Treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

When you think of workplace injuries, the first thing that comes to mind is probably an accident in a warehouse or factory. In reality, however, the most common case is more likely to be caused by moving your mouse. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome accounts for roughly 50% of all workplace injuries.

It is also one which physical therapy can help treat.

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

The Carpal Tunnel is an area of your wrist between the bones and one of the main wrist ligaments. Several tendons and your median nerve run through it.

In cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, the nerve becomes compressed as it runs through this gap. This causes pain, numbness and weakness in the hand and wrist.

An estimated at 2.7-5.8% of the adult population will suffer from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It usually occurs in adults between 36 and 60 and is more common in women than men.

What can physical therapy do to help Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Therapy can focus on two aspects: Altering how you do tasks to avoid further compressing the nerve and stretching the affected area to reduce the compression of the nerve and exercises to counteract some of the symptoms.

You can turn to physical therapy either in an effort to avoid surgery in mild cases or as part of a post-surgery rehabilitation regimen.

Along with work done during appointments, the therapist will provide the patient with a set of exercises to do at home to further reduce the compression of the nerve between visits.

Among these will likely be a set of stretches for the wrist and hand. Some are typical stretches. Others put the hand and wrist through a series of movements aimed at reducing the symptoms.

A physical therapy regimen has produced, in some cases, similar reductions in pain and increases in function and grip strength as surgery

Read more about Hand Therapy at Comprehensive Rehab

Choose Comprehensive Rehab

If you have been diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and are seeking physical therapy options, contact us at Comprehensive Rehab. We have offices in Clinton and Maquoketa.