Can Carpal Tunnel Go Away Without Treatment?

Dr. Christopher Williams | 11/17/2020

If you’re like most people, you probably try to avoid surgery as much as possible unless it is absolutely necessary. Of course, surgery is unavoidable in certain cases and can be a highly beneficial or even life-saving step for many patients. When it comes to carpal tunnel syndrome, which affects hundreds of thousands of men and women each year, the decision on whether to undergo surgery can be difficult. Many patients wonder if their carpal tunnel can resolve on its own or with conservative, at-home remedies. Orthopedic expert Dr. Christopher Williams and the knowledgeable team at Interventional Orthopedics of Atlanta fully understand the desire to avoid surgery as a first step and are proud to offer a number of nonsurgical alternatives to help alleviate carpal tunnel symptoms when possible. Learn more about carpal tunnel treatment methods here, and find out when surgery may ultimately be your best option.

What is carpal tunnel syndrome?

Carpal tunnel is a frustrating and often painful condition that affects the wrists, hands, and fingers and is technically caused by heightened pressure on the median nerve, which runs through a channel called the carpal tunnel. When this channel narrows or becomes constricted, the median nerve is often pinched or damaged, resulting in a number of uncomfortable symptoms. Common carpal tunnel symptoms include numbness, tingling, or pain in the wrist, thumb, and first three fingers. These symptoms typically develop gradually over time and are often worse at night.

What causes carpal tunnel syndrome?

The narrowing of the carpal tunnel and resulting pressure placed on the median nerve may be due to one or more of the following conditions and/or behaviors:

• Pregnancy
• Diabetes
• Trauma or injury
• Fluid retention
• Obesity
• Repetitive motion of the hands and wrists (cutting, sewing, typing, playing guitar, etc. )
• Arthritis
• Inflammatory illness

Can carpal tunnel go away on its own?

Once carpal tunnel pain becomes apparent, it is unlikely to resolve on its own without taking any action. However, this does not necessarily mean surgery is the only option at Interventional Orthopedics of Atlanta. In early or mild cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, Dr. Williams often recommends conservative treatments first, including physical therapy, splints, stretching, and behavioral modification. While Dr. Williams fully understands the desire to avoid more invasive treatments, it is important for patients to understand that when left untreated, carpal tunnel syndrome can become worse and lead to permanent nerve damage and other complications. If carpal tunnel symptoms persist for more than two weeks despite rest, icing, NSAIDs, behavioral modification, and other conservative methods, Dr. Williams may recommend another treatment method, such as:

• Steroid injection
• Prolotherapy
• Regenexx® cellular therapy
• Minimally Invasive Carpal Tunel Release
• Surgery

How can I prevent carpal tunnel syndrome?

Understanding your risk factors for carpal tunnel syndrome can help you reduce your chances of developing the condition, though it may be unavoidable in some cases. Atlanta, GA patients should be aware of their wrist and hand position throughout the day and attempt to keep the wrists as straight as possible. When typing, the use of a wrist pad is recommended to keep the hands and wrist parallel. It is important to avoid a position where the hands are elevated above the wrists, as this bending can increase the pressure on the carpal tunnel and ultimately affect the median nerve.

Get fast, reliable, long-lasting relief from carpal tunnel syndrome in Atlanta, GA

If you suspect that you may have carpal tunnel syndrome, it is important to seek professional diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible to avoid worsening symptoms and potentially permanent nerve damage. Don’t suffer from carpal tunnel pain that prevents you from doing the things you love any longer. Call the exceptional team at Interventional Orthopedics of Atlanta to schedule your private consultation with Dr. Christopher Williams today, and learn how you may be able to get relief from carpal tunnel syndromes without the need for surgery.

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – familydoctor.org

What is carpal tunnel syndrome?

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful disorder of the wrist and hand. The carpal tunnel is a narrow tunnel formed by the bones and other tissues of your wrist. This tunnel protects your median nerve. The median nerve helps you move your thumbs and the first 3 fingers on each hand.

Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when other tissues in the carpal tunnel (such as ligaments and tendons) get swollen or inflamed. When they do, they press against the median nerve. That pressure can make part of your hand hurt or feel numb.

Carpal tunnel syndrome usually isn’t serious. With treatment, the pain will typically go away and you’ll have no lasting damage to your hand or wrist.

What are the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome?

The symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include the following:

• Numbness or tingling in your hand and fingers, especially the thumb, index, and middle fingers.
• Pain in your wrist, palm, or forearm. You may shake or rub your hand to get relief.
• More numbness or pain at night than during the day. It may be so bad that it wakes you up.
• Pain that increases when you use your hand or wrist more.
• Trouble gripping objects, such as a doorknob or the steering wheel of a car.
• Weakness in your thumb.

