A lot of people in the U.S. suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a serious nerve injury that compresses the bones in the wrist. This injury happens as a result of repetitive motion like working in an assembly line. In fact, it is the costliest injury in the workplace.
Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include numbness and pain in the wrist and hand. There are various treatment options for people suffering from the condition, including surgery. However, chiropractic care and treatment are fast becoming effective and popular options.
What is CTS?
CTS is a medical condition that results in weakness, numbness, or tingling in the hand. It is also known as median nerve compression. It occurs when there is pressure on the median nerve. This nerve runs through your arm’s length, goes through the carpal tunnel, which is a passage in the wrist, and terminates in the hand.
It is the median that controls the feeling and movement of the thumb, as well as other fingers except for the pinky finger. You can check out https://www.spine-health.com/blog/my-hand-pain-carpal-tunnel-syndrome-or-something-else to see how CTS affects the hand.
Symptoms of CTS
The symptoms of the condition include the following:
- Tingling that travels up into the arm.
- Feelings of shock that travel into the fingers.
- Weakness in the hand and difficulty in holding things.
- Itching, burning, or tingling numbness in the thumb and palm or the middle and index fingers.
At first, you may notice that your fingers are asleep and go numb at night time. This is due to the way you hold the hand while sleeping. By the time you wake up, you may experience tingling and numbness inside your hands that might move to the shoulder. The symptoms may flare-up in the daytime when you are holding an item with a bent wrist, like when you are holding a book or driving.
When the condition is in its early stage, you can get relief by shaking out the hands. But after a while, doing it will not take away the numbness. Additionally, as the condition becomes worse, your grip strength may diminish due to the shrinking of the hand muscles. You will also experience more muscle cramping and pain.
Because of the pressure or irritation around the median nerve, it will be unable to work normally. This results in the following:
- Less coordination and strength, especially in pinching with the thumb
- Less feeling inside the fingers
- Very slow nerve impulses
Causes of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Sometimes, people cannot tell what led to their CTS. It can be as a result of any of the following:
- Pregnancy
- Conditions such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity, and hypothyroidism
- Repetitive motion like typing or any kind of wrist movement that you do repeatedly. This is particularly true for situations where your hand is lower than the wrist.
You may want to read this article to know about the risk factors of CTS.
How CTS Patients Can Benefit from Chiropractic Care
People suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome can benefit from chiropractic care in the following ways:
1. Chiropractic Care Works on CTS
While there is no guarantee that a type of treatment will be effective on everybody, some studies show strong evidence backing the effectiveness of chiro treatment on carpel tunnel syndrome. In the studies, most of the participants witnessed significant improvement at different levels such as pain reduction, motion range, and finger sensation.
These studies are evidence that chiropractic care can help sufferers of CTS. Therefore, if you are looking to improve the symptoms, you can choose chiropractic care with top confidence.
2. It is a Less Invasive Option
If you are suffering from CTS and it was undiagnosed or you received treatment for a long time and it ended up being extremely painful and advanced for medicine to handle, you may resort to surgery. However, chiro care helps to reduce surgery to the last resort. Visiting a chiropractor regularly can yield positive results for controlling as well as healing the symptoms.
3. It is a Safe Alternative to Medicine for Pain Management
Just like surgery, taking medicine doses every day may not be very ideal when managing CTS. Some patients may develop other issues by using CTS drugs as they tend to counteract with other drugs. On the other hand, some patients may just prefer not to take daily medication.
So if you do not fancy the use of medicine, the logical thing to do is to contact a chiropractor. Chiropractic care usually helps CTS patients by adjusting their spine and elbow. Another treatment form is bracing. It limits the movements of the hand with the aim of letting the tendons and wrist heal and then recover.
An experienced chiropractor in CTS cases can review cases individually and come up with solid recommendations for treatment. These recommendations will help to reduce the dependence on pain management drugs.
4. It Allows the Patients to Learn How They Can Manage CTS
Unfortunately, health conditions that result in chronic pain affect patients psychologically and physically. In fact, dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome can make you feel like you do not have power over your body.
But working with chiropractors provides healing, relief, and control over the symptoms. It, therefore, empowers you to take ownership of improving and managing your health. You may want to check out Beaverton chiropractic care to see how chiropractors can help you to get rid of CTS symptoms.
Conclusion
People who undertake repetitive tasks every day should know about the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. The early symptoms of the condition include burning, tingling, numbness, or painful feeling in the fingers or palms. The earlier it is diagnosed, the less invasive and more effective the treatment will be.
Among all the treatment options available for carpal tunnel syndrome, chiropractic treatment offers more benefits. It is highly effective and uses tactics that aren’t invasive compared to other options. So if you or any of your loved ones are suffering from CTS, ensure you locate an experienced chiropractor to get timely help.
