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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Source American Academy of Family Physicians
Carpal
tunnel syndrome is a painful disorder of the wrist and hand. The
carpal tunnel is a narrow tunnel formed by the bones and other
tissues of your wrist. This tunnel normally protects your median
nerve. The median nerve gives you feeling in your thumb, and index,
middle and ring fingers. But when other tissues in the carpal
tunnel, such as ligaments and tendons, get swollen or inflamed,
they press against the median nerve. That pressure can make part of
your hand hurt or feel numb.
You may
have symptoms in one or both of your hands, but the hand you use
the most will usually show the symptoms first.
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Symptoms
of carpal tunnel syndrome
- Numbness
or tingling in your hand and fingers. You may feel this the most in
your thumb, and index and middle fingers.
- Pain in
your wrist, palm or forearm.
- More
numbness or pain at night than during the day. The pain may be so
bad it wakes you up. You may shake or rub your hand to get
relief.
- More pain
as you use your hand or wrist more.
- Trouble
gripping objects.
- Weakness
in your thumb.
- If you’re
a woman, more pain before your period, in the last few months of
pregnancy or in the first few months after delivery. This is
because you may retain fluids at these times.
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Making
the same hand movements over and over can lead to carpal tunnel
syndrome. It’s most common in people whose jobs require pinching or
gripping with the wrist held bent. Carpal tunnel syndrome is linked
to other things too. It may be caused by an injury to the wrist,
such as a fracture. Or it may be caused by a disease such as
diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or thyroid disease.
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Things
that may help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome
- Lose
weight if you are overweight.
- Cut down
on alcohol use and smoking.
- Get
treatment for any disease you have that may cause carpal tunnel
syndrome.
- If you do
the same tasks with your hands over and over, try not to bend,
extend, or twist your hands for long periods of time.
- Don’t
work with your arms too close or too far from your
body.
- Don’t
rest your wrists on hard surfaces for long periods.
- Switch
your hands during work tasks.
- Hold
objects instead of pinching them.
- Make sure
your tools aren’t too big for your hands.
- Use tools
that don’t vibrate too much.
- Take
regular breaks from repeated hand movements to give your hands and
wrists time to rest.
- Don’t sit
or stand in the same position all day.
- If you
use a computer or typewriter a lot, adjust the height of your chair
so that your forearms are level with your keyboard and you don’t
have to flex your wrists to type.
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