Simple Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

Here are four simple tips for carpal tunnel pain relief.

Even if you don’t have carpal tunnel problems, these tips will keep your wrists, hands and arms in good positions.  You will be less likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome.

1. When you walk, walk with your thumbs up, as though you are going to shake hands with someone.  Walking with the backs of your hands facing forward shortens the muscles in the front of your body.  Short front muscles cause us pain.  If it is hard for you to rotate your arms so your thumbs point up, you can practice in bed and let gravity help you as your roll your thumbs to the outside.  Walking with your thumbs up also makes it easier for your arms to swing loosely from your shoulders.
2. Let your arms swing back and forth from your shoulders when you walk.  Let them swing front and back, front and back.  When you walk, let your arms swing at your sides, without crossing either arm in front of your body.  Ask someone to watch you if you are unsure if you are swinging one or both arms across the front of your body.  Swinging your arms across the front of your body shortens the chest muscles and causes pain in arms, wrists and hands.
3. Wear arch supports if your feet are on the flatter side.  Flat feet cause us to lean forward and encourage forward-head, collapsed posture.  Arch supports help us stand straight and avoid forward-head posture.  Having a collapsed posture encourages short muscles in front of our arms and chest and causes pain in our hands, wrists and arms.
4. Start a walking program using the tips above.  Let your arms swing freely at your sides for a while.  Pump your arms for a while.  Walking while pumping your arms uses all of your arm and shoulder muscles and gets your blood and lymph flowing.  It helps flush metabolic wastes from your arms and hands, so you will have less carpal tunnel pain.

Making these simple corrections will help you reduce or eliminate your carpal tunnel syndrome.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

Is carpal tunnel syndrome reaching epidemic proportions?

Or, are we just a little misguided here?

Could it be, perhaps, that most of the pain we experience in our wrists, hands and arms is not truly carpal tunnel syndrome?  Well, sure.  I’ve told you that already.

Definitely you have pain in the carpal tunnel area.  But unless you’re pregnant, diabetic or have a carpal tunnel space which is anatomically too small for the nerves and blood vessels to pass through, you have pain caused by muscle inbalance and overuse in your arm, neck or back.

There is more carpal tunnel area pain than ever, because technology has become so good that we hardly need to move anymore.

Some of you might not be familiar with typewriters; you grew up on computers.  Or, maybe you do remember…

Before there were electric typewriters, there were big clunky manual typewriters.  The people who used them had to insert each sheet of paper, one at a time.  They had to roll the paper in to the proper position.  They had to roll the paper out when they were done.  They had to push the typewriter roller (the part that held the paper) to the right to start each new sentence.

These old manual typewriters were not ergonomically designed.  The rows of keys were widely separated.  The user had a lot of hand and arm movements going on.  But guess what they didn’t have?

They didn’t have carpal tunnel syndrome or repetitive stress injuries.

The reason they did not have carpal tunnel pain was because they were constantly using different muscles and muscle groups.  They were always changing positions.  They had to get each sheet of paper from somewhere, and, get this–if they wanted photocopies, well, there were no photocopy machines.

To make a copy, they had to pick up a piece of carbon paper (what a cool thing!) and sandwich it between two pieces of typing paper.

Today would be a very good day for you to start using your muscles in different ways.

Stretch your fingers wide-ways.  Hold your elbows next to your waist and rotate your hands, palm up, palm down.  Flex your wrist up and down while your palm is up.  Do it again while your palm is down.  Roll your shoulders around.  Lift your shoulders up, back and down.

And please don’t forget the benefit of a good massage to get your muscles all nice and loose and warm.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

Do you wonder what causes your carpal tunnel discomfort?

Well, in a perfect world, we would all be in perfect physical balance.  We wouldn’t have any pain, because most pain is caused by out-of-balance muscles.  About 90% of all pain is muscular in origin, including most carpal tunnel pain.

There are a few people who actually have carpal tunnel syndrome caused by a too-small carpal tunnel space, pregnancy (temporary) or diabetes.  This article is for the rest of us.

Did you think that the pain or numbness in your hand, wrist, fingers or arm is because you are doing a lot of repetitive movement?

Well, the real reason may not be that you are doing a lot of repetitive movements.  It may be that you are doing repetitive movements incorrectly.  You are using only some of your muscles when you work.

If you were using all of the rest of your muscles, you would be pretty well balanced.  If you were well balanced, you would have less pain.

We get pain when we use some of our muscles over and over, but don’t take the time to make the rest of our muscles be active, too.  Some muscles get used way too much, and some hardly get any use at all.  We can correct this, sometimes at work and sometimes outside of work.

We each have several hundred muscles, but most of use only about the same 60 or so over and over.  60!  Most of us haven’t used ALL of our muscles since we were little kids or teenagers.

There are two parts to relieving your carpal tunnel pain when it is caused by repetitive movement (doing the same movement over and over for long periods of time.)

