What 9 Out Of 10 Doctors Won’t Tell You
About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
by Kathryn Merrow, The Pain Relief Coach
Doctors know an awful lot about many things, and I am very grateful for the lifesaving surgeries they can do. If it wasn’t for all of their knowledge, I wouldn’t be here talking with you today.
But, when it comes to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or other soft tissue pain syndromes and issues, most medical doctors don’t know very much about the causes.
Since they don’t know, they won’t be able to tell you. They won’t be able to help you get rid of the cause(s) and that’s your goal.
How can it be that such a knowledgeable group of men and women know so little about the causes of hand, arm and wrist pain? How can it be that people who went to medical school simply don’t know very much about carpal tunnel syndrome?
The reason for this is simple.
Because, just like us, most of them did not learn in school–not even in medical school–that muscles are the primary cause of pain. And, they did not learn why muscles cause pain, either.
To be truthful, there are some medical doctors, called physiatrists, who specialize in physical medicine and the physical causes of pain. They tend to look at the whole body and understand a lot about the true causes of carpal tunnel, and they know a lot about how to help get rid of carpal tunnel syndrome and other pain syndromes. But, there just aren’t too many of those doctors around.
Here is how medical school generally works:
When they are in school, medical students learn how to treat pain. Pain is a symptom. It means something is wrong. So, they learn how to treat symptoms. They learn how to use medications and how to prescribe them.
Doctors get really, really good at treating pain and treating symptoms.
It’s a lot faster to treat a symptom than it is to look for the cause of the symptom. It’s a sad fact, but doctors just don’t have that much time to spend with each of their patients.
Treating the symptoms usually just covers them up instead of getting rid of them.
So, your doctor learned how to treat pain, but he or she may be truly unaware of the reasons why you have pain in the first place. They didn’t learn the cause.
That just was not part of the curriculum.
Pharmaceutical companies and drug manufacturers do a really good job of helping doctors understand why they should use medication to treat symptoms.
Drug companies make a lot of money when doctors prescribe medications.
Drug companies spend a lot of time and money educating doctors in the use of medicine. They sponsor a lot of programs in and out of medical school. So, doctors end up learning a lot about the use of medications for pain.
In fact, according to an article in AARP literature, there is one pharmaceutical (drug) sales representative for every five doctors.
The pharmaceutical representatives do a good job of reminding physicians why they should prescribe medications. They also let the doctors know about all the new medications that come out.
Now, there are times when medication or surgery is absolutely required.
There are other times, however, when a natural approach will work as well or even better, and without the side effects.
All medications have side effects.
But, natural body-centered approaches to relieving pain do not have side effects.
When you discover the cause of your carpal tunnel pain or symptoms– the true cause— then you will begin to understand what you can do to relieve your symptoms.
Now, we’re going to talk about what this “true cause” is.
After that, we’ll talk about what you can do to start getting rid of your carpal tunnel symptoms, naturally.
By the time you’re done reading this article, you actually may know more than your doctor does about the causes of carpal tunnel syndrome and how to get relief.
First, let’s start off with a little medical terminology.
A “symptom” is something that shows there is a problem. Some examples of symptoms are pain, a headache, a fever or pain, numbness or tingling in the carpal tunnel area.
A “syndrome” is a collection of symptoms. So, a syndrome is a bunch of symptoms.
If you have been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, your doctor reviewed your symptoms and thought, “This person has these symptoms. If I add them all together, it looks to me like it could be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as far as I know.”
(Please remember: There are doctors who specialize in pain syndromes, and know exactly what it is. I am talking about the rest of the doctors. As fine as they are, they just can’t know everything. There is simply too much information about too many conditions for a doctor to know everything.)
What exactly IS carpal tunnel syndrome?
(And, do you truly have it?)
The “carpal tunnel” is inside your wrist. It is a “tunnel” surrounded by the bones of your hand (carpal bones) on three sides and tough tissue on the fourth side (palm side.)
The nerves and blood vessels that serve your hand pass through this carpal tunnel space.
