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Carpal tunnel syndrome, is a condition that causes numbness, tingling, or weakness in the hand due to the excessive pressure, which occurs on the median nerve. 

Carpal tunnel, on the other hand, is a narrow path made of bone and ligament. Any swelling in the wrist will cause the tunnel gets pressed or squeezed and pinches median nerve. It is also called median nerve compression. The median controls the movement and feeling of all the fingers including thumb but excluding little finger.

 This disease starts slowly and mostly occurs at night and sometimes makes you wake during night, ends up with numbness in the fingers like in thumb, middle and index finger in the morning. As the symptoms of this disease occurs, the strength of the grip loosen due to the muscles shrinkage in the hand causing severe pain and muscle cramping and make it difficult to hold anything like mobile etc.

Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome

Most often symptoms observed at night as commonly people sleep with their wrist bent, creating pressure on the median nerve. The common occurring symptoms are burning sensation, numbness, tingling, in the palm, index and middle fingers and thumb, weakness in hand and less strength, and have less feeling sensation in fingers.

Cause of CTS- High risk of carpal tunnel syndrome occurs normally in

Woman: Research shows that this syndrome occurs three times more likely in women than in men. This might be because they have relatively smaller carpal tunnels.

Family History with small carpal tunnels

Pre-existing Disease: Patients suffering from disease like diabetes, Rheumatoid arthritis, Obesity Thyroid disorders or other metabolic disorders, may have increased risk of nerve damage and thus this syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome- Diagnosis and Tests

Tinel sign: In this doctor check the nerve problems by tapping the palm of your wrist. If the nerve is compressed or damaged, there is tingling feeling that radiates outward.

Electromyogram: This procedure is done to study the function of muscles and nerve. In this, a thin-needle electrode is placed into a specific muscle to measure its electrical activity. This test help to identify damage to the muscles controlled by the median nerve.

Nerve conduction studies: Doctor tapes two electrodes to your skin to measure the signals in the nerves of your hand and arm.

Imaging tests: This includes X-rays, MRI or ultrasounds to check on bones and tissues.

How to prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome- To avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, try to:

• Wrist extend position should be avoided.
• Keep your wrists straight and in the right position
• Use a wrist splint or brace will help to keep the wrist in a hold or neutral position at night time.
• Keep your hands warm if your work environment is cold as it got stiffness and hand pain 
• Take a breaks in your workplace whenever possible to give rest to your hand.
• Avoid activities that increases your symptoms

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome- Treatment

Treatment is generally depends on the disease progression and the symptoms appeared. If it is mild, doctor suggest for changes in lifestyle and few exercise and if it is serious, surgery would be advisable.

Exercise: Regular exercise makes nerve movement more better present in carpel tunnel. Exercise like muscle stretching and strengthening is better.

Medication: Doctors generally prescribed corticosteroids or anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce swelling and pain, which in turn reduce pressure in median nerve.

Lifestyle changes: Factors like high salt intake, smoking, repetitive wrist movement and a high body mass index (BMI) may increase the risk for carpal tunnel syndrome. If repetitive motion like construction work.is causing symptoms, there is need to take breaks in between the activities. 

Surgery: Surgery required when none of the given option works. Surgery increases the size of the tunnel and comforts the pressure on the nerve. The surgery include Endoscopic surgery and Open surgery

Exercise for Treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Many exercises have been recommended to treat this syndrome.  Among them the best four exercises are as given below

• Wrist Extension Stretch
• Wrist Flexion Stretch
• Medial Nerve Glides
• Tendon Glides

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome- Complications

The complications that occurs in this syndrome is, if it is left untreated. If not treated, symptoms occurs long-lasting and sometimes gets worsen. Early diagnoses makes the treatment easier, as avoidance of this will cause permanent muscle damage.  Changes in lifestyle and doing exercises regularly will relief from symptoms and long term improvement.

The bottom line

In conclusion, if you are suffering from pain and numbness, it should not be avoided and need earlier doctor visit as this syndrome can be painful and disruptive in daily life. There are many treatment options available including corticosteroid injections or surgery. Early diagnosis and treatment may prevent you from permanent nerve damage.