Carpel Tunnel Syndrome: Exercises to help.

Even had pins and needled that leads to numbness? Annoying isn’t it. Well it’s even worse when it’s recurring and affects your fingers and thumbs. Carpel Tunnel Syndrome is a condition caused by compression of the media nerve in the wrist, this nerve controls sensation and movement in the hand. It can occur in pregnancy and post-natally.

Symptoms include tingling, pins and needles and numbness in the thumb, index finger, middle finger and ring finger. You may also get a dull ache in the wrist and thumb or grip weakness. The pins and needles is generally there at a low level all of the time but gets worse at night and when applying pressure throught the wrist, flexing it and at night.

The median nerve starts in the mid-side of your neck, travels down your arm, through the front of the elbow and into the wrist. The carpel tunnel is in the wrist, it is made up of 8 bones and a sheath that forms a tunnel over the top that the median nerve runs through.

I developed Carpel Tunnel Syndrome at around 4 months after the birth of baby 2. I think it was from holding the babies head in feeding as I had to feed on the go a lot, chasing a toddler.

For some people the symptoms will disappear after a time, for others steroid injections or even surgery are needed. Sounds pretty horrible doesn’t it. There are however some things that you can do to help.

1. Wear a splint and rest the wrist when possible.

2. Get a massage to release tension in the neck and shoulders.

3. Get a soft small ball or stress ball and gently squeeze and release it.

4. Hold your arm straight out to the side, flex the wrist so fingers point towards the floor. Now tilt the head away from that arm so your ear comes towards your other shoulder and hold.

5. Hold your arm in front of you and make a fist for 5 seconds. Next straight out the fingers and hold the hand out straight for 5 seconds. Make a duck’s beak shape with your thumb underneath for 5 seconds. Turn the hand over so palm is facing up and use your other hand to grap your thumb, pull down for 5 seconds.

6. Fold a towel and drape over your shoulder, apply pressure by pulling on the ends of the towel with the other hand. Now tilt the head away from the towel towards the opposite shoulder to get a good neck stretch.