Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief Now

Types of Massage for Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can benefit a LOT from therapeutic massage.  There are many types of massage and some will help relieve Carpal Tunnel Syndrome more than others.  Here's some background on massage:

• Massage is old and powerful medicine.  
• Massage is all-natural and has no side effects (although you might have some tenderness following the first session or two).
• Massage costs much less than surgery and many drugs.
• It works well and can make a big difference in pain and dysfunction.
• Almost anyone can give massage with just a little training.
• Little is known about it by doctors who have gone to medical schools which promote the use of medicines and surgery rather than natural therapies like hands-on massage. (That would be most medical schools.)

Massage helps your muscles get back into their original condition, supple and movable, as they are supposed to be.  It relieves the tension in muscles from overuse.  It helps weakened muscles regain tone.  It also boosts your immune system and this has been documented with honest-to-goodness medical research.  Someone with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome almost always benefits from

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can benefit a LOT from therapeutic massage.  There are many types of massage and some will help relieve Carpal Tunnel Syndrome more than others.  Here's some background on massage:

• Massage is old and powerful medicine.  
• Massage is all-natural and has no side effects (although you might have some tenderness following the first session or two).
• Massage costs much less than surgery and many drugs.
• It works well and can make a big difference in pain and dysfunction.
• Almost anyone can give massage with just a little training.
• Little is known about it by doctors who have gone to medical schools which promote the use of medicines and surgery rather than natural therapies like hands-on massage. (That would be most medical schools.)

Massage helps your muscles get back into their original condition, supple and movable, as they are supposed to be.  It relieves the tension in muscles from overuse.  It helps weakened muscles regain tone.  It also boosts your immune system and this has been documented with honest-to-goodness medical research.  Someone with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome almost always benefits from

Massage and Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

Therapeutic massage can be a terrific "tool" to help you get rid of your Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Why?  Because the most common causes of carpal tunnel pain, numbness and tingling are pressure on nerves caused by muscles, trigger points or muscle strain.  You can see they are all muscle related!

You can learn and use do-it-yourself massage or you can discover how to find a massage therapist to help you get rid of your carpal tunnel symptoms. You can scroll over to the Categories here at http://CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com to learn how to interview a therapist who can help with carpal tunnel symptoms--they do NOT all do the same types of massage therapy.  Just go to the Massage Category.

Some massage professionals do very gentle, light massage and some do correctional and deep. There are all kinds of variations in between.  You want a massage therapist who can make a difference.

Massage therapy can make a HUGE difference for people with carpal tunnel or hand/wrist/arm pain: Get a knowledgeable therapist (my first choice) or learn how to do your own massage (my second choice) and you may be on your way to carpal tunnel pain relief!

How Massage Therapy Helps Get Rid of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Massage really CAN help get rid of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  Here's how:

• Massage is old medicine (the oldest!) 
• Massage is powerful medicine. 
• Massage is all-natural. 
• Massage has no side effects (although you might have some tenderness following the first session or two). 

It's used all over the world--especially in "less sophisticated and less high tech medicine" countries.  Those countries use natural remedies such as instead of drugs and surgery.  Why? 

• They cost much less than surgery and many drugs
• They work well and make a big difference
• Anyone can give massage with just a little training.

Massage is natural medicine!

Therapeutic massage relieves

Massage Your Hands For Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

If you have carpal tunnel pain, relief can sometimes be as simple as massaging your hands.

Massaging your own hands when you wash them or apply lotion will help your muscles (as well as your nerves and other soft tissues, too.)  This is something you can do several times a day, even if it's just for one minute at a time. 

Massage is very beneficial (it's old medicine!) and will help relax and normalize tight tissues and "get the blood flowing".

Not only is massage good for the muscles being massaged, it is also good for the muscles that are doing the massage.  If you can massage your own arms and hands, you will

Thumb and Finger Pain - Could It Be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Pain in your thumb and finger pain may be part of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome but it can also be caused by muscles in your upper chest (between your breastbone and arm), on your ribs (under your arm pit), near your elbow in your lower arm (on the palm side) or in your hand. 

