Carpal tunnel syndrome causes numbness, tingling and other symptoms that can make it hard to perform everyday tasks. Whether you experience mild or more severe symptoms, it’s important to find relief for your own comfort and to lower the risk of complications, such as nerve damage. The following carpal tunnel treatments might help, but keep in mind that you should see a doctor if your symptoms get worse or do not go away.
Lifestyle Changes
As you go about your day, you can help ease carpal tunnel symptoms in a few ways. Make sure you take breaks more often, so you can rest your hands, especially if you spend a lot of time typing or doing other repetitive activities. You should also avoid doing any activities that seem to increase tingling, numbness or other symptoms. From time to time throughout the day, try rotating your wrists and stretching your fingers to help ease carpal tunnel symptoms. These lifestyle changes can offer relief from mild symptoms, but they might not be enough for persistent or more severe symptoms.
Non-Surgical Treatment
Non-surgical treatment for carpal tunnel might provide relief if you have milder symptoms, especially if you’ve had them for 10 months or less. These options include taking over-the-counter pain medication to ease discomfort on a temporary basis and putting cold packs on the affected hand to relieve swelling. You might also benefit from wearing a wrist splint at night while you’re asleep. This wrist splint can help ease both nighttime and daytime carpal tunnel symptoms. Just make sure the splint isn’t overly tight.
If you still need relief from your symptoms, you can discuss corticosteroid injections with your doctor. These cortisone injections might offer more effective relief from carpal tunnel symptoms, since they reduce inflammation that affects the median nerve in your hand.
Surgical Treatment
When lifestyle changes and non-surgical treatments aren’t effective enough, you can discuss surgical options with an orthopedic surgeon. Surgical treatment for carpal tunnel involves cutting a ligament in order to ease pressure on the median nerve. Different kinds of surgical treatments are available for carpal tunnel, including open surgery and endoscopic surgery. Open surgery involves making a larger incision in your palm in order to reach the ligament. Endoscopic surgery involves making one or two smaller incisions and using tiny surgical instruments and a camera.
Surgery for carpal tunnel might provide relief when your symptoms persist or become severe. You should go over the potential risks of different surgical treatment options with your orthopedic surgeon, such as infections or nerve injuries. Keep in mind that it might take weeks or months to experience full relief from your symptoms.
Contact Us for Carpal Tunnel Treatment
If you’re looking for relief from carpal tunnel symptoms, please contact Huntington Orthopedics. Our orthopedic team can provide you with effective treatment to help ease these symptoms.