Pam was having pain on the outside (baby finger side or ulnar side) of her hand and wondered whether it was carpal tunnel syndrome. She contacted me because she was afraid her massage career was going to be over.
Trigger points are areas in muscles (or other soft tissues) that trigger, or refer, pain or symptoms elsewhere. When trigger points are pressed into, the symptom or pain will appear where the area of complaint is. Trigger points cause symptoms. (But what causes trigger points? That’s another article.)
Pam had tried working on trigger points in the shoulder blade area. Pressing into the trigger points referred pain to her wrist, and seemed to work, but the pain always came back. She was very frustrated.
I wrote to her and explained that pain in the ulnar area is caused by the following muscles: serratus posterior superior (in the upper back), latissimus dorsi (on the outer side of the upper back), pec major and pec minor (the pectorals are the chest muscles and attach to the upper arm).
Since Pam uses her arms and hands extensively, I know that her chest and arm muscles get a lot of use and probably needed to be released, or relaxed. They also need to be stretched in the opposite direction of their usual movement. Another area that often gets tight when doing massage are the “lats”–the latissimus dorsi, below the armpit.
Here is Pam’s response:
“Wow, thanks a lot. I have tried to find a few spots on myself under the armpit and the pain shot to my scapula, deltoids, pecs, biceps, triceps and wrist. It’s really amazing! So, if you were me would you just make sure to get worked on weekly? Thanks so much. You really do know a lot! You’re a big help. I will tell all of my massage friends about you!”
When I wrote back, I told Pam prevention is also important so she can continue to do massage. It’s important that she develop a strong back as well as stretch the muscles which get tight while working. Stretching between every client will be a big help. So will figuring out which moves she makes that cause her muscles to get tight.
There’s a lot of information that will help you develop a strong back at Simple Strengthening. There’s a whole, easy-to-use, self-help program with everything you need here.
Everything happens for a reason, and when you understand the reason(s) for the pain or other symptoms in your hand, wrist and arm, you can get rid of your carpal tunnel syndrome naturally.