Carpal Tunnel and the Magic Bullet
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Chiropractor in Clear Lake Comments: Patients with severe carpal tunnel symptoms often become desperate in their search for a cure. Most patients with chronic diseases fall prey to this, looking for the one answer, the one magic pill or magic bullet that will rid them of all their troubles now and forever.
In carpal tunnel care, you may have looked for the magic splint, the best surgeon, the one exercise, the one vitamin or herb or magnet, to find relief of your pain. As carpal tunnel symptoms worsen, affecting not only our daily lives and even our jobs, the urgency to find the one thing becomes greater and greater.
It’s no wonder there’s no shortage of promises and potions out there to deliver you the magic bullet. Perhaps you could look at this problem in another way? Not the one thing that has thus far eluded you, but rather the many things you’ve found difficult to face and take care of, the things that may prevent problems but only if you faithfully adhere to them. What I’m getting at is this: there are many pieces to the carpal tunnel puzzle and you can think of hand pain more of as a signal that the final straw that is finally breaking the camel’s back.
Yes it is true that those with vitamin deficiencies get more nerve symptoms and taking B6 can help some people with their symptoms. But B6 is part of the B-complex that we should be getting everyday in our diets. Whether you have symptoms or not, you should be eating right, and that means lots of vegetables. Most of us will benefit from correcting our lack of vitamin intake by taking different vitamins in supplement form.
Or maybe we are overweight; it’s true of 60% of Americans. We need to maintain an ideal weight whether or not our hands hurt. Or perhaps we have a neck problem that we are not addressing. Sometimes neck problems cause hand pain and sometimes they do not. Whether or not the neck itself is causing your hand to hurt, you should get your neck fixed so that movements are free and symmetrical.
Lastly, exercise and stretching should be party of everyone’s daily routine, not just those with hand symptoms.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
Carpal Tunnel and its Diagnosis
Bay Area Chiropractor Comments: Pain in the wrist and hand can be a difficult thing to diagnose properly. The first problem that patients have is deciding what type of doctor to see. A chiropractor, internist, orthopedist, rheumatologist, or neurologist, will all agree to schedule you for an appointment, but who is best?
At your visit it’s important to have a thorough examination and to ask a lot of questions. I’d be skeptical if the doctor only examines the wrist and hand, and leaves out the elbow, shoulder and neck. The reason this is the case is that problems of the neck and other joints distal to the pain, can refer pain into the wrist and hand. Not all wrist pains are a problem with constriction at the carpal tunnel. Pain into the hand can come from compression of nerves in the neck. Your carpal tunnel pain needs to be separated from a problem in the neck, such as a radiculopathy or thoracic outlet syndrome.
Your doctor should ask are how long the problem has lasted, and if there has been any trauma. Trauma to the neck is especially important, and could be a sign that your wrist problem is really a neck injury.
For some patients, losing weight and doing specific exercises are enough to cure these types of pains. Some patients simply need to have their computer monitor adjusted, or are given stretching exercises to do between long periods at the computer keyboard. The stretching may be for the wrist, but should also address the entire arm and neck to be comprehensive. How we sit and whether there is forward head posture are also important considerations. The forward head posture can stretch your spinal cord and nerve roots making the nerves more susceptible to pressure when they eventually pass through the carpal tunnel.
In others, the problem of joint alignment needs to be properly addressed. Through specific chiropractic adjustments, the motion of the joints and their alignment can be restored. The misalignments may occur at the wrist or even the neck.
In my Clear Lake City office I treat many patients with carpal tunnel symptoms. Sometimes the problem is local to the wrist but most patients will require a more comprehensive approach. If you’d like care that emphasizes proper posture and alignment and avoids the problems of long- term medication use, then schedule an appointment today.
Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please comment below!
