Treat Your Carpal Tunnel syndrome Symptoms Without Surgery
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition which can cause pain, weakness and numbness in the wrists, hands and arms – in severe cases, these symptoms can be debilitating. Most cases of carpal tunnel syndrome are caused by repetitive motion injury in the course of work or other habitual activities.
We’re a society where “playing through the pain” is seen as a virtue and as a result we soldier on even when our work causes pain and weakness in our wrists, hands and arms.
The Posture Exercise Starts it All
What exactly causes carpal tunnel syndrome and how? Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by the median nerve in the hands and/or wrists becoming compressed or even damaged through repetitive motion.
This is probably the best one of these carpal tunnel exercises to start out with because you’re stretching everything. Your back, neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands, and fingers will all feel the stretch. Continue to do this until you feel ready to start your workday. We recommend starting out with 5-10 reps your first time out and then go from there.
The Full Body Stretch
Following sound ergonomics can go a long way towards preventing carpal tunnel syndrome. If your workplace has someone who is either responsible for or an expert in ergonomics, ask for their advice to see what you could be doing to protect yourself from carpal tunnel.
It’s important to understand that these are not quick motions. You may even want to hold each side for at least five seconds before moving to the next. We’ll leave this up to you, but the more you hold a position, the more it allows the body to stretch properly. When you’re finished and take a shower before work, these carpal tunnel exercises will make you feel much better.
Even after surgery you’ll need to do some physical therapy; using the same stretches and other exercises which you could start doing now to provide relief (and if begun early enough, can even prevent carpal tunnel syndrome).
Okay, so you’ve read about all the different carpal tunnel exercises out there. Now it’s time to put them into action. The more you read, the less likely you are to start healing or preventing carpal tunnel. So get up, start off with one of the exercises we talked about above, and get your body working the way you need it to in order to make it throughout the day.