Are you feeling numbness, tingling and burning sensation in your hand and fingers? And perhaps an occasional sharp pain that suddenly shoots through your wrist up your arm? These symptoms indicate you may be suffering from a syndrome caused by a nerve passing through the carpal tunnel, commonly known as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Your carpal tunnel is a thumb size passage space on the underside in each wrist. Bone, muscle, ligaments and connective tissue create the structure of the channel. Passing through this tunnel is the median nerve that participates in movement and sensation control of your palm, thumb and first three fingers. Several tendons make their passage via this narrow tunnel as well.
What causes your numbness symptoms is essentially a pinched nerve. A common genesis of the median nerve compression is tendon or ligament inflammation caused by repetitive stress, which narrows your carpal tunnel. Also, prolonged or repetitive wrist cocking can cause nerve pressure too. A couple of activities notorious for triggering this swelling is typing, sewing, needlework, painting, writing, gardening, assembly line work, carpentry or use of some sort of vibrating tool.
However, other health related factors and conditions can put you at risk for carpal tunnel caused numbness, including:
- obesity
- diabetes
- infection
- pregnancy
- alcoholism
- menopause
- wrist fracture
- hypothyroidism
- metabolic disorder
- carpal tunnel cyst, tumor
- inherently small size of carpal tunnel
- inflammatory disease ~ rheumatoid arthritis
Some of these contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome because they cause nerve damage or fluid retention.
Normally, carpal tunnel numbness, burning and tingling symptoms start gradually in the dominant hand, thumb and fingers. As your syndrome worsens, these additional symptoms may come into play:
- chronic pain
- shooting pain
- hand use weakness
- grip strength decrease
- increased discomfort at night
- loss of temperature sensation
Women are more likely to develop carpal nerve problems based on a smaller tunnel size.
For the quickest results, it’s important to launch treatment at the first sign of carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel numbness caused by another health condition often is relieved by treating it specifically.
When inflammation or overuse are causing the problem, a couple of treatment methods are:
- massage
- cyrotherapy
- cortisone injection
- ultrasound therapy
- OTC anti inflammatory drugs ~ aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen
And immobilize your wrist with a splint to give it a rest.
In some cases, conservative treatment fails to stop symptoms so carpal tunnel release surgery may be advised by your health care provider. With endoscopic surgery, your carpal ligament is cut under local anesthesia. Afterwards, you can expect to return to normal activity in a relatively short time without a noticeable scar.