Carpal Tunnel Chiropractic Therapy Olathe
Your coffee mug shatters to pieces spraying coffee on your skirt, the floor and even up the walls. You could have sworn you had a good grip on it. This has been happening much more often, lately. Your weakening hand grip, coupled with the pain in your wrist, are making you wonder about chiropractic therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome.
But before you jump to conclusions, lets take a look at the facts.
What is Carpal Tunnel?
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a problem with the median nerve. This nerve runs from the forearm down the hand and wrist. The carpal tunnel is a narrow tunnel in the wrist. It’s comprised of bones, nerves, tendons, ligaments and blood vessels. In a healthy hand and wrist, the median nerve runs through the carpal tunnel and provides nerve sensation for the hand and fingers. However, when the median nerve becomes compressed in the carpal tunnel, you may experience weakness or pain in your hand, fingers and wrist.
Early Warning Signs
Early diagnosis and chiropractic therapy is one of the best ways to avoid surgery. Look for these early warning signs:
You Keep Dropping that Bag of Groceries – You’re dropping your garden tools, your car keys, or that bag of groceries. You just seem to be more clumsy than usual. Hand clumsiness and loss of control of your hands and fingers is one of the first possible signs of carpel tunnel syndrome. When you hand grip weakens it makes it harder to form a fist, open a jar or even pick up items that require the use of fine finger motor skills.
You Feel Like Someone’s Poking You with Pins and Needles – Tingling in any of the areas of your hand and fingers is also a possible sign of carpal tunnel. When tissues become inflamed in the wrist, they can irritate the median nerve. This causes the nerve to send out impulses that can create a tingling sensation.
You Can’t Feel Anything at All – Sometimes not feeling anything is more scary than the feeling of pain. Irritation to the median nerve can also cause numbness in the palm of the hand and into the fingers.
You Keep Scratching the Itch but Nothing’s There – An irritated median nerve can create the sensation of an itch or a burning feeling. The most common places carpal tunnel patients feel this are the palms, the thumb, the index finger, and the middle finger.
You Can’t Sleep – Most people sleep with their wrists slightly flexed, so you might notice tingling or burning when you’re trying to fall asleep or when you first wake up in the morning.
Your Signature Doesn’t Look Anything Like it Used To – Is your signature beginning to look like a “doctor’s signature?” Loss of strength in the fingers becomes apparent when you’re trying to write that grocery list or sign your name on a check. As your finger grip becomes weaker, you may find it hard to open that jar of peanut butter or even brush your hair.
You Can’t Feel the Temperature of Your Bath Water – An angry median nerve can do some pretty crazy things. One of them is a loss of temperature sensation. Some carpal tunnel syndrome patients can’t distinguish between hot and cold. If this is happening to you, it might be a good idea to have your spouse feel that bath water before you hop in!
Early Treatment Could Mean Prevention
Early detection and treatment could mean the difference between complete recovery through therapy and surgery.
Diagnosis includes an initial physical examination, testing and X-rays of the hands, shoulders and neck. This can help your doctor determine if your symptoms are caused by common physical activities or a more specific problem.
Carpal Tunnel Treatment Through Chiropractic Therapy
Our Olathe|Overland Park chiropractors begin with a conservative carpal tunnel chiropractic therapy before moving to anything more invasive. In our experience, we have found that many of the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome can be reversed and even eliminated. Our goal is to aid the body in healing itself in the most conservative approach possible.
Our conservative chiropractic therapy includes:
- Resting the affected areas
- Refraining from engaging in activities that may cause symptoms to worsen
- Using a splint to prevent bending and twisting
- Applying cold packs to reduce the swelling
- Performing chiropractic adjustments on the wrist and hand (Misalignment in the spine can contribute to carpel tunnel symptoms.)
- Stretching the hand and wrist joints to keep them mobile
If you think you may have the initial symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, it’s best to obtain a thorough exam to determine the cause of your symptoms before beginning a treatment program.
Our Olathe and Overland Park chiropractors specialize in chiropractic therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome. Open 7 days a week, they offer chiropractic treatment when their Kansas City patients need it most. To schedule your initial appointment, contact their Olathe chiropractic clinic at 913-764-6237 or schedule an appointment online.
Mention this post to our staff when making your appointment to receive a free initial consultation and exam to see if chiropractic therapy can help with your specific condition.