What causes carpal tunnel syndrome?

Doing the same hand movements over and over can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s most common in people whose jobs require pinching or gripping with the wrist held bent. People at risk include people who use computers, carpenters, grocery checkers, assembly-line workers, meat packers, musicians, and mechanics. Hobbies such as gardening, needlework, golfing, and canoeing can sometimes bring on the symptoms.

Women are more likely to develop carpal tunnel syndrome than men. It also tends to be hereditary. This means it runs in families.

Carpal tunnel syndrome may also be caused by an injury to the wrist, such as a fracture. Or it may be caused by a disease such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or thyroid disease. Carpal tunnel syndrome is also common during the last few months of pregnancy.

How is carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosed?

Your doctor will probably ask you about your symptoms. He or she may examine you and ask you how you use your hands. Your doctor may also do these tests:

• Your doctor may tap the inside of your wrist. You may feel pain or a sensation that feels like an electric shock.
• Your doctor may ask you to bend your wrist down for 1 minute to see if this causes symptoms.

Your doctor may order a nerve conduction test or an electromyography (EMG) test. They use these tests to see whether the nerves and muscles in your arm and hand show the typical effects of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Can carpal tunnel syndrome be prevented or avoided?

You can take steps to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. The following actions may help to prevent it:

• Lose weight if you’re overweight.
• Get treatment for any disease you have that may cause carpal tunnel syndrome.
• If you do the same tasks over and over with your hands, try not to bend, extend, or twist your hands for long periods of time.
• Don’t work with your arms too close or too far from your body.
• Don’t rest your wrists on hard surfaces for long periods of time.
• Switch hands during work tasks.
• Make sure the tools you use aren’t too big for your hands.
• Take regular breaks from repeated hand movements to give your hands and wrists time to rest.
• If you use a keyboard a lot, adjust the height of your chair so that your forearms are level with your keyboard, and you don’t have to flex your wrists to type.

Many products you can buy, such as wrist rests for a computer keyboard, are supposed to ease symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. No one has proven that these products really prevent wrist problems. Some people may have less pain and numbness after using these products, but other people may have increased pain and numbness.

Carpal tunnel syndrome treatment

If carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by a medical problem (such as rheumatoid arthritis), your doctor should treat that problem first. Your doctor may ask you to rest your wrist or change how you use your hand. He or she may also ask you to wear a splint on your wrist. The splint keeps your wrist from moving but lets your hand do most of what it normally does. A splint can help ease the pain of carpal tunnel syndrome, especially at night.

Putting ice on your wrist to reduce swelling, massaging the area, and doing stretching exercises may also help. An over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) can relieve swelling and pain. These medicines include aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), and naproxen (Aleve). In more severe cases, your doctor might inject your wrist with a corticosteroid, which reduces inflammation and pain.

What if these treatments don’t help?

In some cases, surgery is needed to make the symptoms go away completely. The surgery involves cutting the ligament that may be pressing on your median nerve. You’ll usually get back the normal use of your wrist and hand within a few weeks to a few months after surgery.

Doing the hand, wrist, and finger exercises that your doctor tells you to do after surgery is very important. Without exercise, your wrist may get stiff, and you may lose some use of your hand.

Living with carpal tunnel syndrome

You may decide against having surgery for your carpal tunnel syndrome. If so, here are some things that may help relieve your symptoms.

• Prop up your arm with pillows when you lie down.
• Avoid overusing the affected hand.
• Find a new way to use your hand by using a different tool.
• Try to use the unaffected hand more often.
• Avoid holding your wrists in a downward bent position for long periods of time.

Questions to ask your doctor

• How do you know that carpal tunnel syndrome is causing my symptoms?
• What can I do to relieve my pain?
• Are there any special exercises I can do to strengthen my hand and wrist?
• What is the best treatment option? Will I need surgery?
• How long will it take to recover?
• Is it likely that I’ll experience this problem again, either in this hand/arm or in my other hand/arm?

Resources

National Institutes of Health: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome (carpal tunnel syndrome)

Carpal tunnel syndrome – carpal tunnel syndrome

servicesHand surgery Carpal tunnel syndrome – tunnel syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a neurological disease in which tissues in the carpal tunnel of the wrist become swollen and compressed yut median nerve. The carpal tunnel is a narrow tunnel through which the median nerve and tendons of the fingers pass in the hand.

Over the course of life, the tendons and ligaments in the wrist thicken and the nerve may be gradually compressed. The problem is more often faced by people whose work is associated with heavy loads on their hands. Tunnel syndrome occurs 4 times more often in women than in men.

