Pain numbness tingling in my wrists and hands
Pain numbness & Tingling in my wrists and hands
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a widely known cause of wrist issues for professionals using their hands on a daily basis. While we are all familiar with the term carpal tunnel, we may not know exactly what carpal tunnel is and all of our options to fix it! Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is inflammation of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel, located in the wrist. The median nerve originates from the lateral and medial cords of the brachial plexus (nerves in the shoulder) and has nerve roots from C6 -T1 (lower neck region). This means the median nerve originates from the base of your neck and extends all the way into your arm, forearm and hand.Click me for Median Nerve Diagram. Pain, numbness, tingling, burning and weakness in the hand, wrist and fingers are all common symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, caused by pressure, most often from a repetitive motion. This continued pressure on the nerve results in inflammation and excess fluid over time.
Occupation
Hair stylists, dental hygienists, pet groomers, teachers, plumbers, electricians and anyone that participates in a repetitive motion with their hands and wrists may frequently experience symptoms similar to carpal tunnel, usually due to this stress on the affected area. In the United States, professionals spend anywhere from 40-90 hours per week doing their jobs, performing repetitive motions that create serious wear and tear to the body on a daily basis. That is an average of 4,000 minutes of repetitive motion. Imagine sitting in a chair and doing something as simple as looking to the left for 4,000 minutes. Despite the simplicity of this task, it would still cause discomfort as the minutes begin to add up.
Pregnancy
Without accounting for pregnancy, women are three times more likely to experience carpal tunnel. Nevertheless, carpal tunnel syndrome sometimes makes an appearance throughout pregnancy due to excess fluid causing an increase in inflammation. In many cases, if women have previously experienced carpal tunnel before pregnancy, symptoms tend to become exacerbated.
Daily Activity
Creating good habits throughout the day to enable better posture and decrease or modify repetitive motions will benefit your structure, thus decreasing stress on your nervous system. Modifying work biomechanics may also prevent carpal tunnel and save you from long term chronic damage.
Diet
We are what we eat. When we eat foods that are highly processed and high in sugar, our body becomes more susceptible to inflammation. Making small changes in your diet, like increasing water intake, eating omega-3 fatty acids (found in salmon, tuna, and sardines), and adding fruits and vegetables can all decrease inflammation and carpal tunnel pain (*When making major dietary changes it is important to consult with your physician*).
Chiropractic
Many cases of wrist pain are a result of inflammation and structural shifts in the wrist bones, however, there are several cases the root cause is due to the structural shift in the spine affecting the nerve root closest to the spinal cord. By correcting structure, we are allowing the body to function at 100%. Proper structure will prevent chronic and permanent damage to the inflamed nerve. To do this, we want to find the root cause of the wrist, hand, and/or finger pain and correct the problem. Fortunately at Peak Potential Chiropractic, we use objective measurements to find nerve inflammation and determine if and where there are structural shifts in your spine causing pressure on the nerves. We then take a closer look at your extremities, in the case of carpal tunnel, specifically the hands and wrists. Again, structure determines function, therefore by removing pressure off of the inflamed nerve we are correcting structure, thus restoring function. With this increase in function people may experience a huge relief of symptoms.
Sources
Davis PT, Hulbert JR, Kassak KM, Meyer JJ: Comparative efficacy of conservative medical and chiropractic treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome: a randomized clinical trial. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1998, 21: 317-326.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8046280
Valenta R, Gibson H (1994) Chiropractic Manipulation in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics 17(4): 246–249
