How A Chiropractor Can Help Treat Carpal Tunnel

Seeing a chiropractor for carpal tunnel discomfort can relieve symptoms of this debilitating condition without drugs or surgery. Chiropractors know how to treat carpal tunnel syndrome using the body’s resources and help prevent its recurrence.

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when inflamed tissue in the wrist compresses the median nerve. The median nerve originates in the neck and runs down the arm through the narrow carpal tunnel. Pressure on the median nerve can occur anywhere along the carpal tunnel. Symptoms include:

• Tingling or a pins and needles sensation along the arm
• Aches and pains in the arm, hand, and fingers
• Difficulty gripping objects
• Weak fingers

Symptoms tend to worsen at night and can lead to permanent damage or chronic debilitation if left untreated. For many people, surgery to widen the carpal tunnel is the only recourse for regaining the use of their hands. Still, this option poses significant risks, including nerve and blood vessel damage and the development of painful scar tissue.

Carpal tunnel syndrome usually results from overuse of the hand or wrist, making factory workers, laborers, musicians, and anyone who spends the day typing particularly susceptible to developing the condition. Other risk factors include pregnancy, age, gender, and health conditions, including arthritis and diabetes.

Fortunately, you can obtain carpal tunnel relief by working with an experienced chiropractor in New York or New Jersey.

Should You See a Chiropractor for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment?

Yes! Regardless of the reason for developing this condition, a chiropractor can provide relief through non-invasive treatments. The process begins with a thorough examination to determine the exact location along the carpal tunnel passageway that is causing symptoms to manifest. After pinpointing the problem’s source, a chiropractor can apply the appropriate treatment technique to relieve the symptoms.

Chiropractic Adjustments

Vertebral misalignments can compress the nerves exiting the spinal cord, causing pain and numbness down the arm. They also cause compensatory wrist movements, leading some muscles to work harder to make up for others’ weaknesses. Unfortunately, the activation of the wrong muscles stresses the wrist joint, altering its anatomy and causing it to crush the median nerve. 

A chiropractor can relieve carpal tunnel symptoms by realigning the vertebrae using short quick thrusts that reduce pressure on the median nerve near the upper spine. Chiropractic adjustments also open the pathways through which nerve signals travel and promote blood flow that carries healing oxygen and nutrients down the arm.

Long-term relief and prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome may involve restoring the full range of motion to the wrist by manipulating the carpal bones, which are the cluster of eight small bones between the hand and the forearm. Chiropractors have advanced knowledge about the proper positioning of these bones and can align them to remove pressure on the median nerve.

Therapeutic Massage

Chiropractors can apply deep tissue massage to remove pressure on the median nerve that results from compensatory changes to the wrist’s anatomy. Massaging the neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, and hands promotes healing blood flow and can relieve muscle strain near a misaligned wrist joint, improving its mobility. 

Massage therapy also breaks down microscopic scar tissue that forms in the network of tissues within the hand’s internal structure due to overuse. In addition, the removal of restrictive adhesions frees the flexor tendons to reduce inflammation and relieves the pressure on the median nerve that causes pain.

Therapeutic Exercises

A chiropractor can recommend various exercises to help the median nerve move freely within the carpal tunnel. Hand exercises are most effective when they accompany other treatments. The goal of the activities is to restore range of motion while freeing the median nerve. 

Get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Relief

If you are injured in a car accident and are searching for an experienced Chiropractor in New York or New Jersey, you should visit the Accident Help Zone online. We are a leading Accident & Injury Resource Center in NY and NJ, and we can provide you with a comprehensive list of Chiropractors and Auto Accident Doctors in NY and NJ. Contact us today at (888) 412-8488.