Pain in Your Thumb? Is it Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

If you have pain in your thumb, maybe it seems like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but…

There are lots of reasons why you can have pain in your thumb, and most of them involve your muscles rather than your “carpal tunnel”!

Let’s count the ways…

There are muscles on the outside of your lower arm that cause pain in your thumb.

There are muscles on the underside, or palm side, of your arm that refer pain into your thumb.

Also, the muscles on the palm side of your thumb cause thumb pain.

But, wait!

There’s more!

How about these muscles:

• on the lower part of your shoulder blade on your back
• under your collar bone
• and on the side of your neck?

Yes, all of those muscles can cause pain in your thumb, too.

When the muscles far away from your thumb cause pain, it is “referred” pain.  Muscles that are “too tight” can “refer” pain to other parts of your body.  Muscles generally become “too tight” from being overstretched (they shorten to protect themselves.)  They may even develop trigger points (hyper-irritable places that cause pain elsewhere.)

So, what can you do to get rid of pain in your thumb?

Press into your own muscles and look for tender places.  “Look” all around your arm and thumb.  Explore.  Seek.  Press in under your collarbone and gently on the side of your neck.

You’re looking for tender areas, especially those that refer sensations to your thumb area.  Press deeply enough to discover tenderness rather than just to glide over the surface.

When muscles are tight, you can release them with pressure–unless they are overstretched.  If a muscle is overstretched, it doesn’t want to relax through pressure and it cannot!

Overstretched muscles need to be shortened (and the short muscles that caused them to be overstretched need to be made longer, or stretched.)

One way to shorten overstretched muscles is by strengthening the area they are in.  Go to Simple Strengthening to find a system system to get a strong back and balanced muscles.

You can apply pressure by massaging your muscles yourself.  (Look under “categories” here at CarpalTunnelPainRelief.com for “massage.”)

You can press into tender areas and hold for about 12 seconds.  You can go back to the same tender area several times.  That will warm your muscles and get the blood flowing more easily again.  Pressure will help relax or release your tight muscles.

You may be surprised when you discover a tender area.  It may even make you wince or jump.  Good job exploring! 🙂

When an area of muscle is that tender, there’s a good bet that’s the cause of your thumb pain.

When muscle is that tender, the best thing to do

is massage it or press into it.  That will help make your pain go away.  Ignoring it will not make it better.

You can adjust the pressure to your comfort level, but it’s necessary to feel some discomfort.  When muscles are very tight, that is just unavoidable.  On a scale of 1-10, “1” isn’t enough pressure to help and “10” is way too much.  Try to stay around a “7.”

Tight muscles are tender to the touch.  Muscles that are not in spasm, or tight, don’t hurt when they are pressed into.  It just feels like pressure.

What else can you do for thumb pain?

Stretching your hand and thumb back, away from the usual direction you hold it can help.  Also, stretch your arms back.  Up and back, over head.  You can do this easily in bed, when gravity becomes your friend.

The idea is to “open”, or stretch, the short muscles in the front of your body and the palm side of your hand.

Is your thumb pain Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?  Maybe not, but it’s still possible if you have other symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Just remember, there are natural, simple ways to get rid of your carpal tunnel issues.  I’m here to help you find them.

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”