If the median nerve gets squeezed or compressed (pressed on) as it passes through your wrist, it can create symptoms. If enough of those symptoms – pain, numbness, tingling sensations, weakness – appear, then you may be diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.
The symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome are typically felt in the palm side of the thumb and part of three of the fingers. The little finger doesn’t have any symptoms because the median nerve doesn’t serve, or take care of, that finger.
Patients are often misdiagnosed as having carpal tunnel syndrome because their pain is in the same general area as carpal tunnel syndrome– hand, wrist and arm–even though their symptoms don’t quite match Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
As it turns out, there are many muscles from your neck, arm, back and chest that can cause pain in your hand, wrist and lower arm. Hmmm… Let’s talk more about that in a little while.
Who has true carpal tunnel syndrome?
There are three groups of people who actually do have carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Pregnant women. This usually is a temporary condition caused by excess fluid caused by the pregnancy. It generally goes away after delivery. Weight gain may also be a factor.
- Diabetic people. If you have diabetes, you should probably be under the care of a doctor for that, anyway.
- People with a smaller than average carpal tunnel. Just like all the other physical variations that people have, some of us have a carpal tunnel space that is smaller than it should be. However, this is rare. And if you do have a smaller carpal tunnel than others, and you seem to have carpal tunnel symptoms now, then you should have had symptoms all along, right? Again, weight gain may be a factor or inflammation that’s causing swelling.
If you do belong to one of these groups, please keep reading anyway. What you learn may help you considerably and definitely will not hurt you.
If you don’t belong to one of those three groups, then most likely you don’t have true carpal tunnel syndrome.
That’s good!
Why is that good? I still have pain.
It is good because if you don’t have true carpal tunnel syndrome (and most of us don’t) then your pain is most likely caused by muscles and other soft tissues.
And, muscles and referred pain from muscles and other soft tissues can be successfully treated with therapeutic massage, self-massage and self-care (stretches and strengthening) or physical therapy.
Other additional helpful therapies involve reducing inflammation, changing diet (to reduce inflammation), losing weight, adding the vitamins and minerals that you may be deficient in, possibly losing weight and improving posture.
That means there’s a really good chance you can become pain-free again!
If you read the articles here at CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com , you know I’m always telling you that your muscles are a prime cause of the discomfort or pain in your hand, wrist and arm.
I tell you this because it’s true.
This is not just my opinion.
Muscles and other soft tissues cause pain syndromes and symptoms. This has been documented by medical doctors and researchers. There are well-respected medical textbooks which talk only about the roles of muscles and soft tissue (not bones) and pain. (For instance, The Trigger Point Manuals by Travell MD and Simons MD)
Are muscles causing my carpal tunnel pain?
There is only one way to find out right now if muscles are causing your carpal tunnel area pain.
Feel them.
Don’t just feel the little muscles right around your carpal tunnel (wrist.) Feel all the muscles up and down your arm, and even your neck.
You’re going to look for the muscular cause of your carpal tunnel pain.
Lots of us grew up thinking that, for some reason, it wasn’t good to touch or feel ourselves. Or, maybe we just never did it. Who knows why?
But, touch is very important. Babies won’t thrive without touch. It’s perfectly fine to touch and be touched, in appropriate ways.
Why am I telling you this?
Therapeutic massage can be an excellent way for you to get relief from your carpal tunnel area discomfort. A skilled massage practitioner with the correct training can help normalize the soft tissues that are causing your pain.
Your skin has millions of touch receptors so we can feel heat, cold and pressure. This is good. It keeps us safe.
Turns out, the muscles in your arms, and often in your neck, shoulders, chest and back, can cause pain in your wrist and hand. Sometimes your arm hurts, too. This may lead you to think you have carpal tunnel syndrome. (It might lead your doctor to think so, too.)
So, let’s get back to feeling your muscles…
Place one hand on your other arm. Feel that arm. Really feel it. Examine it. Explore your arm.
What does it feel like?
Move your hand from your wrist to your elbow. Press gently, so you can feel below your skin.
