What is carpal tunnel syndrome, exactly? Carpal tunnel syndrome or CTS happens when the median nerve running from the forearm into the hand gets squeezed or pressed at the wrist. This nerve controls all sensations to the palm side of your fingers and thumb, except for your little pinkie. It also controls impulses to some small muscles in your hand that allows movement in your thumb and fingers.

Doctors and scientists associate the symptoms of carpal tunnel disorder with more generalized posture problems resulting from a sedentary lifestyle and jobs that involve sitting at a desk all day. The carpal tunnel is the space located between your hand's carpal bones, which are found near the wrist. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a joint condition in which the carpal tunnel shrinks as a result of inflammation or other causes.

Many experience weakness in the hand as well as the wrist. This is often due to the pressure on the median nerve which has the motor function of sending signals to move the muscles. It also has sensory capabilities, which is why pain and other types of discomfort are experienced.

If your symptoms of carpal tunnel don't lessen with these treatments, you may need to recur to surgery. This is where a doctor makes an incision in your inner wrist or palm. While some patients experience shivering or nausea after the procedure due to the anesthetic, the advantage to this operation is that there are no lingering side effects.

Do this several times prior to putting your fingertips on your desk's edge. Place your hands along your desk's edge. Such exercises can aid you in stretching your wrists. Lastly, shake your arms out and roll the shoulders to say goodbye to residual stress. If these exercises happen to hurt you, you might want to think about getting in touch with your physician.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can develop for many years with no noticeable symptoms. However, when the first symptoms do appear they include burning or tingling sensations in the fingers, pain and numbness in the hand, an inability to grasp onto objects, and a weakness of the hands. Because Carpal Tunnel Syndrome involves the median nerve, it affects the parts of the hand that the median nerve supplies.

If symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome do arise, doctors will recommend that a nerve conduction velocity (NCV) test or an Electromoyogram (EMG) be performed to see if carpal tunnel syndrome truly exists. These tests are often painful to the individual being tested, very expensive, and often give false positives and false negatives. This is why it is recommended that manual carpal tunnel tests be performed in order to obtain a more accurate (and much cheaper) diagnosis.

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