Trigger Points are hyper-irritable or crabby areas of muscle that send pain elsewhere on your body. 

And trigger points can develop in your chest, ribs, arm and hands.  They can cause thumb and finger pain.  That's good news!  Why?

When the muscles that cause pain in your hand are unhappy, you can "treat" them (push into them or massage them) to help them feel happier.  When they are happy, you will be happy, too!

Massaging your own hands when you

Carpal Tunnel Surgery vs. Natural Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

Should you have surgery for your carpal tunnel symptoms or should you try all of the natural ways to relieve your symptoms first?

My recommendation is always to try the least invasive thing first.  None of the natural methods of symptom relief cause permanent changes in your body.  Surgery does.

Today I received two e-mails from women who had carpal tunnel symptoms.

The first woman said:

"It seems nothing is helping my carpal tunnel in my hand. I have tried everything and I mean EVERYTHING. It seems the operation is the only answer. Its no good listening to people talk about it, it is a waste of space. Sorry, but honestly the op seems the only way out. I don't know what you think."

I wished her well with her surgery and suggested she continue trying the natural relief methods because if the surgery doesn't work (or continue to work) it's because the actual cause was overlooked.  I also suggested she go to the Video Category here and look for the mini-release surgical video.

The second woman said:

"I do declare my symptoms are diminishing and i don't have any more numbness or

Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief & Massage for Your Hands

If you have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome--or pain in your hand and wrist--hand massage can help get the circulation moving.  This little video demonstrates how to massage your palm.  It helps relax the tight muscles in your hand and makes a little more space in your carpal tunnel.  This may help you feel better.

(Your carpal tunnel is an opening in your wrist that nerves and blood vessels pass through.  When there is swelling in your carpal tunnel, you can get symptoms of numbness, tingling and pain in your hand.)

You may find that you can massage one of your own hands with your other hand depending on your symptoms.  Adjust the pressure to your comfort level.  If bending your hand backward increases your symptoms, keep your wrist straight as you massage or are being massaged.

Your wrists are not the cause of your symptoms (unless you had a compression or bone-breaking injury.)  Your Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is caused by the muscles of your lower or upper arm, your chest muscles, your back, your neck muscles, trigger points, or vitamin deficiencies.  You can find more information on all of these here at Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief Now.

Even so, this type of hand massage can help you feel better while you figure out the causes and get rid of them.

Carpal Tunnel Symptoms Have Good Results With Massage For Wrist Pain

People with wrist pain and carpal tunnel symptoms write to me and I love sharing the letters with you.  Joe has had a lot of relief from having a massage therapist work on the most likely muscular causes of his pain.

A little background:  Joe took the necessary steps to find out which muscles were probably involved* and took that information to a massage therapist who worked with his direction.  Joe wrote to me again and here's what he had to say about his therapeutic massage. 

"Hi Kathryn,

My first treatment (isn't this great?  His first treatment!) did get rid of pain on the right side of my wrist which felt very good. The pain did move slightly to the middle of my hand and to the left. After my next massage treatment I did feel the pain returning to the original place but fortunately it wasn't significant. I'm can now manage to play squash twice by first warming up the wrist. I have a fear that if I have another treatment it will move the pain back again. I still get slight

How Can You Tell If The Muscles In Your Neck Are Causing Your Carpal Tunnel Symptoms?

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be caused by the muscles in your neck.  Something is causing your symptoms and if they aren't responding to conventional therapies, these muscles may be the culprit. 

Bodies are very logical and we get pain for reasons.  We just have to figure out what the reason or cause is and get rid of it.  Then your symptoms will go away.

Here are two things:

1.  Go to http://www.carpaltunnelpainreliefnow.com/videos/

Look for the video called Scalene Muscle Video for Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief.
You will see the areas to be massaged as well as a technique.

