Is It Actually Possible to Prevent Carpal Tunnel?

Your ability to work from home or the flexibility in your career as a cosmetologist has left you feeling like you hit the career jackpot – until the years of repetition have left you with a slight ache in your wrists.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition that causes a numb sensation in the fingers, weakness in grabbing the smallest objects, and difficulty distinguishing hot from cold by touch.

From factory workers to chefs to artists, the pain of carpal tunnel can find its way into any industry where your hands and wrists play a crucial role. So how do you stop the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome – or find relief if it’s too late?

Call it wrist-ful thinking, but our team at Pain Specialists of Charleston believes you deserve to live a pain-free life. Keep reading to learn more about this condition and how we can help!

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a very common condition, affecting up to 10 million people in the United States.

The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway within your wrist, allowing tendons, ligaments, and nerves to pass through to reach your hand. When pressure is put on the median nerve in the carpal tunnel, it can send extra or sometimes incorrect feelings to your hand and wrist, resulting in the following symptoms:

Tingling and numbness in the thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers
Pain that travels up the forearm toward the shoulder
Weakness in the hand, causing a loss of control or grip on objects
Occasional shock-like sensation in the fingers

Carpal tunnel syndrome often begins gradually and worsens slowly over time. People typically first notice symptoms at night, when the pain or tingling may wake them up.

If you begin to feel a pinprick sensation, as though your fingers or hands “fell asleep,” talk to a pain management physician to determine if carpal tunnel syndrome is the culprit of your pain.

Is Carpal Tunnel Genetic? A Closer Look at the Causes

Like many conditions, carpal tunnel syndrome can be caused by a combination of different factors. Risk factors for this condition include:

Genetics: The carpal tunnel may be naturally smaller – a trait that can run in families. It can also affect those whose relatives have a history of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Repetitive use: Repeating the same hand and wrist movements over a prolonged period may cause swelling that puts pressure on the median nerve. For example, working at a computer for eight hours a day with limited breaks may cause undue stress on the carpal tunnel.
Health conditions: Developing carpal tunnel syndrome may be the result of another underlying medical condition. Diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and thyroid gland disorders have all been linked to an increased risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Pregnancy and menopause: The change in fluid retention, most common during pregnancy and menopause, may increase the pressure within the carpal tunnel. Those experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome during pregnancy generally find relief afterward.

How to Prevent Carpal Tunnel – Is It Possible?

While there’s no guaranteed way to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, you can take steps to reduce the strain on your hands and wrists. By adopting certain habits and practices, you can minimize your risk.

These methods include:

Relaxing your grip

If you work in a space that requires a keyboard or cash register, try reducing the force when you hit the keys.

Take frequent breaks

One risk factor for carpal tunnel syndrome is performing a task for a prolonged period of time. To help reduce inflammation around the hands and wrists, take short, frequent breaks to gently stretch and bend your wrists and hands.

Pay attention to your form

A proper workstation setup can sometimes be the difference between inflammation and a pain-free life. When using a keyboard, be sure to keep a relaxed middle position, with your wrists parallel to the floor. Keep your keyboard at elbow height or slightly lower to lessen the bend in the wrists.

Keep an eye on the temperature

A cold environment can often make it more likely to develop hand pain and stiffness. Adjust the temperature to a warm state, or, if you can’t control the temperature, use fingerless gloves to keep the hands and wrist warm.

I Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – Is It Too Late For Relief?

The fear for many with carpal tunnel syndrome is the question of undergoing surgery to correct the pain. At our pain management clinic near you, we will devise a treatment plan using the latest interventional pain management techniques.

Instead of focusing on correcting and managing your pain with surgery or habit-forming medications, our treatment methods may include physical therapy or corticosteroid injections.

The physical therapy will focus on stretching and range-of-motion exercises while the corticosteroid injections aim to reduce pain and inflammation in your hands and wrists.

Talk to your physician to determine which course of action is right for you.

Get a Grip on Your Pain with the Pain Specialists of Charleston

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition that plagues millions of people across the U.S. but can make you feel more isolated and defeated than ever before.

At Pain Specialists of Charleston, we recognize the difficulties of living with pain and make it our mission to help you manage it.

From interventional pain treatments to the latest medical research, our Board Certified Physicians specialize in helping our patients say goodbye to pain without surgery or habit-forming drugs.

Whether the pain has just begun, or you’ve learned to live with it for a while, we are here to help you reclaim your life – without pain.

Get a grip on your pain and schedule an appointment with us today!

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