Symptoms, treatment and prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome

The carpal tunnel syndrome is an extensive problem that affects the wrist and the hand itself. The disease occurs when the median nerve is compressed inside the arm.

Any factors that cause pressure on the nerve inside the canal, or narrowing of the canal itself, can trigger this syndrome.

Anatomical reference

Wrist or what is otherwise called - the carpal canal is the canal that goes inside the arm from the forearm to the wrist. Its opening is formed by a bone tissue in the lower part of the wrist and its transverse ligament at the top.

Tendons pass through this canal, which flex the fingers and the median nerve itself. The nerve is located on the upper side of the ligaments, directly under the transverse tendon. Thanks to him, the thumb is capable of experiencing tactile sensations, as well as the index, middle and partially unnamed.

There is also a branch that departs from the main nerve, it controls the muscles of the thumb. These muscles are called the tenar muscles, they allow the thumb to move and touch other fingers, a process called "opposition".

The role of the tendons that bend fingers is very important, it is thanks to them that the hand can take objects.

Causes of

Syndrome Any processes that can reduce the carpal canal or CCM section, as well as the internal growth of the tissue, can lead to signs of carpal tunnel syndrome.

For example, if the hand is injured, an internal tumor may appear and the channel will be compressed. Also, the section of the canal decreases after the displacement or fracture of the carpal part of the hand( when a bone or a fragment of it enters the canal).

Carpal syndrome may also appear for other reasons. For example: during pregnancy, the body can accumulate fluid, which provokes an increase in pressure in the carpal tunnel.

Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome are often observed and in people with diabetes, they occur when the median nerve is damaged or squashed. Signs of impairment can be seen in people with partial dysfunction of the thyroid gland or hypothyroidism.

There are risk categories, depending on the type of people's activities, these include:

• excessive load on the hand;
• specific position of the body or wrist;
• repeat action;
• high temperature;
• presence of constant vibration.

Any of these factors can cause a syndrome. And if the work includes several such moments at once, the risk greatly increases. And the longer the combination of such factors affects the patient, the higher the probability of developing a violation of

. But according to experts, there are other nuances that can increase the risk of CCM, such as nicotine, overweight and caffeine. If a person has a congenital predisposition, these factors can cause the development of the syndrome.

How does the syndrome manifest?

The main symptom that indicates carpal tunnel syndrome is a decrease in sensitivity in places that are determined by the median nerve. The brush grows dumb, stronger after sleep, in the morning. Usually such people constantly( even at night) tend to stretch the hand, stir it and rub it. Usually it helps for a little while.

The pain can go up the arm and sometimes reach the shoulder and neck. In severely neglected cases, the muscles of the damaged fingers can weaken and completely atrophy, delivering a lot of inconvenience to a person, for example, if he takes a spoon, a cup, etc.

The diagnosis of

A doctor's examination of the patient begins with a detailed analysis of the history, and only after this begins a physical examination. It is this, along with a detailed story of the patient about his symptoms, plays a crucial role when a carpal tunnel syndrome is diagnosed.

The main point that patients complain about is that they often wake up at night from pain in the area of ​​the hand and feelings of numbness.

If you wake up and feel that the brush is numb, pinch your little finger to find out whether it is numb, but it is so or not, you need to apply to the doctor. Also often people complain about numbness of the brush when trying to make a grasping movement, for example, by taking a hammer or other instrument.

Medical care

First of all, you should avoid such activities that lead to numbness of the hand. It is necessary to abandon long repeated actions, a strong grip of something with a brush, work with instruments that perform vibration, and those that require the bending of the wrist.

You need to get rid of smoking, for this, ask your doctor for help.

It is recommended to eat less strong tea and coffee. If you are overweight, you need to think about losing weight.

Drug therapy

Existing drugs today can reduce the swelling of the hand and release the canal thereby removing the symptoms of carpal syndrome. Such medicines contain over-the-counter active ingredients such as ibuprofen or aspirin.

According to some studies, a high vitamin B-6 content also contributes to alleviating the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as a number of special physical exercises.

Treatment with physiotherapy

On the recommendation of a doctor, you may need to contact a specialist in occupational health or a physiotherapist. The purpose of such actions is to refuse or at least reduce the factors that catalyze the narrowing of the reserve channel.

The physiotherapist can evaluate the place where you work. He will recommend how best to accommodate, give a recommendation about there, what exercises to perform and in general - how to avoid aggravation of the disease.

Surgical intervention

If no other methods for the treatment of tunnel syndrome have produced results, it is necessary to perform a surgical operation that will lower the pressure inside the canal. There are several types of such operations.

Once the operation is completed, the blood supply is immediately restored, and the pressure on the nerve is reduced. But if the intervention was rather late and the nerve was affected for a long time, it can be damaged( a scar is formed) and the recovery procedure can be considerably delayed.

Traditional medicine

All folk remedies are designed to remove the inflammatory process and thereby reduce the pressure on the median nerve.

Treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome at home is possible with the following tools:

1. Use tincture on "St. John's Wort" : For ten minutes, boil 3 leaves of grass. Eat one teaspoonful of a day, preferably two, in the morning and in the evening.
2. Flax oil : For 15 days you need to take one teaspoon of oil a day. According to the results of research, acids and fats of linseed oil can reduce the inflammatory process.
3. Vitamin B : The use of vitamins B, namely products with its content: potatoes, rice cereals, bananas, not ripe vegetables and chicken meat, help with the removal of inflammation.
4. Cold compresses : cold reduces inflammation and pain.

In any case, self-treatment at home can be dangerous to your health. Even using traditional medicine, you should always consult a doctor.

Preventive actions

The Lincoln magazine in 2000 published the results of 24 studies on the prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome. In their opinion, such methods are effective:

1. Engineering plan solutions ( orthopedic keyboards, mice, supports for convenient wrist rest position, etc.).
2. Personal solutions ( training, use of a special tire on the wrist, feedback technology, a set of exercises in the work process, etc.).
3. Solutions of the multi-component plan, they are also ergonomic programs ( alteration of the workplace, removal of attention to ergonomics, change of type of activity, training and reduction of loads).

This approach showed that, when used, the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome is greatly reduced, but such studies can not be called 100% reliable, because there are a number of side effects that were simply not taken into account.

Many engineering plan solutions have had a positive effect on reducing the risk factor that may lead to the progression of the syndrome, but according to the test results, the incidence of the disease from this did not decrease at all. None of the tested "personal" approaches could not in any way affect the reduction of risk factors.

There are many publications, both printed and online, which simply abound in information about carpal syndrome. Most often they talk about common sense and the concept of the pathogenesis of the syndrome, and not a word about the evidence. But on the other hand, even if these actions are completely useless for CCM prevention, they will not harm either.