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What You Should Know About Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome |
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Day in and day out from
8am up to 5pm, you are right in front of your computer, tapping your fingers
on the keyboard as fast as you can just so to beat the deadline of those
articles that have to be done. You are working at your desk, trying to
ignore the tingling or numbness you have had for months in your hand and
wrist. Suddenly, a sharp, piercing pain shoots through the wrist and up your
arm. “This maybe just a passing cramp”, you thought to yourself as you are
still feeling the ache of it. Think twice, because you may have carpal
tunnel syndrome.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful progressive condition caused by
compression of a key nerve in the wrist. It occurs when the median nerve,
which runs from the forearm into the hand, becomes pressed or squeezed at
the wrist. The median nerve controls sensations to the palm side of the
thumb and fingers, as well as impulses to some small muscles in the hand
that allow the fingers and thumb to move.
Sometimes, swelling from irritated tendons or other kinds of thickening
narrows the tunnel and causes the median nerve to be compressed. The effect
may be soreness, weakness, or numbness in the hand and wrist that goes up
the arm. Although painful sensations may indicate other conditions, carpal
tunnel syndrome is the most common and widely known of the entrapment
neuropathies in which the body's peripheral nerves are compressed or
traumatized.
Did you know that women are three times more likely than men to develop
carpal tunnel syndrome? You heard it right. This is not to scare the ladies
out there but for awareness sake as proven by science. It is because the
carpal tunnel itself may be smaller in women than in men. The dominant hand
is usually affected first and produces the most severe pain. Persons with
diabetes or other metabolic disorders that directly affect the body's nerves
and make them more susceptible to compression are also at high risk, but it
usually appears in adults.
The danger of developing carpal tunnel syndrome is not limited to a certain
demographic of people like those in a single industry such as manufacturing,
sewing, finishing, cleaning and poultry packing. Truth is, carpal tunnel
syndrome is three times more common among assemblers than among data-entry
personnel. A 2001 study by the Mayo Clinic found heavy computer use (up to 7
hours a day) did not increase a person's risk of developing carpal tunnel
syndrome.
During 1998, an estimated three of every 10,000 workers lost time from work
because of carpal tunnel syndrome. Half of these workers missed more than 10
days of work. The average lifetime cost of carpal tunnel syndrome, including
medical bills and lost time from work, is estimated to be about $30,000 for
each injured worker.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is somewhat similar to the mustard seed principle
where it starts so small that you hardly notice it but can end up so big as
to require surgery. |
| This article
is provided courtesy of Roxanne Courtmanch. Please visit
www.thehelpingcircle.com for more articles on carpal tunnel
as well as many other topics that may be of interest to you.
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Carpal Tunnel Articles
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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Prevention
Since carpal tunnel
syndrome is usually caused by multiple factors, including health conditions
and activities, the most important step
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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Symptoms
Jonathan Cluett, an
orthopedic doctor, said that there are two most common carpal tunnel
syndrome symptoms, which are tingling
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Carpal Tunnel Treatment
The goal of carpal
tunnel treatment is to allow you to return to the daily normal functions and
routine activities. This is also to address
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Carpal Tunnel Wrist Brace
A
carpal tunnel wrist brace is a splint or support that looks like a
fingerless glove. It stabilizes your wrist in a straight and sometimes
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Carpal Tunnel Yoga
In the Cochrane review
issued in January 2003, yoga ranks as one of the effective non- surgical
treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome.
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Dr. Nortin Hadler
A rheumatologist and
professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, Dr. Nortin Hadler
has been known to rigorously examine
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Simple Carpal Tunnel Exercises
To help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome from worsening, there are some measures
you can take. Surgery is not necessarily the immediate
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Two Kinds Of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Surgery
Orthopedics expert, Dr.
John Cluett, advised that when usage of anti- inflammatory medications,
wrist brace and cortisone injection does not
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Varied Kinds of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatments
Carpal tunnel syndrome
treatments usually begin conservatively. It moves to more aggressive and
invasive techniques if the symptoms of
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What You Should Know About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Day
in and day out from 8am up to 5pm, you are right in front of your computer,
tapping your fingers on the keyboard as fast as you can just
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