Nearly half of all adults deal with carpal tunnel syndrome at some point in their lives. Depending on the severity of the situation, you may find yourself looking at surgery for the problem. However, in some cases, chiropractic treatment can ease the pain and help your body recover on its own.
What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
When the tissue in your wrist becomes inflamed and presses on the median nerve, you can experience numbness, tingling, and pain in your wrist. This sensation can work its way up your arm or cause your hand to feel numb. This is a common issue with people who use repetitive motions, such as factory workers, office workers, and other professionals who repeatedly move the same way.
Over time, this issue tends to become worse and worse, which may result in a loss of function in the hand. You may notice that you have difficulty gripping things and may drop items more often.
How Can Chiropractic Treatment Relieve CTS?
The median nerve begins in the cervical spine, or the section of spine that forms your neck. It goes through the carpal tunnel in your wrist, which is a narrow tunnel for it to work in. Your chiropractor will check you over to determine where the nerve is being compressed. This can actually happen in several areas, so it’s important to find the right point. From there, the chiropractic treatment will be focused on easing pressure on the nerve.
In addition to manipulating the wrist or elbow to ease the pressure on the nerve, your chiropractor may use massage therapy to help reduce the inflammation. Massage therapy can also relax the muscles and this helps relieve the excess pressure on the nerve.
Learning to Stretch Your Wrist
There are specific exercises that can help the median nerve move easily and to release the pressure on the area. Your chiropractor can give you some tips to help prevent further flare ups, though you may need multiple sessions to fully treat it.
Stretching the wrist by holding the arm out and pulling your hand back for a moment can help stretch the muscles. This may help ease the pain you feel. You may also try the opposite, bending the wrist down and pulling the hand toward your body. Another option is to create a fist with the thumb on the outside and gently pull it back toward your body and then down toward the floor, as if your fist were nodding.
While you may require multiple treatments, chiropractic therapy can help your carpal tunnel syndrome. It provides a release that may not be possible with other types of medicine, though you will still need time to recover.
Are you dealing with aches and pains that you want to get rid of? Contact us today to schedule your chiropractic treatment.
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