CAUSES OF WRIST PAIN
We all use phones, tablets and type on keyboards way too much. It puts our hands and wrists in contorted positions for hours at a time, every day. Many of us have done this and continue to do it for years. Eventually it can lead to wrist, hand and arm pain. So, how to do we combat this condition and get you carpal tunnel relief quickly and safely?
And, as you will see, any time you start messing around with the way the body naturally works, it will lead to chronic pain or injury. The key is to rehabilitate the area and then protect it, naturally and safely.
When it comes to the wrist and hand, it’s important to understand why it’s called carpal tunnel… Take a look at the image below. Do you see how the median nerve runs right through the wrist (where the transverse carpal ligament is located)? That ligament kind of looks like a tunnel, hence “carpal tunnel syndrome”.
If the median nerve that run through the carpal tunnel gets squeezed or compressed, it will lead to wrist pain and potentially numbness or tingling in the hand and arm.
Now, you can’t just ignore carpal tunnel. If you have wrist pain, it will NOT get better by itself. And, in fact, it usually gets worse over time. Eventually, carpal tunnel can lead to nerve damage and symptoms can get significantly worse. Eventually, you may even need surgery to take pressure off the median nerve.
But, before it gets to that point, you can reverse carpal tunnel and get relief fairly quickly if you follow the right steps.
So, let’s take a closer look at how that median nerve gets compressed and what you can do to take the pressure off to relieve that wrist pain quickly and safely.
CARPAL TUNNEL RELIEF
It doesn’t matter if it’s the sciatic nerve in your low back or the median nerve in your wrist, compression leads to pain. And compression happens when your joints get overused in unnatural ways. With the sciatic nerve, it’s usually too much sitting for long periods of time. As the muscles in your hips and low back get tighter and weaker, it leads to postural distortions that squeeze the vertebrae in the low back together, compressing the nerves.
It’s the same thing in the wrist…
If you let your hands get into contorted positions for hours a day, while holding a phone, typing on a keyboard or using a mouse or tablet, eventually the wrist will start to mold into an unnatural position. This will eventually compress the median nerve as it runs through the carpal tunnel of the wrist.
It makes sense, but how can we reverse it to get you some relief?
Well, first we have to start creating space in the wrist joint… Remember, it is the compression of the nerve and closing off of space that is causing the pain. So, we need to do the opposite. That means rehab.
Rehab is the process of improving strength, stability and healthy range of motion in a specific area of the body. The main idea is to get that area back to a natural state of function and movement.
By the way, that is just one of the reasons why using a wrist brace won’t be of much help. It’s just a crutch that will make your wrist weaker over time, without fixing the fundamental reason you have wrist pain in the first place.
So, what should you do? First, it’s important to improve healthy blood flow to the area, since it’s been compressed for a long time. We need to get the wrist to relax and allow healthy circulation through that median nerve.
Then, we need to strengthen it and improve the spacing inside the joint to get it back to a natural position.
As you go through the rehab process, you will start taking the pressure off the median nerve naturally and safely, which will quickly get you carpal tunnel relief and shortly thereafter, completely eliminate the wrist pain.
You can either go see a good physical therapist or use our our extremely safe and effective at home Carpal Tunnel Relief Program. It works fast to get you out of pain and you don’t need any equipment. Just follow along with the easy step by step videos at home.
In addition to rehab, it is a good really idea to minimize the amount of time you spend with your wrist in a contorted position. So, that means if you are using your phone or typing on a keyboard, make sure you stop every 10-20 minutes and give your wrist a break. Do some exercises and stretch that wrist out at least 2-3 times an hour.
And moving forward, do NOT let the wrist get overloaded or overused with hours of the same activity at a time and you will be going a long way to keep the pain away for good.
Following these tips will help ensure you can recover from carpal tunnel quickly and safely while also helping protect you from future wrist pain!
