health alternative blog

A General Overview of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common disorder that is caused by compression or swelling of the median nerve that located in the wrist. It can cause symptoms of tingling, numbness or pain in the palm of the hand and fingers. It is usually a condition that occurs gradually and worsens over time without treatment. There is no one cause that has determined for this disorder, but it has been linked to diabetes, arthritis, bone enlargement, reduced thyroid function, pregnancy, uremia, tendon inflammation, or amyloidosis.

It is believed that carpal tunnel syndrome may also be caused or made worse by repetitive motions. Assembly line workers, writers, data entry workers, carpenters, and anyone else who either use vibrating machinery or use their wrists in a repetitive manner have often been found to suffer with the disorder. Additionally, people who enjoy knitting, gardening and rowing have also been found to commonly suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome.

You may want to see a doctor is you start feeling tingling, numbness or pain in your hand or wrist. When you get checked the doctor will look for inflammation and the range of movement of your wrist. The doctor may also use Phalen’s test which tries to get symptoms to occur by recreating the flexing of your wrists. Another test that may be done is Tinel’s test which checks for sensitivity of the median nerve. The doctor will likely prescribe anti-inflammatory medication to reduce swelling in the nerve. It is not clear if this has an adequate solution, but patients have reported some relief when using anti-inflammatory medicines.

Another treatment your doctor may try is a wrist brace. Wrist braces are sold over the counter in drug stores or pharmacy areas of department stores. The brace helps to stabilize the wrist and keep it in a neutral position which helps relieve pressure on the median nerve. Sometimes corticosteroid injections have been found to help to relieve pain. Most of these types of treatments help people with early symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

In the event of a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome, surgery may be required. If other treatments fail to work then surgery is usually the last option. An incision is made in the palm and wrist to cut the ligament that runs over the median nerve. Cutting this ligament helps to relieve pressure on the nerve. If no permanent damage has been done to the nerve then this can help relieve symptoms.

This usually relieves the problem unless there has been permanent damage done to the nerve. Recovery takes several weeks before the patient can return to light duty at work. By six weeks, they can return to normal duty. This surgery is usually done on an outpatient basis with a local anesthetic.

An alternative to surgery is often physical therapy. The therapy involves exercises that are taught to you by a physical therapist. You do the exercises at home between sessions. These exercises can be a very effective treatment and alternative to surgery.

Carpal Tunnel Yoga For Everyone

Carpal tunnel exercises using yoga has become the most popular exercises in the world. Long ago you could only find it in the Eastern hemisphere, but today Westerners are swearing up and down about its benefits. You can find several schools of yoga with different masters and concepts, but most of it today revolves around Hatha yoga. This is just one of the five major schools of thought in yoga.

Carpal tunnel exercises using yoga was originally intended as a means to spiritual enlightenment, with poses designed to facilitate meditation and relaxation. As it is practiced outside of India today, most yoga is devoid of the spiritual connection. The large majority of practitioners do yoga for the health benefits alone and possibly for the relaxation, but with no intention of following the belief systems. This does not make it bad, however; practicing yoga for the sake of health is not insulting the belief system it came from.

Just keep in mind you don’t have to understand the religious side of things to enjoy yoga. The goal behind carpal tunnel exercises using yoga is to give you the flexibility necessary in order to stretch the muscles, tendons, and tissue. You don’t have to be in mind boggling shape to practice yoga, which is important for some individuals to know. There are novice exercises and those that are well advanced, but everyone pretty much begins at the same point and then moves forward based on experience. However, if you do practice yoga in your home, it’s important to understand that more advanced methods should be done in the presence of a guru. Yes, it may not look difficult, but when you get into yoga exercises it’s important to be careful.

The next time you head to work, we want you to try a few carpal tunnel exercises using yoga. Granted you might think that work is not the place to be doing this, but there are plenty of exercises that are geared for the work place. If you happen to work at a desk, the strain on your body will eventually take its toll. So the little things like watching your posture, positioning the keyboard to a level area, and doing the same with your mouse can be a great starting point. Then of course you can take breaks throughout the day, add in a couple yoga exercises, take deep breaths while you’re doing it, and just relax. It’s not something you need to do every 10 minutes, but maybe once an hour or whenever you feel stiff, then bring out the yoga.

While those are some simple ways to help your carpal tunnel issues, there are a couple exercises you may want to use during the beginning stages. Sit up in your chair with proper posture and turn sideways. You should be facing to the left or right, and can start twisting your body towards the back rest. This should be done slowly, and deep breaths should be utilized while you hole that position for a few seconds. Keep repeating for 4-6 times a then switch.

When you stand up to walk around, stop at a wall and face it. Stretch your hands as high as you can and plant them firmly against the wall. Breathe slowly and take in a few deep breaths while holding the position. Release it, and then repeat.

No matter what they look like to others, carpal tunnel exercises using yoga is the best way to relieve CTS. It’s inexpensive, there is no medicine involved, and both the body and mind get healthy. So if you have problems with carpal tunnel syndrome, use these exercises to get you started on the right path.

Strange Carpal Tunnel Exercises Provide Relief For Most Common Symptoms

Most of the time we are so caught up with the pain in our wrists, all we want to do is focus on healing that area. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as it sounds, and many times you have to do other exercises even though you don’t think they pertain to the normal carpal tunnel exercises. We’ll show you a couple and help you start working those other parts of the body.

Exercise #1 - Torso Twist

For this exercise you need a chair with no arms. Sit on the right side or the left side. Ensure you put your feet on the ground. Then turn at the torso all the way until you are able to grab onto the back of the chair on both sides. If you are sitting on the right side, then you’ll turn the head towards the right once you are able to grab the chair. Twist as much as possible.

