The Common Pain You Should Never Ignore

Ignoring the signs of carpal tunnel syndrome can cause permanent damage to your hand.

The hand is a miracle of engineering, but it has one design flaw: the tendons that control the fingers pass through a narrow tube in the cleft of the hand called the carpal tunnel.

Mild carpal tunnel symptoms most often affect the hand and sometimes the forearm, but they can spread up to the shoulder. 

 Carpal Tunnel is the injury that causes the longest absences from the workplace, but doctors are still not entirely sure what causes it.

It is known that diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes increase the risk. Women are three times more likely than men to develop CTS, perhaps because their hands are smaller and therefore the carpal tunnel is narrower. Pregnancy increases the risk further.

High-impact, repetitive movements involving extreme flexion of the hand can lead to carpal tunnel. Workers in slaughterhouses who carve meat off the bones of animal carcasses were some of the first to develop this crippling condition.

Many people believe that low-impact repetitive movements like typing can also bring on carpal tunnel, but not all doctors agree.

Whatever the cause, the signs are clear:

1. Numbness or pain in your hand, forearm, or wrist that awakens you at night. (Shaking or moving your fingers may ease this numbness and pain.)

2. Occasional tingling, numbness, "pins-and-needles" sensation, or pain. The feeling is similar to your hand "falling asleep."

3. Numbness or pain that gets worse while you are using your hand or wrist. You are most likely to feel it when you grip an object with your hand or bend (flex) your wrist.

4. Occasional aching pain in your forearm between your elbow and wrist.

5. Stiffness in your fingers when you get up in the morning.

The first line of treatment is to wear a simple wrist-brace at night. Ice may also help. If these don’t end the symptoms after a couple of weeks, a doctor might prescribe a shot of cortisone and physical therapy.

Physical therapy treatment can be effective in reducing your symptoms and getting you back to performing normal activities.