What You can do About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Mind is All

There is not much worse then a repetitive stress syndrome caused by your profession such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Unfortunately many people who work a lot with their hands are at risk for this syndrome. If you are a computer programmer, a hair stylist, or even a massage therapist, you may be at risk for getting carpal tunnel.

The symptoms of carpal tunnel typically consist of pain in the forearms, wrists, and hand. Some people complain of numbness in their first fingers also. It is common for doctors to recommend wearing a brace and typically recommend pain killers. Some doctors, if the symtoms remain, may recommend surgery to releave the pain. You can do some things to greatly decrease your chances of surgery.

What can you do to reduce your chances of carpal tunnel in the first place? Your first line of defence needs to be your body position and posture. Try to make sure that your wrist is in a neutral position at all times. Your goal should be that your wrist is not bent or kinked to far in any one direction, but more toward center. You can get special wrist braces to help you learn what position is wrist neutral if necessary. Take a look at the way a piano player plays, their wrists are typically pretty flat when viewed from the side. You will not see a severe angle in their wrist ever.

Your chances of suffering from the syndrome are even further reduced if you learn to stretch out and do self massage. The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook is an outstanding book in explaining exactly how to massage your arms to reduce carpal tunnel pain. This shows how trigger points can have a great effect on not only carpal tunnel pain but also pains all over your body. This book explains pretty well how to do self massage for carpal tunnel. To begin stretching bend and move your fingers in all the directions they can move carefully. Simply running through your range of motion a few times a day can keep everything loose and healthy. After you have stretched your fingers out completely, do the same for your wrists.  Move them throough their range of motion. You are basically warming up your muscles similarly to a runner would.  You are preparing your body for its repetitive work.

By using a combination of massage therapy, stretches, and correct body ergonomics you can greatly reduce your chances of suffering with carpal tunnel syndrome. Doing these things at least once a day if not more often then that really doesn't take that much time and will save your body in the end. Make sure if you work in a profession that may contribute to carpal tunnel that you be proactive about avoiding it.

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