3-Point Products' Healthcare Blog

How to Prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) or Minimize Wrist Pain

  

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First of all it is helpful to understand what the problem is in order to avoid doing things that might cause it.  Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disorder that occurs when the median nerve at your wrist becomes compressed.  The typical symptoms of the disorder include numbness in the thumb, index and middle fingers and in half of the ring finger.  You may also experience pain and eventual weakness of the hand with this disorder.  

If the nerve is compressed long term permanent nerve damage can occur. This sounds bleak but the good news is that if it is detected early it often responds to non-surgical intervention.  If you spend a lot of time doing repetitive or forceful activities you are at increased risk for carpal tunnel syndrome.  We are not just talking about working on an assembly line but about knitting, driving, biking, playing piano, gardening, writing and keyboarding. You are also at a greater risk if you are overweight, have diabetes, are small framed and if you smoke. 

Some simple changes in your lifestyle can reduce your risk.  It is important to maintain a healthy weight, exercise, manage any health problems such as diabetes, and avoid smoking.

Next it is important to maintain proper body mechanics.  What does this mean?  This means avoiding tight gripping and pinching and limiting repetitive flexion and extension of the wrist.  So keeping the wrist at neutral (straight) is going to prevent the nerve from being compressed. 

Here is a list of some simple work/home adjustments that can be made to help prevent or remediate symptoms:

1. If you do repetitive work, take short breaks every hour to relax the muscles and reduce stress to the arm
2. Sit up straight, keep your neck at neutral, shoulders back and wrists straight when working at a keyboard as this will keep the nerve aligned all the way down the upper extremity.
3. Exercise or take stretch breaks before during and after doing repetitive or forceful work/activities.  Exercise can be as simple as opening and closing the hand gently.
4. Splint use during the day may be needed if you have trouble remembering to keep the wrist straight and at night is helpful when you can’t avoid curling the wrist in.  This is typically only indicated if you are already having symptoms and have been diagnosed with the disorder, as splints can contribute to weakness of forearm muscles.
5. Massaging theo wrist/hand is often helpful - especially when it is done by somebody else - to allow your hands to rest and recover.
6. Ice can be used if you are already exhibiting pain and inflammation.
7. Enlarge the grip or pinch surface when you can.
8. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day

Here are some simple modification ideas that will help you to think about changes you can make to prevent CTS before it occurs or to reduce the pain once you have carpal tunnel syndrome. Make some of the following modifications in how to do or hold things (left image is how NOT to do things, right image shows proper technique):

It is important to understand the disease and how it may occur in order to prevent it.  Do not wait if you notice symptoms.  Early and proper diagnosis and treatment are critical to success.  Waiting until you have constant pain and numbness will result in less than favorable results.  Also remember the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome can mimic many other disorders so again: early and definitive diagnosis is critical.

For a more detailed understanding and prevention program you can view our online streaming video or DVD on carpal tunnel. CLICK here: 

http://www.liveconferences.com/product.asp?cid=38

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article written by:

Susan Weiss OTR/L CHT and Nancy Falkenstein OTR/L CHT

Exploring Hand Therapy

www.handtherapy.com