Do you have a burning sensation in your wrists or forearms? Do you type all day long until your fingers feel week and dysfunctional? Are you a construction worker who hammers all day long and have pains in your elbow? If so, these symptoms could be the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome. For those who suffer from it, you understand the chronic pain and frustration that go along with the condition, and you’ll do just about anything to get some relief even if that means surgery.

But surgery is extreme, and you really have to think whether it is worth it. The compression of the median nerve, which travels the length of the arm, is the main cause of carpal tunnel syndrome. There is a point in the wrist where the ligaments of your arm are bound together by the transverse carpal ligament. This point is where the median nerve becomes compressed. The repetitive motions of some jobs and hardening of soft tissues in the hands cause the compression.

Surgery can be considered as an option to relieve your symptoms, but it is something that should be thought about carefully. If your job is what has caused your carpal tunnel syndrome, that would mean that your livelihood depends on your hands being fully operational. Recovery from carpal tunnel surgery can take 6 weeks or more. On top of this, the surgery itself can cost $10,000 or more. Even if you have good insurance, you may have trouble with a bill that size.

The surgery is actually considered a “light surgery” and is about as un-invasive as they get. A twilight anesthetic is all that is needed in most cases. But no surgery should be taken lightly, especially when it is being performed on a complex area like the hand.

During the surgery, the surgeon severs the transverse carpal ligament, cutting it completely and immediately relieving the pressure on the median nerve. This can bring instant relief to the patient. However, you have to understand that you may not immediately be able to go back to work because the transverse carpal ligament still needs to heal-several weeks as was said before. Once it does, there should be a much better area of movement and less aggravation, however, there could be a chance that you might lose some strength in your hands as a result.

Thankfully, there are ways of relieving your symptoms and even healing your carpal tunnel syndrome without surgery. Physical therapists and some websites can provide some exercises you can do to loosen or relax the transverse carpal ligament. Doing this will take pressure off the median nerve. To keep the soft tissue of your hand tension-free, you can get your hands massaged. Keeping an eye on your ergonomics and posture to ensure they are good is another way to keep tension off your wrists and hands.

It might come as a shock that these other methods for preventing and curing carpal tunnel syndrome exist, but they do. Be careful when considering surgery because the results are not always predicable, and you can end up in a much worse situation than when you started.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 3:54 pm and is filed under Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.