Chiropractic Care May Help Dissipate Your CTS
Pain in the fingers, toes and joints? Your chiropractor may be able to help. Don’t wait for symptoms to get worse. Find out what is going on now.
CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome), typically starts with wrist trauma that pinches a nerve. Then pain and numbness show up in the middle and index fingers and the thumbs gets weaker. If you have CTS, your hands may burn, tingle and feel numb. The pain may wake you up at night. Pain may move up your arm and you may have trouble doing ordinary things like closing a package or opening a jar in the kitchen. Soon pain starts redefining your life.
The problem may have started with your job, your posture, your work demands. People who type, sew, or use all kinds of small manufacturing or other small tools over and over are vulnerable. And women are more likely than men to run into CTS. A friend of mine, who was a woodworker, used fine little tools for many years and eventually ran into CTS. Another office co-worker also got hit with CTS. She had spent many years and many hours attached to her keyboard.
If you are having pain, find out how your chiropractor may help
The initial examination will cover your medical history, your daily home and work routines, and a discussion about anything else that could have hurt your hands or wrist. The chiropractor will examine your hands, arms, shoulders, neck and spine to trace the problem. Then the two of you can deal with your immediate symptoms and decide what happens next. Immediate relief may start with rest and putting the wrist in a splint to stop further injury. Cold packs can be used to reduce inflammatory swelling. Throughout the process your chiropractor will be there to help you work through it.
If you don’t have CTS, and you really do not want to run into it, your chiropractor can do a spinal adjustment tuneup to see where you stand and suggest ways to prevent injury. You can take small frequent breaks stretching your arms and fingers. You can reshape your work schedule fitting in other tasks like meetings or calls to break up keyboard work or other repetitive tool tasks. And you can learn what to look for and do on the job and later at home to keep yourself injury free.
As always if there are sudden increases in pain or numbness, see your doctor and your chiropractor at once.