Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
What it is: Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful hand and arm condition that causes numbness, tingling, and other symptoms; it is caused by a pinched nerve in your wrist. It occurs when other tissues such as ligaments and tendons get inflamed and press against the median nerve and can make part of your hand hurt or feel numb. The carpal tunnel is a narrow tunnel of ligaments and bones that protects your median nerve, which provides sensation to your thumb, index finger, long finger, and part of the ring finger.
Symptoms: Numbness, burning pain, and tingling in your thumb, index, and middle fingers. Patients may also experience weakness in the hand and decreased grip strength. Occasionally, sharp, shooting pains can be felt in
…show more content…
There is no specific job industry where people are more susceptible to developing the syndrome, but is more common with those who do assembly line work, keyboarding occupations, and construction workers.
How it’s diagnosed:
• A physical examination of the hands, arms, shoulders, and neck; the wrist is examined for tenderness, swelling, warmth, and discoloration
• Nerve conduction velocity test: involves measuring the rate of speed of electrical impulses as they travel down a nerve
• Electromyogram (EMG): a test of muscles of the extremity; sometimes performed with the nerve conduction velocity test to exclude other conditions that might mimic carpal tunnel