What is carpal tunnel syndrome?
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or CTS is a condition that typically starts as a numbness or tingling sensation in the arms and hands that could be painful due to everyday strenuous activities. It occurs when the median nerve running from your forearm to the hand gets compressed or pinched. This nerve runs through a narrow space called the carpal tunnel that gives the condition its name. Many forms of manual labor, musical instruments, or vibrating hand tools could lead to CTS. It could be mild or severe depending on the level of pinching occurring in the median nerve.
Why do nurses get carpal tunnel?
Since CTS begins due to excessive strain on the median nerve while performing everyday tasks and activities, there has been a rise in the cases of CTS in nurses. The reason is that your occupation demands continuous repetitive movements of the fingers and wrist without any break, awkward hand movements for long hours when assisting in surgery, and constant vibration or mechanical stress on the palm because of various medical devices.
These activities are most likely to put severe pressure on your median nerve resulting in pain, swelling, weakness, numbness, and various other symptoms in your fingers and hands. Most of the occupations, including nurses, face higher risks of CTS because their job requires excessive tugging, pulling, pushing, or twisting movements in arms and wrists. So while you may be going through your routine work of pushing syringe plunger, pressing blood pressure bulbs, continuously tapping into keyboards, etc., your median nerve might be overexerting itself.
Now you know what might have caused your CTS. It is time we take a hopeful look at what you can do to ease your symptoms. Most mild symptoms of CTS tend to fade away with some lifestyle changes and medication.
Here are nine home remedies for carpal tunnel relief:
Take multiple breaks while performing repetitive tasks:
Using timers to give your aching arms and fingers a break after every 15-20 minutes would help your hands relax. Gentle shaking of the hands also helps relieve the median nerve pressure.
Wear splints on your wrists:
Wearing wrist splints, especially when sleeping, will allow your hand to remain in proper alignment without the risk of overextension or extreme flexing. Being a nurse, you might not have breaks at work, so you can ever prefer wearing the splints during your workday to help relieve some pressure from your median nerve.
Wear compression gloves:
We all know what the cold weather can do to an already aching body part. Seek relief with warming mittens like compression gloves which help relieve the numbness and pain. Compression gloves are available with copper ions embedded in them that improve blood flow and supply adequate oxygen to your hands and wrists.
Warm water treatment:
For some people, warming treatments help alleviate the pain, weakness, and other symptoms. You could try soaking your hands in warm water. Make sure that the temperatures range between 92-100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ice bath:
Your tendons might swell up due to CTS. The best way to relieve them is by soaking your hands in an ice bath or using an ice pack once every few hours. The best time to use an ice bath is after performing your CTS relieving exercises to avoid inflammation by restricting the blood flow.
Reduce your force and relax your grip:
Lightening the strength you use to perform regular tasks can also diminish the discomforting symptoms of CTS. Try softening your grip and taking on your duties lightly.
Elevate your hands and wrists:
Some causes of CTS give rise to fluid retention. Elevation will help ease this thereby, reducing the pressure on the median nerve and helping your hands relax.
Do quick wrist exercises:
Since you don’t require special equipment for most CTS exercises, you can even perform these exercises when at work to improve blood circulation.
Ergonomic changes:
These include minor changes in the way your hands and wrists move when performing daily tasks at work.
Although CTS disrupts daily life to a large extent because it directly affects the hands and wrists, it is easy to manage it with these home remedies.
We hope you found these tips for avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome helpful. Do you suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome and have any tips to share? Comment below.
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