Have you noticed yourself losing grip of things you’re holding—after feeling a numbing and tingling sensation in your hands? This may have already happened to you at any point in your life but if this occurrence is starting to become a trend, it may not just be a mere coincidence. It might be indicative of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a problem of the median nerve located in the wrist and the hands. This certain string of nerve innervates the thumb as well as the index, middle and ring fingers. When carpal tunnel syndrome occurs, a person will most likely complain of sharp pain, numbness and weakness of the affected hands. Many times, one will feel like strength deprived in terms of grasp and ability to hold on to things—and this will usually lead to dropping things from your grip.

Working in front of the computer will usually give you the caution not to stare at the screen for long periods of time, and look away at a frequent interval to avoid eye strains. However, eye strain is not the only common condition that you may develop with prolonged computer usage—sadly, carpal tunnel syndrome is one of them. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Causes But don’t get too focused on the idea that carpal tunnel syndrome only occurs in people who use the computers, it can also happen to other jobs which make use of their wrists and hands in a repetitive and flexed position. The correlation that carpal tunnel syndrome relates with overuse of the computer, more specifically in handling the mouse just flourished at the time when computer has become an essential part in almost all types of workforce. Similarly, carpal tunnel syndrome may occur in people with the following diseases: -          Wrist fractures; -          Nerve damages; -          Body fluid alterations; and -          Inflammatory Diseases and Conditions. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Causes If you ask persons diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, they will most definitely complain of these common signs and symptoms: -          Numbness and pain in the wrist and fingers; -          Feeling of weakness in the fingers; -          Inability to grasp things firmly; and -          Frequent dropping of objects. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Surgery Many, if not almost all cases of carpal tunnel syndrome are referred for Physical Therapy and Rehab. While these procedures will help lessen the signs and symptoms, these are not assurances that CTS will be completely healed. Carpal tunnel syndrome surgery is another form of remedy for this condition and can yield more effective results. Here is some basic information about the carpal tunnel syndrome surgery: -          There are basically two forms of carpal tunnel syndrome surgery. The first type makes use of the “Open Surgery” method while the other makes use of the “Endoscopic Method”. -          In the Open Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Surgery, an incision is made at the base of the wrist in order to reveal the carpal ligament. This ligament is then cut off in order to release the median nerve and relieve the pressure therein. In the endoscopic procedure, a small incision is made in the wrist and an instrument containing a fiberoptic camera will be inserted. The ligament will be cut off by the aid of the camera viewed through a screen. -          After the release of the median nerve, it is expected that the pressure inside the carpal tunnel is also relieved, thus, it should lessen if not, completely heal carpal tunnel syndrome. -          For the Open Surgery, it will take around 2 weeks or more to completely recover and regain the strength of your hands. While waiting for recovery, performing exercises are very important. For the endoscopic procedure, definitely, the healing time of the wound will be faster but more or less, regaining the functions of the hands will take the same period as in Open Surgery.

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Suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome is very inconvenient. People make use of their hands for most of the day’s work—be it inside the house doing household chores, at work, at school, etc. Needless to say, the functions of our hands are indispensable and irreplaceable. We cannot avoid, however, suffering from conditions related to our hands since, as we can all admit, hands are much overused, if not abused.

One of the conditions which may affect our hands is what’s popularly known as “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome”. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or CTS is a neurologic disorder of the hands due to the damage or irritation of the median nerve—the nerve that runs through the length of the wrist, hands and fingers. This nerve supplies sensation and strength to most of the fingers.

Working at an office desk, facing a computer and eyes all strained to the screen may sound ideal to many because of the comforts that are associated with an office job but mind you—working in front of a computer from nine to five is not all comfortable… in fact, there are also conditions which you may develop from this routine.

You may have already heard about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and got the idea that this happens on the hands or wrists of a person, but most of what people know about CTS is superficial. Here is a deeper discussion about CTS and how it happens, as well as the carpal tunnel syndrome exercises that may be done to prevent and resolve this condition.