1.  Exploring and finding the least uncomfortable ways to do the repetitive movements you have to do most.  Can you change your position, chair, tool?  Look at your wrists and arms.  Are you holding them in a contorted position?  Do you have to?

Sometimes we do things without thinking, or developed bad habits as we worked.  If we pay attention, and become aware that we may be using our arms incorrectly, we can change what we’re doing.

Hint: Holding your elbow close to your body causes less muscle strain and pain than holding your arm in a stretched-out position.

2.  Getting physically back into balance, all over.  When some of our muscles are overstretched, and others are allowed to get short and tight–due to poor posture or habits–we get symptoms of pain, discomfort or numbness.

Symptoms are complaints.  They are telling us that we are doing something incorrectly, and that our muscles are not happy.

When we strengthen our back and the back of our arms and neck, we take a lot of pressure off the structures that cause carpal tunnel pain.

What steps will you take today to begin eliminating your carpal tunnel symptoms?

Will you find a more comfortable way to hold your arms when you are working?  Will you begin a strengthening program to get back in balance?

Will you take action?  I hope so.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

She said to me, “I don’t remember a lot of the stuff in your Carpal Tunnel Tips Booklet, but I remember the part about sleeping on your back to keep your chest open, and I do that.  And my wrists do hurt less!”

When we sleep on our sides, our shoulders usually get squashed forward.  And, we  most likely have both arms curled up, too.  When we sleep like this, the muscles on our chest that attach to our arms get shortened.

After being in that position while sleeping for several hours, and then holding our arms and heads in front of us for most of the day, all the muscles in the front of our body tend to get short.

This is not good!

This causes discomfort in our arms, hands and wrists (along with many other places.)

But, opening up the chest is good.  Stretching our arms and legs back (behind) us is good.

Think of a cat, or a dog, or a baby.  Think about how they stretch.

They all stretch long, and open, and outward, away from their centers.

And so should we.

We used to, but we forgot about doing that as we “grew up” and became shy or self-conscious about calling attention to ourselves.

But we can stretch all we want in private.  (“Private” includes the restroom at work, if that is the only private space you have there.)

Getting back to sleeping.

You can help the muscles on the front of your body become longer and more open by sleeping on your back.  Even if you can only do it for part of the night, you are giving your arms and chest muscles a break.

Try sleeping with your arms at your sides, thumbs up or palms up.  At first, it may feel very different from what you are used to.  But this is very good for your arms.

You might even be able to feel your muscles become longer!

If the tendency to curl your arms feels too great, open them as far as you can, perhaps resting them near your hips.  For a little assistance in keeping your arms straight, you can tuck the edge of your hands under your hips for a little while.

Press your shoulders gently but firmly back into your mattress.  This strengthens the muscles in your back and strong back muscles help hold your shoulders where they should be.

Place a small, simple neck roll (homemade is perfect) behind your neck, or use the flattest, softest pillow you can sleep comfortably with behind your head.  The goal is to support the small healthy curve in your neck while keeping your head as close to the mattress as possible.

When we sleep with our head pushed forward, and we spend most of our day with our head in a forward position, our muscles think that’s where they should stay:  short and forward.

Just as when we are standing and sitting, we need to be in the most neutral correct position we can when we sleep.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

Most of us don’t know anything about medical terminology (the language that doctors use.)  Even though they don’t teach this in school, it is a very useful thing to know.

A “syndrome” or “pain syndrome” means a collection of “symptoms.”

Symptoms are the complaints we have.  A syndrome is a whole bunch of symptoms.

Symptoms could be pain in your hand, wrist, elbow, or numbness in your thumb or last two fingers.  A symptom could also be a headache or jaw pain or low back pain.

When your doctor listens to all of your symptoms, he or she may be able to diagnose you as having a specific pain syndrome (or collection of symptoms) like carpal tunnel syndrome.

A pain syndrome diagnosis generally means “I acknowledge your pain, I don’t know why you hurt, here is what it is called.”  Sometimes your doctor will have useful suggestions to help, and sometimes he will not be too helpful.

Our doctors know an incredible amount of stuff, but most of them know as little as we do about the muscular causes of pain.  So that’s why you need to be your own physician.

If you are able to reduce your symptoms you will be able to reduce the pain from your carpal tunnel syndrome.

If you follow along on this web site, you will become educated about the cause or causes of your pain.  When you understand the cause, you will be able to self-treat and eliminate a lot of pain.

You know, I understand that sometimes people just get so frustrated with their carpal tunnel pain and so impatient for relief that they will do almost anything the doctor suggests.

And I am grateful for all of the fine surgeries doctors can do, because I wouldn’t be here to share with you otherwise.

But many times we can eliminate our own pain–all kinds of pains–yes, even carpal tunnel–without surgery, if we just understand the reasons we hurt or feel numbness and what we can do about it.

Stay tuned!  That’s what this site is all about.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

Did you know that you can relieve your carpal tunnel pain?

