Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

Image via Flickr by An Ta

A wrist brace goes around the thumb and over the bottom of the palm and the wrist, reducing movement in the area and giving your hand a chance to rest and heal. If overextension of the wrist is the reason for your carpal tunnel pain, then a wrist brace will help prevent this from continuing. A brace can also be useful at night to keep your wrist aligned while you sleep, which can be a time of painful flare-ups. A wrist brace is often helpful in preventing movement and relieving pain, readily available, and it can’t hurt to try.

At The Hand and Wrist Institute we also recommend wearing a brace or splint while driving. Holding a steering wheel keeps the wrist in one position for long stretches, and the support stops that from aggravating your symptoms.

Call Us Today

As you know, if you’ve played sports or had a sprained ankle, ice helps reduce inflammation. And since carpal tunnel pain is often caused by inflammation and swelling of the nerve, ice can be a good tool in your treatment of the condition. You can use an ice pack on your wrist or put your hand and wrist into an ice bath. Warmth is another tool that can help manage pain. Try using gentle warmth like a hand bath at 100 degrees. Hand warmers or wearing fingerless gloves while you work can also help make you more comfortable.

For specifics: ice the wrist for 10 to 15 minutes at least once an hour, either with an ice pack or by soaking the wrist in an ice bath. For warmth, put your hand in water at about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius), then gently flex and extend the arm and wrist three to four times a day. At night, hanging the wrist over the side of the bed and gently shaking it can ease discomfort enough to let you get back to sleep.

If you’ve been wondering how to relieve carpal tunnel pain during pregnancy, one suggestion is to elevate your hand. Since pregnancy and other conditions that increase fluid retention can put pressure on the nerve in your wrist, elevating your hand will encourage fluid to move away from the area. This will help reduce pressure on the nerve through the carpal tunnel and alleviate some pain. Other conditions that increase fluid retention and can exacerbate the carpal tunnel include diabetes and thyroid disorders. If you have carpal tunnel syndrome related to pregnancy, it can improve after giving birth.

Application of topical products containing menthol can help relieve pain, including carpal tunnel pain. Popular products like Biofreeze or Tiger Balm can be applied to the affected area, reducing discomfort for you during the day, and are easier to apply at work than an ice or warm water bath. Menthol on the skin gives a nice cooling sensation, which offers temporary pain relief. While it can be very helpful, it doesn’t treat the underlying condition, so you’ll still want to prevent overuse of your wrist or decrease excess fluids causing the pressure.

Over-the-counter NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and aspirin can help ease pain and reduce inflammation in the area that is getting constricted, thereby decreasing discomfort. This can help you feel better while pursuing ways to resolve the issue causing the carpal tunnel symptoms in the first place. Your doctor might recommend steroidal injections of cortisone to help treat more severe carpal tunnel pain and injury. Steroids can reduce swelling and relieve the pressure on the nerve that causes pain and mobility issues. This is especially helpful if the pressure is caused by inflammation from conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.

Image via Flickr by daverose259

Some evidence shows that yoga can help add flexibility and decrease pain in carpal tunnel sufferers. If you are a regular at a yoga class, ask your instructor for some gentle yoga stretches that work on your upper body, arms, wrists, and hands. Over time, these can help your wrist get stronger and reduce symptoms. Other stretches that can be helpful are gently shaking your hands like you’re trying to get water off of them and making a fist, then stretching your fingers out and open. You can repeat these as needed throughout the day. Stretches and exercises can help prevent carpal tunnel from taking over your life.

If you want named exercises to ask your doctor or therapist about, these are the ones most often recommended for carpal tunnel:

• Wrist flexion and extension.
• Nerve gliding.
• Tendon gliding.
• Prayer stretches.
• Wrist circles.
• Thumb stretches.

If your carpal tunnel pain is from repetitive work, you’ll want to try doing things another way so as not to aggravate the situation. You might try using your uninjured hand for more tasks, take small breaks throughout the day to give your hand a rest, delegate irritating movements to others if you can, and rearrange your workspace if that can put your hand at a less painful angle. Doing tasks like typing with a light touch is a good idea to work on since this puts less pressure on your hand and won’t aggravate you as much.

More specific changes that help:

• Take five-minute breaks every hour to give your hands and wrists a rest.
• Alternate repetitive tasks, switching between typing, writing, and using the mouse through the day.
• Use a lighter grip on tools and keyboards, and avoid excessive force.
• Break large tasks into smaller segments to reduce overall strain.
• Avoid using vibrating power tools.
• When lifting anything heavy, use the largest joints available, such as the shoulder, rather than straining the wrist, hand, or fingers.
• Do not rest your wrists on the edge of a desk or any hard, sharp surface.

Watch your posture while you are at it. Rolling the shoulders forward sets off a chain reaction down the arm that makes wrist problems worse.

Some of what relieves carpal tunnel pain happens away from the wrist entirely:

• Aim for a healthy weight through a balanced diet and regular exercise, which reduces strain on the wrists and hands.
• Eat foods with anti-inflammatory properties, such as fatty fish, nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables.
• Drink plenty of water through the day to keep your joints hydrated.
• Stop smoking.
• Manage stress with deep breathing, meditation, or mindfulness, which relieves tension that carries into the hands and wrists.
• Prioritize sleep. Keep a consistent schedule and a comfortable sleep environment so your body can repair itself.

Women are three times more likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome than men, and it is most often diagnosed between the ages of 30 and 60. Other risk factors include:

• Smoking.
• A sedentary lifestyle.
• A high body mass index.
• High salt intake.
• Jobs with repetitive movement, such as construction, assembly line work, manufacturing, and keyboarding occupations.
• A family history of small carpal tunnels.
• A fractured or dislocated wrist.

If home treatment is not relieving your symptoms, a doctor can confirm whether carpal tunnel syndrome is the cause. The tests used are:

• Imaging such as X-rays, ultrasound, and MRI, which let the doctor look at the bones and tissues.
• An electromyogram, in which a thin electrode is placed into a muscle to measure its electrical activity.
• Nerve conduction studies, in which electrodes taped to the skin measure the signals travelling through the nerves of the hand and arm.
• Phalen’s sign, in which the doctor fully flexes your wrist while your arm is extended.
• Tinel’s sign, in which the doctor taps the palm side of your wrist.

Alongside the tests, the doctor will examine your wrist, hand, neck, and shoulder for other causes of nerve pressure, check for swelling, tenderness, or deformity, and test sensation in the fingers and strength in the hand.

If conservative treatment fails, your doctor might recommend surgery for it. In this procedure, your surgeon cuts the ligament over the carpal tunnel to relieve the pressure. Don’t worry, the ligament will heal back with more room, so you don’t suffer from inflammation and pressure in such a tight space, causing pain and damage to the nerve in your hand. With advances in endoscopic surgery, many people can receive this procedure through a small incision in the wrist, which heals faster and leaves less of a scar than the older open surgery.

Dealing with carpal tunnel pain can be challenging. It disrupts your work and ability to fully use your hand without pain. However, treating the injury as soon as possible will help you get back to a painless, healthy wrist and hand. Ignoring the pain and numbness for too long only leads to a more difficult treatment process and might result in permanent nerve damage. If you are suffering from carpal tunnel pain and need a doctor in the Dallas area, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at The Hand and Wrist Institute and contact us today.

Call Us Today