Carpal tunnel syndrome is a disorder that causes tingling pain in your hand due to the development of pressure on the wrist. Carpel tunnel is the name of portion that runs from forearm to your hand. There will be enough pressure created on the median nerve due to underlying medical conditions like hypothyroidism or due to inflammation. This area (carpel tunnel) is responsible for controlling movements and creating feeling in your thumb and three other fingers of your hand.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Causes :
The major cause of carpal tunnel syndrome is the pressure accumulated on the median nerve. Pressure can be caused due to many reasons like swelling, wrist injuries and obesity. Medical conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, hypothyroidism and diabetes can cause swelling on the wrist. Obese people and pregnant women are more inclined to develop this disorder. Making wrong movements with the wrist repeatedly, bone spurs can also cause fluid accumulation on the median nerve of the carpel.
Carpel is the narrow path which is about the size of your thumb found on the palm side of your hand. There are one main nerve and nine tendons that are responsible for bending the fingers. When this main nerve is pinched it can cause numbness and weakness eventually. Anything that irritates and compresses the carpel tunnel nerve can cause this tingling pain on the hand.
Formation of tumors and ganglion on the wrist can cause pressure on the carpel tunnel. Due to continuous usage there can be wear and tear of the tissues of the wrist which can be caused due to old age. Prolonged smoking habit can obstruct the normal blood flow causing carpal tunnel syndrome. It can occur as a workplace injury for many people whose job is to use their hands at the maximum for work. Finally there can be no apparent cause for this syndrome and combination of many factors can be a problem.
Symptoms :
Tingling sensation in your hands more particularly on your fingers (thumb and index fingers) are felt. You can feel this when you are holding your fingers for long like reading a newspaper or driving a car etc. There will be numbness in these fingers for some time which you can reduce it by shaking your fingers for a while.
There can be pain radiating towards your arm from the wrist area. Most of the symptoms like weakness, tingling sensation and numbness are felt only on middle finger, index finger and thumb and not on other two fingers, since these fingers are controlled by median nerve on the palm. Due to progressive weakness you may drop some objects while holding it for long.
Who are at risk?
Individuals with anatomic factors like dislocation of bones, wrist fracture etc is prone to develop carpal tunnel syndrome. This disorder is more common in women than men. People with chronic illness like diabetes or arthritis are under the risk of having nerve damage that leads to carpal tunnel syndrome. Certain infectious diseases can cause this problem.