Can posture cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? You bet!
I had a great call today with author Gini Maddocks, who is also a massage therapist (like me!) Gini brings her unique perspective to our calls at Carpal Tunnel Radio. You can listen to the replay any time, day or night. Here’s a little bit from the call.
How does your posture cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
1. When your posture fails, it’s because the muscles in the front of your body have shortened. When your shoulders “roll” forward, or turn inward toward your breastbone, it’s because the muscles are short and tight. Short muscles in the front of your body compress nerves that run from your neck to your hand. When those nerves are squeezed, they cause nervy sensations in your carpal tunnel area.
2. When your posture collapses, overstretched muscles in your upper back can develop “trigger points.” Trigger points in soft tissues and muscles “fire” or cause pain in your hand, arm and wrist.
3. There are muscles in your neck that become tight when your head moves forward (“forward head posture”) instead of staying over your body, where it belongs. Those neck muscles (scalene muscles) can also cause pain in your carpal tunnel area.
What can you do to correct your posture?
1. Strengthen your back side, from the back of your knees to the base of your skull. There are articles at my Simple Strengthening website. There’s a complete, easy program for you at Simple Strengthening Course. So easy you can do it in bed!
2. Stretch, relax, warm and release–open up–the shortened muscles in the front of your body. You don’t need to have a big stretch session. You can do frequent short stretches many times throughout the day. Why were these muscles short in the first place? Lots of sitting, habits, certain work patterns, furniture, car seats–stuff like that.
When you help your body get better posture, you create a LOT of health benefits for yourself. You will also get rid of many of the things that cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.