Good morning, I've been diagnosed with carpal tunnel in my wrist and have read up quite a bit about this but would greatly appreciate advice. I started a course of acupuncture in order to avoid operation but am not convinced it is doing any good. Can anyone advise me on the above ? Can acupuncture get rid of carpal tunnel or am I wasting my time ? Thank you for any comments or help on this one. Daniella
do you actually mean acupuncture? my understand is that there are two operations possible. a sort of key hole surgery with needles (not what i would understand to be the meaning of acupuncture) and full on open up the wrist and move stuff around. the first is far less invasive but doesn't always work.
or do some people really try to manipulate the nerves by jabbing in needles to other parts of the body? the problem is purely physical - not enough space. its not a problem with the nervous system.
Endoscopic surgery in English, and that's what I had. Was riding my motorcycle a week after surgery, with no visible scars (small 1cm cuts on inside wrist and palm).
i was plagued for years with carpal tunnel syndrome (I played a lot of competitive tennis). I tried everything at the time: splints, acupuncture you name it to no avail.
Then, I was involved in a car accident where - literally - a "flying" UK ambulance hit the side of my car while I was parked at a red light in London. I was unscathed at first but very shaken up. A few days later my neck was sore and stiff and I was referred to a osteopathic chiropractor who practiced on Harley Street. He made me fill out a questionnaire where I noted that I suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome. He told me not only would he fix my stiff neck but he would remedy the carpal tunnel (CT) syndrome as well.
3 treatments later...my neck was much better but even more amazing -no more CT issues. Whatever manipulation on my neck and spine he performed, eliminated the CT as well. He told me that most CT issues originate from the shoulder/neck and if one resolves that issue, surgery is not necessary.
20 years later and still no issues with CT and, to think were it not for that fluke accident, I was THAT close to getting surgery!
Operation is the way to go. (CTS tends to run in families by the way.)
Much less risky now than 20 years ago with almost minimal scarring. One family member had one hand done with 12cm opening to access nerve sheath, left long scar which surgeon aligned with fold in palm wrist. Not bad. Other hand done 10 years later, maybe 2cm scar, almost non-existent. Both hands immediately better, could have saved years of discomfort and weakness. Good luck!
I did left hand on 10 April 2018, right hand on 25 May 2018. Very happy fingers were better even the operating theatre on the left hand. The heel of both hands is still slightly sensitive but reducing each month.
I would definitely do it again, I started a thread last year where there is a lot of discussion.
Sincere thanks for all your replies - given me food for thought. I like the idea of osteo/chiro and will certainly look into it. I genuinely feel that the hand is getting worse and it's bad timing for an operation but when is it ever a good time ?? Really appreciate your comments, thank you, Daniella
My mother had the open Carpal tunnel surgery to very good effect. The surgeon said that the nerve had taken on a hourglass shape from the pressure. I myself have had trouble with Cubital tunnel, a very similar syndrome, but managed to avoid surgery so far.
Classic nerve impingement RSI is a cycle in which the nerve is irritated from some repetitive motion or stress position, which creates swelling, which squeezes and irritates the nerve and creates scar tissue, which creates more swelling, etc.
So, on one hand, if you can break the cycle early enough and for long enough it might heal - I'm a fan of ibuprofen and rest and bracing/posture adjustments. On the other hand, nothing but surgery was going to give my mother's nerve the space to really heal as the physical changes were too far along, and every year she delayed was, in retrospect, just another year of hand pain, with a slowly increasing chance of permanent nerve damage.
I had carpal tunnel AND tennis elbow for over a year. Went to a specialist in Seefeld who injected some cortisone, which helped for a while. Also went to a physio who does dry needling, that helped too. Took up yoga - helped even more. Started using a fascia roller - symptoms are almost completely gone. It was a lot of work, but I really did not like the idea of an operation, which one doctor told me may not even do what I want it to.
Not sure of this is still a running question, but as an ex massage therapist, I would want to agoid aby operation for as long as I could. I’ve fixed a decent amount of carpal tunnels so far and I know it’s doable with “simple” massage. There’s a problem when you get CTS, and there’s a reason for that. An operation might take away the symptoms, but probably not the source of the problem.
As a caveat, I think much depends on the severity of the symptoms. It is one thing to have tingling/numbness intermittently (mine occurred for the most part at night - how annoying!) but another to have it occur constantly or have persistent numbness.
Perhaps my CTS was caught in the moderate stage and whatever that Harley Street Osteopath did to my spine/back alleviated the symptoms. As for others? All I can say is that if my numbness/tingling was persistent and 24 hours, then I would have resorted to an operation.
I think many present differently which is why one needs to flexible in their approach. Each person's pain threshold varies as do the symptoms. My advice is to be conservative at first but when all else fails, get the op. Life is too short
Many thanks for your input - I would be very interested in learning about what type of massage or chiro/osteo treatments I can do to alleviate this problem. It's with me 24/24 and really getting to me. Doing acupuncture for the last 6 weeks, to no avail whatsoever. I have been told to do Japanese massage and other types of massage and am now in a state of confusion ! All your advice is greatly appreciated and thank you again, Daniella.