Except for the very few of us who truly have a physical reason [anatomically too small carpal tunnel space (which is rare), pregnant, or diabetic] there is a lot most of us can do to feel better.

Through awareness, we can change the ways we work and move to ways that prevent or eliminate pain.  We generally get into pain when we are stuck in the same positions over and over–and when we are doing them incorrectly, to boot!

In a nutshell, that is what causes carpal tunnel syndrome: not being aware of what you may be doing to cause your carpal tunnel area discomfort.

What to do?

Observe and feel what is occurring as you do the various movements you must do in a day.

Pay attention to your body.  Move slowly, gently, carefully and thoughtfully.

Where is your pain?

When you figure out which movements or positions cause the most discomfort for you, you can start moving in the opposite direction.  Not while you are doing what you must, but when you take breaks and when you are not working.

We get into pain when we always do things in only one way, using our muscles in only the same ways, over and over.

So if you pain occurs when you flex your wrist up, flex it down.  If your pain starts when you twist your arm or hand to the inside, then move your arm or hand to the inside.  Opposite movements!

We start getting out of pain when we start using our muscles in a wide variety of ways.  When we use all of our muscles (like when we were toddlers) our symptoms start to go away.  We are correcting poor patterns of movement.

When you begin changing the way you move, or doing new movements (that you haven’t done in a while) to eliminate your pain, start thoughtfully.  Pay attention to what happens–where you feel discomfort–when you do your new move.

When you move in the opposite direction of the one you are usually in, you may feel some pain or tightness.  This painful area is very likely the area that is causing your pain symptoms!

The new area you are stretching in the opposite direction is probably harboring, or hiding, trigger points.  The trigger points are the true cause of your pain. Trigger points “fire” pain into other areas, sometimes nearby and sometimes very far from the trigger.

By stretching gently to correct, and by warming the newly discovered tender area with massage or heat or ice, you will begin the process of eliminating the triggers for your carpal tunnel pain.

Please note: If a stretch causes more discomfort in your symptom area, that might not be the one to do, and you should discontinue it.  If you determine that your pain symptom feels somewhat less, continue doing it.  You’re on the right track.

Do only two or three stretch repetitions at a time and monitor how you feel afterward.  Increase your repetitions after you begin to adapt to the new movement.  You are using your muscles in a different way now, and the newly moved muscles might become a bit tender if overworked.

Also, it’s a good idea to increase your water intake.  Well-hydrated muscles function much better.  They recuperate more quickly.

Go on over to Simple Pain Relief and Simple Strengthening to help you on the road to feeling well quickly.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

Have you ever wondered about the cause for your carpal tunnel pain? What do think the real reason is?

Do you think that carpal tunnel syndrome could be just “old age?”

Or, is it from repetitive movement?

Actually, it is not just because you’re getting older. It’s also not caused by repetitive movement.

Yes, I did say that carpal tunnel pain is not caused by repetitive motion, however…

Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by repetitive movement done incorrectly.

Pain or uncomfortable sensations in your wrist, arm and hand are caused by restriction and pressure on the blood vessels, tendons and nerves that run through your carpal tunnel in your wrist. The restriction and pressure are caused by incorrect movements done frequently.

How about that?

Pretty simple, huh?

So, what is the “carpal tunnel” and how do we cause restriction and pressure in it?

Your carpal tunnel is a mostly bony area of your wrist with tendons, blood vessels and nerves running through the “tunnel.” In most of us, most of the time, all works well.

But, if you compress (squeeze) the structures (blood vessels and nerves) that are packed into the carpal tunnel, they get irritated. When the contents of your carpal tunnel get squeezed, they don’t like it!

When they are squeezed, it causes pressure on the nerves and tendons, because now there is less room for them. This may cause nervy sensations or numbness around the carpal tunnel and hand and will also lessen your range of motion.

It also causes less blood flow, just because there is less space for blood to flow into your hand. Less blood means less nutrition for your hand.  This is a cause of carpal tunnel syndrome.

How can we eliminate the pressure that causes carpal tunnel symptoms when we have to do repetitive movements?

The secret is by doing the repetitive motions correctly and in the most neutral position that we can.

Lots of times we get into bad habits involving using peculiar positions that we don’t have to use.

Here’s an example.

Many times in the past, when I would be working on someone’s body as a neuromuscular massage therapist, I would look down at my own hand or hands twisted into strange and incorrect positions and think: “What the heck am I doing and who told me that was a good idea?” And then I would change my position to avoid future pain.

I will admit that some of us have jobs which require us to make movements that are out of our normal range-of-movement, and correcting those positions requires lots of creativity and thought.

But, in most cases, all we need to do to start stopping our carpal tunnel pain is this:  Adopt a more neutral hand and arm (and head) position.

We need to work with our elbows as close to our waist as we comfortably can.

We need to prevent over-stretching and over-reaching which causes muscle pain and aggravates the heck out of our carpal tunnels.

We need to keep our wrists straight, and we need to get a strong back.

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

– Kathryn Merrow, The Pain Relief Coach