Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) has a variety of debilitating symptoms.
Many people diagnosed with CTS believe they “just have to deal with it.” This is completely untrue!
Here are seven steps to help free you of carpal tunnel pain for good:
Research.
Learn about CTS. You may not realize it, but dysfunction in the carpal tunnel area, arm, shoulder or neck can cause a variety of symptoms in the carpal tunnel area. (A “syndrome” is a collection of symptoms.)
You may have heard the phrase “knowledge is power.” With CTS, it could not be more true.
Exercise.
If you are suffering with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or pain, you must devote some time to exercise every day. Wait–don’t go!
Many people cringe at the thought of exercise because they are looking at too large of a picture.
Start small. Tiny movements.
Your arms and hands are a great place to start. Your goal should be to start with the underdeveloped muscles in your arms, back and hands.
You may be thinking, “How are simple strengthening exercises going to help prevent carpal tunnel pain?”
It works like this: our overstretched muscles go into their own form of contraction. They are trying not to be stretched any farther. However, they do like to complain. So, to call attention to themselves, they cause pain symptoms or things like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Overstretched back muscles cause pain in your back, of course, but they can also cause pain in your arms and hands.
The shortened muscles in the front of your body can also cause arm and hand pain, including carpal tunnel pain.
You may know that we have several hundred muscles in our bodies. Most of us use only the same 60 or 70 muscles over and over after we grow up. We get out of muscular balance because we are not using the rest of our muscles.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome starts out because our muscles get “out of balance.” Some get weak and others get too tight.
A good goal is to use your muscles in different ways every day.
Think about moving in many different directions, rather than the same ways over and over.
Stretch daily.
By stretching the muscles in your arms, hands, chest and abdomen on a daily basis, you are preventing your carpal tunnel area pain from
getting any worse.
Stretching reduces the pressure in your wrists and on the nerves and blood vessels associated with CTS. Additionally, stretching makes you more flexible and less prone to other injuries.
Remember, stretch opposite the way you usually hold your arms and hands.
And put some variety in your life.
Vary your day. Throughout the course of the workday, it is easy to fall into a routine. Most people think, “I’ll work on project A for two hours and work on project B for two hours after lunch.”
Instead of working in two hour increments, try to vary your tasks or break your projects into 30 to 40 minute increments…or less.
Take five.
Take a break. Most people would not think that a two, four, or 10 minute break would make a difference, but it works wonders. After 30-40 minutes of a project or task, a brief break allows the joints and muscles to rest. Also, moving in a different way during this break will get your circulation moving and help reduce pain in your carpal tunnel area (and elsewhere.)
Set limits.
In addition to taking a break, setting a limit on the amount of time a task or project is performed is very beneficial. I read about a woman who had someone actually set her computer to shut itself off every 15 minutes. Every 15 minutes she would take a brief break, and that eliminated a lot of the pain in her carpal tunnel area.
Ergonomic equipment.
Ergonomic equipment can help reduce the pain and severity of carpal tunnel syndrome. Good equipment and a good chair, which does help keep you in good posture, can have a very beneficial effect on preventing carpal tunnel syndrome. Make your work space fit you by adding boxes or books as monitor or foot rests. Working in a neutral position matters!
Remember these seven steps for preventing your carpal tunnel pain, and you may have years of pain-freedom (and worry-freedom) ahead of you.
“Because you deserve to feel better!”