Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - How Do I know If I Have It?

Hi Dr. Ryan Hetland here. Welcome to today's 3-minute chiropractic seminar.

I want to talk to you about the topic of carpal tunnel, a very common condition that a lot of people suffer with and it's right here in the wrist of the hand where people will feel like they have pain.

And it could be coming from multiple sources. I want to kind of dig in here and show you a little bit about it. I think the best way to explain it is that, obviously, with carpal tunnel, there's a tunnel that the ligaments of the forearm are trying to go through and they go to attach to all your fingers. I got a picture right here where you can kind of see the white here right here--see if I can get a picture of it.

The white strands right here is where the tendons go through this sheath and tunnel. And, basically, what happens is if they get inflamed, for example, there's not any more space for those tendons to go and so it starts to pinch and compress and give you pain in the hands, give you numbness, tingling.

People can get a feel of weakness in their hand and it's usually these four fingers here, but sometimes the thumb, but a lot of times it's that. That's the anatomy of it.

Now, people who'd use their hands a lot--construction workers, people who type a lot--that can obviously cause irritation on the wrist as it's bent back. Over the age of 50, it's more common to have irritation in the hands like that, so age is a factor.

But general health issues as well, low thyroid, diabetes, things of that nature. One of the most common things that I see in my office is pinched neck. So then, there are nerves in the neck getting pinched, so oftentimes, what people think is carpal tunnel-like symptoms is the neck getting pinched and going into the shoulder. Sometimes it skips the shoulder and it goes right down into the hands and just gives you wrist pain and they think it's just from the keyboard, but it's not necessarily true in a lot of these cases because when I start fixing the neck, the carpal tunnel goes away.

So, something to consider as well, obviously if you have a trauma where you fall on an outstretched hand, that can lead to carpal tunnel-like symptoms real quick. But just something to look into, I'll have a link at the bottom of this so you can read a little bit more about it, but just definitely check out chiropractic for carpal tunnel symptoms for either the neck, into the wrist. They can evaluate the fingers, the shoulder, the elbows. They'll just go up the chain and it's a non-surgical solution for carpal tunnel syndrome.

I hope that helps you. If you have any questions, feel free to message me. Comment below and subscribe to the YouTube link and see you back here tomorrow.