Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) has become a very popular diagnosis for anyone who is experiencing wrist or hand pain with or without numbness and tingling. The problem with that particular diagnosis is that it can be wrong...a lot of the time. I have seen many patients in my office with pain in their forearm or their entire hand and they claim they have been diagnosed (or self diagnosed) with carpal tunnel syndrome.
CTS affects a very specific part of the wrist and the hand. Those affected with CTS will get pain in the wrist and numbness and tingling in ONLY the thumb, index finger, middle finger and part of the ring finger closest to the middle finger. The pinky is NEVER affected in CTS (see picture to left). The median nerve is the main nerve affected in CTS. If you hold your arms at your side, with your palms facing out, the median nerve runs down the outside of your arm. In CTS, the median nerve gets trapped or "pinched" in the bones of the wrist. The median nerve actually travels through a gap or "tunnel" in the wrist bones called the Carpal Tunnel to supply information and sensation to the thumb, index finger, middle finger and part of the ring finger.
Nerves carry information and signals away from the spine. If the median nerve is pinched or trapped in the wrist, it will not send pain into the forearm, but only into the hand. For those people who are getting numbness and tingling in the upper arm, the forearm or the hand, the problem might be coming from the neck, the shoulder or even the elbow.
The good news is that chiropractic can conservatively treat pain in the arm and hand through manipulations to the spine. Even if CTS is the proper diagnosis, chiropractic care utilizing ultrasound, cold laser, exercises and adjustments to the bones in the wrist can help to diminish or eliminate these symptoms.
No comments:
Post a Comment