Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Your wrists hurt when you're working at the computer. You experience
a "burning" sensation in your arms as you garden. Just
chopping vegetables causes numbness in your hands. How much more
pain can you stand? You may have carpal tunnel syndrome! And if
you do, chiropractic can relieve your pain!!
While your wrist may seem like a long way from your neck there
is definitely a connection! A large nerve, called the median nerve,
runs from your neck and extends to your hand through a tunnel-like
passage in your wrist.
Misaligned neck vertebrae can cause an initial irritation of the
median nerve, often due to repeated stress on your neck and shoulders.
In addition, further repetitive stress on your arms and hands can
increase the irritation of the tendons in your wrist, causing them
to swell. This condition is known as carpal tunnel syndrome.
The carpal tunnel is made up of the carpal (wrist) bones, flexor
tendons, and an overlying ligament (see illustration). Wrist bones
and ligaments have no "give." That's why on the median
nerve, caused by swollen tendons, can result in numbness, tingling,
burning and pain.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can develop over weeks, months, or even
years, and untreated, can lead to permanent nerve damage. Why risk
losing full use of your hands? Don't delay, get chiropractic today!
It's painful living with carpal tunnel syndrome. It's frightening
to think of giving up your work or the things you enjoy doing most.
Now it's promising to know that chiropractic can actually remove
your pain from its source, which is often your cervical spine!
That's right! If you suffer from numbness, tingling, and pain in
your fingers, hands, wrists, or arms, chances are the nerve irritation
has actually originated from a misaligned vertebra in your neck.
Chiropractic has long recognized that hand, arm, and wrist pain
often stems from dysfunction in the cervical spine.
According to the Yale University Press, "Carpal tunnel syndrome
has now become one of the most frequently diagnosed cumulative trauma
disorders of the hand and wrist, and one of the most serious and
disabling." The popular press has latched onto this "mega-epidemic,"
calling carpal tunnel syndrome the "in" injury of the
information age. But the truth is that evidence of this condition
surfaced long before computers ever existed!
In fact, Claudius Galen, a famous Greek physician living from AD
130 to 200, corrected paralysis in the hand of a prominent scholar
by apparently adjusting the vertebrae in the patient's neck! Over
the years, thousands of people have found relief from this condition,
simply by having their neck vertebrae realigned!
If you have an old wrist or neck injury, or if you are engaged
in work, hobbies, or sports that require repetitive wrist, elbow,
or shoulder movements, you could be at risk for developing carpal
tunnel syndrome!
Chiropractic care is the conservative choice for relief from carpal
tunnel syndrome. Chiropractic correction of carpal tunnel syndrome
may involve gently adjusting your hand, arm, shoulder, and/or spine.
By adjusting the joints and soft tissues extending from your cervical
spine (neck) to your wrists, we can help free your system of nerve
interference.
Even if your pain is in one area, we aim to remove interference
along all areas of the nerve. This can actually help to eliminate
the swelling within the carpal tunnel area of your hands.
Traditional treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome include the use
of medication, wrist supports, steroid injections, and surgery.
Yet, none of these approaches corrects the problem at the source.
In fact, recent reports reveal even surgeons admit that the compression
is not always at the wrist.
Yet, carpal tunnel surgery is one of the most frequently performed
surgeries in the United States. It involves cutting the transverse
ligament in the wrist to "open" the carpal tunnel and
release pressure on the nerve.
Is it any wonder that patients often have symptoms long after the
surgery? Hand surgery does not correct nerve pressure that may have
actually started in the neck or shoulder!
Our goal is to get you moving freely again, without pain, without
drugs, without surgery, and without disrupting your active lifestyle.
Call our office today!
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