Pain In The Palm Of Your Hand - Is It Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

"I have pain in the palm of my hand.  Is it Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?" 

Here's the answer:

There is a muscle called the palmaris longus.  Maybe you have one (on either side) or maybe you don't.  Some people just don't.  The belly (muscular part) of this muscle is on the palm side of the upper part of your lower arm, toward the baby finger side.  The tendon part of the muscle (the tough attachment tissue) extends into your palm almost to your fingers.

If this is the muscle causing the discomfort in your palm you might also have difficulty handling tools.  You may have tender places (nodules) in your palm that making holding tools and working too uncomfortable.

What causes it?  Using garden tools, household tools, using a cane or playing tennis can all activate this pain in the palm of your hand.

If you have a painful

prickle on the skin of your palm (not an ache) this muscle could be the blame. 

Treatment:  The treatment is to press into the belly of the muscle.  You might be able to find a tender place on the palm side of your lower arm, just a couple of inches below the crook of your elbow, on the baby finger side. 

Turn your thumb away from you, palm forward, to find the belly of the muscle and press into it.

According to Doctors Travell & Simons (authors of Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction:  The Trigger Point Manuals) if the palmaris longus passes deep to (under) the carpal ligament, trigger points (go to the Category for Trigger Points on the right hand side here) in the muscle can cause a carpal tunnel syndrome. 

In fact, you may have a carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis from your doctor (a "syndrome" is a bunch of symptoms--pain, numbness, tingling.)  In this case, treating the muscle (as described above) can relieve your carpal tunnel symptoms.

You see, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be caused by several different things.

Once it is gone, avoiding the activities that caused the pain and stretching the palm side of your arm and hand can help prevent symptoms from coming back.  Stretching in warm water can be helpful.

So, yes, pain in the palm of your hand might be called "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome."  But the cause of this CTS is not compression of the median nerve.  Instead it is a trigger point up near your elbow that can be released with pressure.

And that's how you can get rid of the pain in the palm of your hand naturally.