Chiropractic Care for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
By Madhusudhan Tammisetti
The prospect of being not able to grip a steering wheel, hold a pen, or simply grab a coffee cup strikes fear in adults. For many people, the fear is becoming a reality. People with carpal tunnel syndrome may feel tingling and numbness in the arm and hand that may result in grip loss.
Many people fear that if they are diagnosed with this syndrome, their two alternatives are to endure it or undergo intrusive surgery. Fortunately, this isn't the case. Chiro care is a gentle, non-invasive, and effective way to treat carpal tunnel syndrome from the nerves to the muscles, ligaments, and bones.
What Is It?
The carpal tunnel is a tiny channel in the wrist and it is how it gets the name carpal tunnel syndrome. A hub of blood vessels, nerves and bones, tendons, and ligaments make up the carpal tunnel. Because it contains the median nerve that extends from your spine to your hand, it's called a tunnel. Compression of this median nerve may result in discomfort, numbness, or weakness.
Non-Chiropractic Treatments
The syndrome is treated aggressively with corticosteroid injections, anesthesia, and other invasive measures. These methods are designed to relieve pressure on the inflamed median nerve. But pain symptoms recur in 75 percent of surgery cases for this syndrome within two years.
The range of motion of 71 women suffering from this syndrome was studied, and it was shown that they had severe limits and constraints in their neck mobility. Pain caused due to carpal tunnel syndrome was more intense and resulted in greater neck limitation, while pain that was less severe resulted in better neck mobility. This syndrome is intrinsically connected to the upper region of the spine, not the wrist and arm, something chiropractors knew for decades.
Chiropractic care uses non-invasive ways to treat the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome because of the intrinsic relationship between the median nerve and the spine. Chiropractic may prove to be more successful at addressing pain at its root.
Chiropractic Care
The first step is to rest the wrist to minimize additional harm, which may include immobilization. Wearing a splint on the wrist at night may assist in putting your wrist in resting position that prevents additional median nerve irritation. Then follows cold therapy and is strongly advised to be continued at home.
Your chiropractor may next use spinal adjustments, joint manipulation, and mobilization of soft-tissue treatments to help you feel better.
A chiropractor may begin by treating wrist pain but may then go on to treating any neck alignment issues. A chiropractor may also ask a patient to do stretching exercises that aid in relieving inflammation and pain while also maintaining grip strength.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Charlotte, N.C.