Carpal tunnel syndrome
What is carpal tunnel syndrome ?
Pressure on the median nerve at the wrist can cause pain and numbness in the hand and fingers.
Symptoms include pain, tingling and numbness, and weakness of the fingers and hand.
Patients often find difficultly performing fine movements of the hand and a weak grip.
Diagnosis
A careful history and examination will give the clinician the majority of the details to make the diagnosis. Nerve conduction studies can be performed to measure how well signals are travelling through the nerves and identify areas of pressure and entrapment.
The image above shows muscle waisting around the base of the thumb due to carpal tunnel syndrome.
Treatment
Non surgical treatments include change in activities that may be irritating the nerve or splints.
If the non surgical treatments fail to improve symptoms and small operation can be performed to release the compression around the median nerve. The surgery takes only 10-15 minutes and is performed under local anaesthesia.
Recovering post carpal tunnel surgery
After surgery the hand is bandaged for 1 week, and care taken not to overuse the operated hand
Avoid getting the wound wet until reviewed at 10-14 days
Driving is not advised for around 4 weeks following surgery
Returning to work depends on the nature of your job - (office based 2-4 weeks / manual work 6 weeks)
No contact sports or heavy lifting for 3 months following surgery