Symptoms of the disease: progressive tingling and pain in the hands, especially at night, and swelling, accompanied by numbness of the fingers in the morning. Most often, the leading hand gets sick first.

Ignoring symptoms may result in impaired movement, weakness in the arms and inability to pick up and hold small objects. In such cases, surgery is necessary.

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If you have carpal syndrome…

If your hands are numb and swollen during the day and hurt at night, this is most likely carpal tunnel syndrome. This is one of the most common occupational diseases affecting people who do daily work with their hands.

How does carpal tunnel syndrome occur?

When passing through natural body constrictions or tunnels, nerves can be pinched as a result of various pathological processes, which significantly impairs the function of the hand. The most common symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome: pain in the hands, burning, numbness of the hands and fingers (especially at night). The carpal canal (tunnel) is located at the base of the palm, through which the flexor tendons and the median nerve pass. It provides sensitivity for the thumb, index, middle and ring fingers.

What can cause carpal syndrome?

The most common causes of carpal tunnel syndrome are:

• diseases,
• injuries,
• overload,
• long monotonous movements.

There is a feeling of numbness of the fingers, pain and dysfunction of the palms due to muscle wear. Carpal tunnel syndrome is more common in women with diabetes and in people with an underactive thyroid. Often, in patients with complaints about the carpal canal, damage is also found in other canals, up to the roots of the spinal cord

Carpal tunnel – treatment

Anti-inflammatory drugs, splints, and median nerve stretching may help initially with carpal syndrome. Steroids can also be injected into the carpal canal.

If all of the above treatments fail, then surgery is required. An endoscopic or conventional operation can be performed.

During the operation, a small incision is made at the base of the hand under direct visual control. The second option: separation of the ligament by endoscopic method to reduce pressure in the carpal tunnel.

Conventional operations are currently preferred in the world.

The average duration of the operation is half an hour. The operation is performed under local or general anesthesia. Treatment takes place on an outpatient basis.

Local discomfort and pain are felt after the operation, which are well controlled by painkillers. The wound heals on average within 2 weeks. The patient needs to be dressed 2-3 times a week. After two weeks, the sutures on the skin are removed. Ergotherapy and the development of finger and palm movements are also required in the postoperative period.

As a result, pain at night is significantly reduced or disappears altogether. However, the outcome of the operation depends on how long the nerve has been pinched. If there is pain and numbness in the fingers that does not go away within a few days, it is important to see a doctor in a timely manner. Disability lasts an average of 6-8 weeks.

How the operation is carried out

Duration of the operation

on average 0.5 hours.

Anesthesia

local or general.

Outpatient treatment

.

Post-surgery

Recovery

Post-surgery local discomfort and pain are felt, which are well controlled by painkillers. The wound heals on average within 2 weeks. The patient needs to be dressed 2-3 times a week. After two weeks, the sutures on the skin are removed. Ergotherapy and the development of finger and palm movements are also required in the postoperative period.

Result

Pain at night is significantly reduced or disappears altogether. However, the results of the operation depend on how long the nerve has been pinched. If there is pain and numbness in the fingers that does not go away within a few days, it is important to see a doctor in a timely manner. Disability lasts an average of 6-8 weeks.

Specialists

FAQ

Can carpal tunnel syndrome be cured without surgery?

Studies show that in 50% of patients with primary carpal tunnel syndrome, complaints stop within a year and do not recur throughout life. The prognosis is worse when only one hand tingles, there are other diseases, for example, like diabetes mellitus or thyroid disease. In cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, physiotherapy, overnight use of a palm brace, and steroid injections may help.

Is injection (blockade) of steroids harmful?

A single injection of steroids does not cause the side effects of steroids, but can significantly reduce or eliminate pain and tingling in the fingers. However, repeated injections into the carpal tunnel should be avoided. In diabetic patients, the injection may cause a temporary increase in glucose levels.

Will the numbness of the fingers disappear after the operation?

If the nerve does not have axonal damage or compressed nerve fibers due to prolonged pressure, then the numbness disappears and almost never recovers. If the numbness remains constant before the operation, the palm muscles are worn out, it may take more than a year for the sensation to recover. It depends on the ingrowth of scar tissue at the site of damaged fibers. Therefore, it is advisable to perform the operation before the numbness of the fingers becomes persistent.

How long will I be unable to work after carpal tunnel surgery?

Already from the next day you need to start developing movements in your fingers, after 2-3 days you can start doing small work with the operated hand – help fasten buttons, hold a spoon, a fork.