Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and South Minneapolis Chiropractic Care

Ever since you started working more at your computer on the job or at home, you've been noticing a numbing sensation in your hands and/or wrists which has been growing worse for months. Out of nowhere, you feel a sharp, intense pain that explodes through your wrist and up your arm. Was it just a muscle spasm? Probably not, more than likely you have carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful condition caused by an essential nerve in your wrist being pinched.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a painful hand and arm condition that gradually develops when a nerve becomes pinched wrist. Many factors can play a role in the development of carpal tunnel syndrome. The way your hand and wrist are anatomically structured and specific underlying health risks can also be factors. Carpal tunnel syndrome is an entrapment median neuropathy which can cause paresthesia, pain, and numbness because the median nerve is being pinched. Although the condition occurs mostly in patients 30 to 60 years old, it can start at any age. It has been reported that women are more likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome than men.

What Causes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

The median nerve travels from your forearm through a passageway in your wrist, known as carpal tunnel, to your hand. This nerve gives sensation to your palms, thumbs, and fingers. It also gives motor function around the base of your thumb. When this nerve become pinched or compressed, it is known as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Anything that inflames, congests, or aggravates the median nerve within the carpal tunnel space can develop into carpal tunnel syndrome. There may be multiple risk factors that play a role in the progression of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is more likely to occur in people who perform repetitive motions of the hand and wrist. Using a computer mouse, sewing, driving, painting, writing, using tools, playing some musical instruments, and typing can all lead to carpal tunnel syndrome.

Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Carpal tunnel syndrome begins slowly as a dull ache in your wrist that can reach to your hand or forearm. Patients suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome report the following symptoms:

• Tingling, burning or numbness
• Pain radiating or extending from the wrist that travels up the arm to the shoulder or down into the
• palms or fingers
• A feeling of weakness in the hands making it difficult to hold onto objects or grip tightly

Chiropractic Care and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

If you believe you have carpal tunnel syndrome, chiropractic care may be able to help. Carpal tunnel may be completely treatable without turning to drugs and surgery. Chiropractic treatments use non-invasive modalities including neck and upper extremity adjustment, infrared laser and massage therapy. These have been proven to decrease the pain and can often correct the cause. Surgery has a mix of positive and negative outcomes and should be sought after only as a last resort when all noninvasive methods have failed.

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Call our office today at 612-822-0149! We treat patients suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome in the Minneapolis and Metro area.