Those are your muscles you’re pressing, below the skin.
Do your muscles feel bunchy? Hard? Painful?
When you press on an area, does it make your carpal tunnel symptoms worse? Does it make them a little better?
If your muscles feel tender, stringy, knotty or hard instead of soft and pliable, then your muscles are pretty likely involved in your pain.
Why are my muscles causing symptoms in my carpal tunnel area?
The reason you have pain is because your muscles are complaining. They are unhappy about something you are doing to some of them–or not doing. They don’t like it and they want you to stop.
Your muscles call attention to the fact that they are unhappy by causing discomfort for you. They cause symptoms.
Most of the day, we use our arms, hands and body in the same way. Most of the time, we have our arms and hands and head in front of our body. This causes some of our muscles to get overused.
Some of our muscles get short and some get overstretched. The short muscles don’t usually complain, but they do cause symptoms. The overstretched muscles complain and they cause symptoms.
What can I do to make my muscles happier and get rid of my symptoms?
You can start to lessen your carpal tunnel symptoms by doing some of the suggestions listed below. As you do each one, do it in a thoughtful manner. Feel what is occurring and observe your body.
And, do the ones you choose regularly. You do the “wrong” things regularly so you have to do the “right” things regularly, too, to make a difference.
- Sit in a different position than the one you usually choose. If you always cross one leg over the other, try switching. This uses your muscles in a different way.
- Do the opposite movement of any movement that you do regularly. If you usually bend your wrists in one direction, try stretching them in the other direction.
- Lift your elbows behind you, and swing your lower arms back into a straight line with your upper arms. Keep your head over your shoulders when you do this. If you let your head move in front of your body, it will strain your neck muscles.
- Get into a swimming pool or hot tub with water up to your neck. Wave your full arms back and forth, below the water. Wave them behind you and wave them in front of you. The resistance of the water is like a massage for your arms, and it will help balance and strengthen your arm muscles.
- When you walk, swing your arms freely at your sides. Let your arms swing from the shoulders. Hold your arms with your thumbs pointing forward, as though you are going to shake hands with somebody.
- Stretch your chest muscles. You can do this by placing your hands on the side of the door frame and leaning through the door. You want to feel a gentle stretch in your chest muscles. Try this with your hands at shoulder height, at head height, over your head, and at your hips. You can also stretch your chest muscles when you lie in bed on your back. Stretch your arms back over your head or let them drop gently over the side of the bed. You want to feel your chest muscles gently stretching.
Now think about the ways you usually move or hold your hands and arms.
- Try stretching them and moving them into many different directions. If you usually hold your hands in a palms up or down position, see whether you can move them sideways with your thumbs up. Then see if you can turn them palm up. These are good movements to make.
- What about your fingers? Do you usually hold them in a downward or curled position? What if you gently stretch them in the opposite direction? What does that feel like? Where do you feel the stretch?
Now think about your back.
- Do you have back or neck pain?
- Do you also get knots in your back between your shoulder blades and your spine? Here’s a simple, natural self-help program to get rid of those muscle knots: Knots In Your Back Gone.
These symptoms are telling you that your back muscles are overstretched. They need to be strengthened. Go to Simple Strengthening to learn more about getting a strong back and good posture and keeping it for the rest of your life.
Simple Back Pain Relief also has a ton of great information about the muscle imbalances and pain as well as lots of great ways to help relieve your back pain.
We get into muscle pain syndromes when we only use some of our muscles instead of all of them. This means that it’s important to begin using all of our muscles again, just as we did when we were little children.
While there can be other causes for carpal tunnel symptoms (and we will talk about them at other times) muscles and soft tissues are most often the number one cause.
And that’s good news, because we can work on that together.
You might like to check linktr.ee/KathrynMerrow for lots more helpful information. There are programs, articles and videos that I created just for you. (Because you really DO have genius in you even if you have carpal tunnel symptoms right now!)
And please email me, Kathryn Merrow at SimplePainRelief dot com, if you have questions about anything I have included in this report. I look forward to working with you to help you become pain-free.
“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”