Thursday 27 October 2011

When Carpal Tunnel Syndrome isn’t Carpal Tunnel

Carpal tunnel syndrome has become very commonly diagnosed in many office workers. It is common for anyone with pain or tingling in their hand to be told that they have carpal tunnel and that they need to brace their wrist, take pain killers, and, in bad cases, undergo surgery to decompress the carpal tunnel. Yet the surgery for carpal tunnel often fails to fix the problem and many people struggle with this condition for years. But what if their carpal tunnel isn’t really carpal tunnel?

Nerve impingement due to cervical facet dysfunction can cause symptoms very like those seen with carpal tunnel. This means that the pain and tingling in your hands may in actuality be coming from your neck and can often be helped by chiropractic care including adjustments and soft tissue therapy.

So how do you know when you have true carpal tunnel and when you need to consider other causes for the problem? In a true carpal tunnel syndrome the pain, tingling, or numbness in the hand occurs along the palm and affects your thumb, index, middle, and part or all of your ring finger. However, it does not affect the palm of the hand as sensation to your palm is provided by a branch of the median nerve which branches off of the median nerve before it enters your carpal tunnel. This means that if you are having symptoms into your palm the pressure on the nerve is coming from higher up in the arm, rather than from the carpal tunnel. If this is the case you need to explore other areas where the nerves to the hand may become entrapped. This can include the elbow, upper arm, or neck.

References:

Beers, Mark H., et al. (2006). The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. Merck & Co.
            Ltd.; Whitehouse Station, NJ.

Netter, Frank H. (2003). Atlas of Human Anatomy; Third Edition. Icon Learning Systems.
            Teterboro, NJ.

No comments:

Post a Comment