Are you experiencing pain in your wrist?
Do you sometimes feel as if your thumb and fingers are going to sleep? Ever experienced a tingling sensation or some sort of pain that travels from your palm to your fingers?
If yes, then you might be suffering from Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. People who tend to perform tasks which require them to move their hands and wrists often suffer from Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
Repetitive wrist movements cause people to experience numbness and pain in their palms which spreads to the fingers as well. Usually cashiers or people who tend to type a lot experience this condition.
Carpel Tunnel Syndrome is also referred to as repetitive stress injury, this condition can be quite painful especially when you’ve been involved in such an activity that requires you to use your hands and wrists.
When people perform repetitive tasks they experience an increased pressure on their median nerves.
This can cause the nerves to experience irritation; these nerves are present inside narrow passageways that are present on the palm side of one’s wrists.
This passageway is also known as carpel tunnel. Some medical conditions also cause these median nerves to feel discomfort and cause this syndrome.
These conditions include diabetes, hypothyroidism, and rheumatoid arthritis. If you are pregnant you might also experience this condition.
If you are suffering from Carpel Tunnel Syndrome you are likely to experience a tingling sensation, numbness and pain in your thumb and the first three fingers of your hands.
Usually, people experience this pain at night due to cramping. The cramps soon spread out, all the way up to the elbow.
You will also experience difficulty when it comes to grabbing things. Surgery is considered to be on the most effective methods of treating this condition.
However, if you do not wish to undergo one then you can follow these 5 ways to alleviate the pain of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
Ways to alleviate the pain of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome
Now despite the fact that this condition can be quite painful and can cause one quite a lot of discomfort, you can treat it at home.
So, the first thing that needs to be done is to stop doing all such activities that are causing discomfort to your nerves.
Now if you happen to be a cashier you are likely to experience this issue but since this is your job you can’t stop working.
Therefore, it is better if you reduce the amount of time you spend typing or doing any other repetitive wrist work.
1- Take Breaks
Take mini-stretching breaks during your work time. Exercise your wrists in order to soothe your nerves, exercise known as the tendon-gliding exercise also help a lot.
Remember to stretch your shoulders, relieving the nerves there and in the neck area of any sort of pain.
This will cause your wrist nerves to relax and will calm them as well. You can also buy yourself a brace and can wear it throughout the day and night; this will help in preventing your wrists from cramping.
While typing make sure to pay attention to your keyboard and how you are moving your wrist across it as well.
Make sure that your hands are in a neutral position meaning that your fingers should be in line with your forearms this reduces the chances of one experiencing Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
If you are using a computer then it won’t be difficult for you, you can easily adjust the position of your keyboard in such a way that you don’t over-extend your wrists at all while you type.
2- A Cold Bath
Another effective treatment is giving your hands a good cold bath! Just soak your hand and wrist in an ice bath for a few minutes.
You can even ice your wrists using cold packs, just place them on top of your wrists and the area where you tend to experience pain for at least twenty minutes.
According to many people icing your wrists helps as it eases the pain and makes the nerves calm.
However, if your hands turn red at some point you may then remove the ice pack or take your hand out of the ice bath.
3- Supplements
You can also take Vitamin B6 supplements as well in order to treat this condition. Vitamin B6 is actually very important for the nerves to function properly.
It is important for an average person to consume at least 100 mg of Vitamin B6 per day.
If you are deficient then you should definitely take these supplements. If you are not deficient then it would be better to consult your doctor first.
4- Acupuncture
You could even undergo acupuncture treatment. This treatment is said to be quite helpful in easing wrist pain and nerve discomfort as acupuncture actually helps by increasing the blood flow in the arteries which supply blood to these nerves.
5- Use herbs with anti-inflammatory properties
Ginger happens to have powerful anti-inflammatory properties. What you can do is make a paste using grated ginger root, some eucalyptus and mint along with some essential oils.
Mix all of these ingredients in a cup of warm water, and then leave it to chill in the fridge.
Once it is cold enough you should soak any compress or a sponge into the mixture and apply it to wrists in order to experience immediate relief.
Or you can make a tea with two sprigs of rosemary in a cup of water. Let it cool and then massage your wrist and hand with some cypress oil and then apply a cold compress soaked in rosemary tea on top of that area.
The Fenugreek compress is a great anti-inflammatory compress for reducing pain. It is full of niacin and vitamin B3, these help in treating osteoarthritis and arthritis issues at hand.
Just mix some fenugreek flour with water and make a paste which you can then apply over the carpel tunnel.
Lastly, make sure to eat foods that are filled with vitamin B6 and provide you with antioxidants and minerals as well.
This will relieve you of all the pain and discomfort that you’ve been experiencing in your wrist.
