Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition that comes with pinching/ irritation of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel in the wrist area. Carpal tunnel syndrome usually comes with symptoms of numbness and tingling in the hand/s that generally tends to involve the dominant hand. It can commonly be bilateral. Numbness and tingling tends to be worse at night and may feel worse with sustained activities with the hand such as using a phone or occasionally driving a car. Occasionally the patient complains of pain in the wrist and sensation of weakness in the hand so that they may have difficulty holding on to things, i.e. they might drop things or may have difficulty opening the jars and lids of other containers. Patients commonly wake up at night with numbness or tingling in the hands and feel like shaking the hand to help relieve the symptoms.

Common causes of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome are hand use biomechanics, trauma, & pregnancy. Women are more inclined to develop CTS due to the unique shape of their wrists than men.

Treatment generally consists of improving the usage of the hands that is avoiding too much bending of the wrists and doing things such as typing etc with the wrists in neutral position. Anti-inflammatory medications and localized injections and splints can be utilized. If the symptoms are significant (weakness is felt in the hand), nerve conduction studies can be done to further assess the condition as nerve fiber death causing weakness is permanent and recovery would be limited in these patients. If the symptoms are significant or the nerve conduction studies show significant impingement, surgery can also help considerably. Most patients tend to do well with conservative or surgical treatment.