nerve is no longer crushed.

Medicine has changed dramatically over the last decade. In the past, chances were that if you saw a doctor who diagnosed you with carpal tunnel syndrome, you immediately received two options. 

1. Wear a brace at night (nocturnal bracing) for a few months and see how it goes. (This is actually very good advice.)
2. Have carpal tunnel surgery right away. 

Thankfully, this “pick one” attitude toward carpal tunnel syndrome has changed. Carpal tunnel release surgery is still the most common major operative procedure in the USA. But doctors are no longer rushing to recommend it as a first option, like before. Why?

We now have verified, non-surgical options for treating carpal tunnel syndrome. And with the high failure rate of surgery, why not use these non-surgical remedies first? 

Doctors today opt for these more conservative approaches first. In fact, the AAOS published new carpal tunnel guidelines. They advise doctors to recommend non-surgical options first, before considering surgery.

Ironically, all of these are non-surgical options are natural remedies called complimentary medicine. They’re widely accepted as ways to give lasting relief from a variety of neurological conditions, including carpal tunnel syndrome.

The most effective options have actually been used for decades. These are:

• Yoga
• Night bracing
• Targeted stretches
• Myofascial massage
  

Yoga is known to relieve a host of neurological disorders. Patients who practice yoga for carpal tunnel syndrome generally report that certain exercises will eliminate symptoms permanently. And such anecdotal claims are strongly supported by medical research.

Yoga works well to eliminate carpal tunnel syndrome because it breaks up the adhesions on tendons. This relieves restrictions and allows tendons to glide more smoothly. That, in turn, reduces tendon inflammation and swelling.

Of course, the result is the median nerve is decompressed. And that's when symptoms resolve.

Yoga is especially suited for reducing pain and increasing hand strength. Two separate clinical trials showed patients could significantly reduce carpal tunnel pain in as little as 8 weeks. This was compared to patients who only splinted their wrist.

As a result of the large volume of clinical evidence, the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that those who practice yoga (and specifically perform yoga exercises focusing on the upper body) will show marked symptoms relief within two months. 

To be effective, yoga exercises should be performed as often as possible. Actually, they should part of a healthy lifestyle to be most beneficial.

Most physical therapists and yoga instructors advise a twice daily regimen of yoga exercises for maximum effectiveness. The most potent yoga exercises emphasize that you open, stretch, and strengthen the joints of your entire upper body, not just your wrist. 

There are four yoga poses particularly effective in relieving carpal tunnel syndrome. These are the Cat and Cow, Upward Facing Dog, Bharadvaja’s Twist, and the Prayer Position. Common to all of these poses is prolonged wrist stretching in the extended position.

The only catch to effectively using yoga for carpal tunnel syndrome is that it must be part of your daily routine. Yoga cannot be performed only when you have symptoms, but every single day. After several weeks or even months of yoga exercises, symptoms gradually lessen and eventually disappear completely. Continued adherence to yoga almost never allows symptoms to return. 

Yoga exercises are also quite effective for the purpose of meditation. This provides the person suffering with carpal tunnel syndrome a two-pronged benefit from one simple technique. 

Massage is also highly effective against carpal tunnel syndrome for the same reason as yoga. Massage breaks apart adhesions that cause tendon movement restrictions. This is the key to allowing tendons to glide smoothly and reduce inflammation and swelling.

To be most effective, a specific technique called myofascial release massage should be used. The reason is because of how this type of massage interrupts tissues below the skin. It requires counter-rotating fingers to deeply twist and knead the skin over the flexor tendons. 

Obviously, you need two hands to perform this. So a partner is required.

The kneading motion forces tendons and sheaths to rub and scrape against each other. This effectively disrupts the adhesions holding them together. With repeated therapy, a patient’s symptoms are significantly reduced. In fact, pain and numbness are so improved that it can be confirmed by EMG testing.

Another benefit of myofascial release massage is that it facilitates drainage of excess fluid. The tendon swelling is generated by excess fluid build-up. If you drain the fluid, you lessen the fluid pressure on the median nerve. This added benefit of massage is felt quickly because as fluid drains away, symptoms dwindle noticeably. 

An additional benefit of myofascial release massage is increased blood flow to the wrist. The tendon healing process requires both fluid drainage as well increased blood circulation. The more blood flowing through the healing area, the faster nutrients can replace damaged or worn out structures. 

While multiple studies confirm the effectiveness of massage, you only need to ask physical therapists and massage therapists how they best deal with carpal tunnel syndrome. The overwhelming majority use myofascial release massage as their “go-to” remedy.

Like yoga, massage is not an overnight treatment process. You must perform myofascial release massage at least once daily, and for at least 4 weeks.

Yoga for carpal tunnel syndrome can effectively eliminate symptoms with ongoing practice. Unlike surgery, yoga targets the root cause of carpal tunnel syndrome; tendon adhesions causing swelling. It effectively breaks up tendon adhesions and loosens restrictions. This allows tendons to glide more smoothly. As a result, the irritation and inflammation which causes tendon swelling diminishes. Then the terrible symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome disappear.