When you’re finished with one side, move on to the next. The most important part to this exercise is holding your position in place. We recommend starting out with a simple 5 second rule. If you feel that these types of carpal tunnel exercises are becoming too easy, then extend your time periods. Also, if you aren’t twisting as far as you can, you can upgrade this as well.

Neck Release

Once you have done the torso twist, then go on to this exercise, sitting normally in the chair. Take the right hand, reach it back and use it to grab the right side of your chair. For the best results, slowing bring the neck down to the chest as far as you can. Take the left hand, reach on the other side of the head, and then carefully pull the neck to that side, getting a nice stretch.

For those who don’t always have great posture when working at a desk, this is one of the best carpal tunnel exercises. Although it doesn’t focus on the arms and wrists, you will feel the effects on the neck and shoulders, helping out. When you loosen these areas up you’ll be able to sit properly at the desk, get the arms up better, and it will make it easier for you to use your hands for your job.

Exercise 3 - The Shrug

Another great exercise that is easy is the shrug, although it may not seem like an exercise for carpal tunnel. You can sit in the chair or even stand up. Take the shoulders and bring them up towards your ears as high as you possibly can. When you get this done, then allow the shoulders to drop and do the whole process again. Once you reach the highest point you can get, try holding the shoulders there for a couple of seconds and then release it.

Although these exercises may not seem like carpal tunnel exercises, they can help to prevent the problem from occurring. Do them at work, a few minutes on the hour, or when you have a break. It will refresh you. As you start doing these exercises each day, you’ll be working to prevent problems with carpal tunnel in the future as well.

Looking For Ways to Relieve Pain Caused by Simple Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

There are so many different carpal tunnel exercises out there today, you never know what ones work the best. The only way to figure out is to try each one yourself and then go from there. The wrist median nerve decompression is a little bit different. There have been many reports that it can give you instant relief for up to four hours.

Granted everyone will experience different results, but you never know until you try it. These are the types of carpal tunnel exercises that can be the cornerstone for future solutions and make the problem go away with ease. However, in order to get to that point, we’ll need to continue to work on preventing it from happening all together. The wrist median nerve decompression is the way to start.

First

There are six different parts to this exercise, so first, make a fist and place your thumb over your fingers. Hold that position for at least five seconds. Once five seconds is up, open your hand up as widely as you can, extending your fingers as much as you can.

After another five seconds, you’ll have move into a backward flex. Keep your wrist straight and see how far you can bend your hand back towards your forearm. The first few times around you will feel a lot of tension in the middle of your hand, so you may want to cut this down to just 3 seconds. Once it feels more comfortable move up to the initial 5 seconds.

Second

These next three carpal tunnel exercises definitely feel good when you do them. Well, at first the stretching will be difficult, but it will get easier the more you do it. Make a large “L” with your thumb and index finger. Keep all the rest of your fingers adjacent to the index finger and stretch the thumb. Hold it out for as long as you can. Normally it’s only about 5 seconds, but I noticed if you do it longer, the next time around is a lot easier.

Now that everything is in place, keep your wrist straight and sway your hand to the right. If you don’t understand that, then hold your hand to your face with fingers together and try to get your hand to a 90 degree angle. Most likely you won’t be able to which okay, but this will help you understand how the exercise works. After 5 seconds move your hand in the opposite direction.

What you do last

In order to get the most out of these carpal tunnel exercises, give yourself a little push. If your turning your hand with the wrist straight, try pulling the thumb back a bit. It will give you plenty of extra pressure and increase the positive effects of your routine. At the end of the exercise and reps you do, a feeling of relief should start to set in. If it doesn’t, we always suggest meeting with your family physician to get the appropriate help you need.

Exercises to Ease Your Carpal Tunnel Discomfort

When you think about carpal tunnel exercises, you are probably just thinking about stretching your fingers as you sit at your desk! However, check out some exercises that will let you break up the routine a little bit, and help you get to where you want to be when it comes to fitness in your hands and arms. Check out these off the wall routines, and you’ll soon realize that you are much more healthy and loose than you ever have been before.

Getting Started With a Wall Stretching

First, go find a sturdy wall that you can lean on near to your work station. This only takes a few minutes and it is well worth your time; also, it’s far better than doing nothing at all! Start by standing with your face to the wall. Reach up as high as you can while leaving your feet on the ground. Touch your fingertips up high and hold this pose for just a moment.

After you’ve reached as high as you can, keep your feet planted firmly on the floor and start bringing your hands down the wall to just about a 90 degree angle (then repeat). Obviously you’ll need to move back a bit so you can actually stretch out. It’s not only a great way to start the day, but you will also get the blood flowing more so than simply sitting in your chair.

Twisting Your Wrist and Forearm

Probably one of the most interesting carpal tunnel exercises is the forearm and wrist twist. It’s one of those exercises where you look like you’re doing nothing, but it’s actually helping. Just open your hand like you’re about to high-five someone and put it up against the wall. At first you won’t notice any strain except on your fingers, but there is more to come.

Slowly, start pushing in and turning your head to the left. As you feel the tension start to grow, start pushing your shoulder forward just a little bit. You will soon start feeling a marvelous stretch through your fingers, wrists, forearms and shoulders. This will also stretch up into your wrist area. You should be nice and loose when you come up out of this one.

More to Come

There are various carpal tunnel exercises available can help you just like the two we mentioned above. One thing to keep in mind though is that you should do these a few times a day in between time at your desk, or even at home. It will allow you to get more work done in a shorter period of time and eliminate all those stressful moments throughout the day.

When you find that you are tense and irritated, give it a break and try those exercises above. Go through one if not both of these exercises and watch all that tension drain away. Having a productive day can take all the stress off of you, and with just a little bit of help from these great exercises can get you where you want to be!