Carpal tunnel syndrome

What is carpal tunnel syndrome?

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition caused by painful pressure on the main carpal nerve. Often people (especially women) who do heavy physical work or who do a lot of monotonous movements with their hands eventually start to feel burning and pain in the wrist, which is usually diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome can be suspected if:

- you feel a sensation of soreness in the wrist (sometimes the soreness can spread to the forearm or hand);

- numbness, tingling or numbness in four fingers, except the little finger (these symptoms usually appear when holding a newspaper or phone for a long time or when driving);

- pain in all four fingers except the little finger, often even burning;

- tingling, numbness or pain in the fingers spreading upwards, sometimes up to the shoulder, and most often after hand movements that take a long time and require force;

- objects fall out of the hand due to weakness of the hand;

- difficulty grasping and using smaller objects.

Symptoms are not severe at the beginning of the disease, but have a negative impact on quality of life. The most common symptom is numbness of the fingers at night, except for the little finger, which increases over time. If the disease is not treated early on, it progresses to burning pain, loss of sensation in the fingers, dropping of objects, and difficulty grasping small objects. Therefore, as soon as the first symptoms are felt, it is necessary to consult a doctor who will select a targeted treatment.

Causes of carpal tunnel syndrome

There are a number of causes of carpal tunnel syndrome, which can increase the pressure on the carpal tunnel. Certain diseases, such as thyroid disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, increase the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Overweight people and pregnant women are also at higher risk of developing this condition. During pregnancy, water accumulates in the tissues, which can lead to increased pressure in the carpal tunnel.

Carpal tunnel pressure can also be increased by flexion and extension movements of the hand if they are performed monotonously, over a long period of time and with force, and the specific nature of the work may also have an impact on the development of carpal tunnel syndrome .

Another cause of carpal tunnel syndrome is trauma to the wrist, resulting in swelling of the wrist and bleeding into the carpal tunnel.

Alcohol abuse can also cause carpal tunnel syndrome. And if a smoker has carpal tunnel syndrome, the symptoms will be much more intense and the treatment longer.

The risk of carpal tunnel syndrome is also increased by heredity, i.e. if a close relative has a history of carpal tunnel syndrome, the risk increases.

Women have a much higher incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome than men. It is common in older people, although sometimes young people are affected, for example those who work intensively with computers.

Prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome

Preventing carpal tunnel syndrome is difficult in most cases, but reducing the risk or alleviating the symptoms is certainly possible.

To reduce your risk of developing this condition, you should not smoke and take care of your body weight, wear gloves during the cold season, limit sudden, forceful and monotonous movements of the wrist (if possible), and treat the conditions mentioned above as possible causes of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Pain and discomfort caused by carpal tunnel syndrome can be relieved by using the hand and Wrist Device. A splint made of high quality materials, such as highly elastic neoprene, will be very comfortable, with excellent thermal insulation and moisture evaporation, so that the skin will not sweat. The wrist will be perfectly immobilised with such a splint.

In order to reduce the discomfort and pain caused by carpal tunnel syndrome, it is advisable to limit the physical strain on the wrist, to promote exercises that improve circulation and to test the benefits of massage.