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Recognizing And Treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Immediately Post-op Carpal Tunnel release

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is common and is the result of the median nerve becoming squeezed or “entrapped” as it passes through the wrist down into the palm of the hand.  Because this is a sensory nerve, the compression causes tingling, burning and itching numbness in the palm of the hand and fingers. A different nerve goes to the little finger and the lateral half of the 4th finger so the sensation there would feel normal.  There is often a sensation of swelling even though there is rarely any true edema that can be seen in CTS.

The symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome  usually start at night when people sleep with flexed wrists.  As it progresses, the tingling and numbness can be felt on and off during the day.  It can cause decreased grip strength and weakness in the hands.

CTS can be worsened by medical conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, pregnancy or wrist trauma.  Women are three times more likely to develop CTS than men,  and it is rare in children.  Most of the time no cause is found.  The space that the median nerve traverses is very tiny and it doesn’t take much to compress the nerve.  Even small amounts of tissue swelling such as occurs in pregnancy can cause severe symptoms.

The treatment for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome starts with Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*

Examine A Hand, Foreshadow A Future

Back to the subject at hand.

To those who are relatively new to this blog, one of the most popular…uh…tolerated series of posts has been my series on the physical exam. If you haven’t done so already, you may want to go back and read the posts to get in the proper mindset (or destroy enough brain cells).

Astute readers will note that doctors are not the only professionals to examine the hand.

Long before we knew anything about carpal tunnel syndrome or the thenar eminence, we had Madam Linda and her cohorts looking at the hand for signs of what the future will bring for the individual that happens to be connected to the hand in question. Just as stars and planets can have a peculiar interest as to whether a person will run into money, the lines on a person’s hand can foreshadow a person’s future. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*

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