I’m sitting at my desk, left wrist wrapped up in a nifty black brace thingy I picked up at CVS on Saturday… trying desperately NOT to twist my wrist the wrong way. After a few months of periodic pins-and-needles sensations in both hands, my left wrist has erupted into the occasional shooting pain followed by dull ache.
So… I hit up www.WebMD.com to investigate my symptoms. If you are suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, you may experience the following:
- Tingling or numbness in the palm and fingers
- Burning or itching in the palm and fingers
- A need to “shake out” the hands or wrists when you wake up
As the problem progresses, you may experience the tingling or numbness frequently. You may lose grip strength, making it difficult to make a fist, pick up small objects, or perform other manual tasks. Eventually, if you let it go untreated, you can lose muscle in the hand, especially at the base of the thumb. You may even lose the ability to detect heat or cold by touch.
So what is carpal tunnel syndrome? The problem is caused by the median nerve getting compressed in the wrist. (The median nerve runs from the forearm down into the hand.) The carpal tunnel is the place the nerve runs through.
You may suffer carpal tunnel syndrome simply because your carpal tunnel is smaller that most. Women tend to have smaller carpal tunnels, and therefore suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome more frequently. Carpal tunnel syndrome can also result from a wrist injury, work stress, fluid retention, and even rheumatoid arthritis. It may NOT be repetitive motion that causes carpal tunnel syndrome; repeated motion leads to problems like bursitis, tendonitis, and writer’s cramp but not carpal tunnel.
The dominant hand is usually affected first, which is why I’m in left hand distress at the moment. I was blaming my excessive computer use, but a 2001 study by the Mayo Clinic found that heavy computer use (up to 7 hours a day) isn’t really a significant factor in the development of carpal tunnel syndrome.
If you believe you’re suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, you should call your doctor. They can often tell just from a physical examination whether or not carpal tunnel is to blame. I’ll be giving my doc a call today.