Onsite Wellness Check: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) Screening
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is an injury caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist, resulting in pain and numbness in the index and middle fingers and weakness of the thumb. The carpal tunnel receives its name from the eight bones in the wrist, called carpals, which form a "tunnel" through which the nerve leading to the hand extends.
Signs and Symptoms
Some easy-to-recognize signs and symptoms of CTS include the following:
- Nighttime painful tingling in one or both hands, frequently causing sleep disturbance
- Feeling of uselessness in the fingers
- A sense that fingers are swollen even though little or no swelling is apparent
- Daytime tingling in the hands, followed by a decreased ability to squeeze things
- Loss of strength in the muscle at the base of the thumb, near the palm
- Pain shooting from the hand up the arm as far as the shoulder
The carpal tunnel is filled with tendons (bundles of collagen fibers that attach muscle to bone) that control finger movement. Tasks requiring highly repetitive and forceful movements of the wrist can cause swelling around the tendons, resulting in a pinched nerve and producing CTS.
How Do You Screen For It?
Onsite Wellness Check Doctors perform a very simple test to determine CTS, as well as palpate the 8 individual bones in the wrist for adhesions and non-movement. Adjustments or Manipulations of these bones (carpals) create freedom, and pain relief.
Who's Most At Risk?
People working with small hand tools in manufacturing and those using a computer keyboard on a regular basis are especially at risk.
Women are more likely than men to develop CTS. It most commonly occurs in people between the ages of 40 and 60. CTS is associated with health conditions such as Lyme disease, rubella, pregnancy, and menopause. High caffeine, tobacco, or alcohol intake are contributing risk factors.
One of the best non-surgical treatments of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is with Chiropractic Adjustments. Click Here to see a recent article about it.
Click Here to schedule your event!