2.  Here is the test to determine whether your scalene muscles are causing your carpal tunnel symptoms:

On your affected side,

Self-Help for Wrist and Arm Injury or Pain

Your body is very smart and is very capable of healing.  Sometimes you just need to understand WHY you have carpal tunnel symptoms and WHAT to do to get rid of them.

Last summer I tripped and when I caught myself on my hand, I jammed my wrist, elbow and shoulder badly.  I knew nothing broke, but there was a lot of trauma.  I was pretty sure I dislocated my elbow.

I was careful to keep my muscles open (long) so they wouldn't shorten and seize up.  They wanted to tighten up and I had to deliberately keep my arm open.  I took an anti-inflammatory two or three times (Aleve made a big difference) and I iced all of the areas I thought were involved many times to reduce the swelling.

After everything settled down a bit, during

Carpal Tunnel Pain & Massage Therapy: Does Massage Help Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

 Yes!  Massage definitely helps get rid of carpal tunnel symptoms.  There is NO doubt in my mind!

Massage has so many benefits it's almost a miracle drug--in fact, it is a miracle drug!

Do I sound biased?  Well, the truth is...I AM!

And what's with all the exclamation points?

It's because when I talk about massage therapy I get excited!  I LOVE it!  Almost 20 years in the bodywork field has given me a lot of first-hand reasons to love massage.

Massage is old medicine and it's powerful medicine.  It has no side effects (although some people may have some tenderness following the first session or two).  It's used all over the world--especially in "less sophisticated and high-med-tech" countries.  Those countries use natural remedies instead of drugs and surgery.  Why?  Costs much less, works well, and anyone can give massage.

Massage is natural medicine.

Therapeutic massage relieves pain and soft tissue dysfunction.  One big-name researcher said if we all had a massage a week, we would have 90% less illness.  90%! That's HUGE.

Why isn't the medical community

Carpal Tunnel Pain? What You Should Know About Carpal Tunnel Surgical Release

What should you know about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and surgical release?  Everything!

You don't know how many times I've asked a client why they had or were going to have a surgical procedure or why they were taking a certain medicine and they said:  "I don't know.  The doctor told me to have it or do it or take it."

Your doctor is a well-educated person and knows a whole lot more than I do about a whole lot of things, but no one can know everything.  Sometimes doctors, just like the rest of us, make a decision based on limited information.  That's why you have to educate yourself about your own health and body!

And, please remember, I'm not a doctor.  I'm The Pain Relief Coach.  Because I have learned so much over the years about how bodies are--what makes them happy or unhappy--my job now is to share that with you.  I share that information here with you at Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief. 

Your job is to do what you have to do to get better.

When you understand

Does Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Cause Pain In Your Thumb?

Does Carpal Tunnel Syndrome cause pain in your thumb?  Well, not actually.  Here's some background:

• Something caused the pain in your wrist, hand and arm. 
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome means you have a bunch of symptoms, like pain, numbness or tingling. 
• A syndrome is a bunch of symptoms.

So, you might have pain in your thumb from something other than Carpal Tunnel Syndrome OR your thumb pain might be part of the syndrome. 

There are ways to figure out exactly what is causing pain in your thumb.  First, you need to be able to say, "The pain is on the palm side of my thumb," or, "the pain is on the outside of my thumb." 

Is it AT your wrist or is it in the WEB of your thumb?  Is the pain on the TIP of your thumb?

Your answers will give

Natural Therapies for Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

Today on Carpal Tunnel Radio we talked about the benefits of natural therapies.  Today is Thursday July 2, 2009.  We also talked about sleeping positions that can cause or help carpal tunnel symptoms and how to find a massage therapist who can help you.

Some of the benefits of natural therapies for CTS include:  no surgery, no anesthesia, no recovery, no recurrence, no side effects. 

Natural therapies include ice, heat, Vitamin B6 and other supplements, natural anti-inflammatories, correcting your posture and habits, massage and possibly night braces to prevent curling your wrists.

Sleeping on your back can help relieve symptoms and we talked about the best type of pillow to use.  Something that supports the natural curve in your neck is good.  If you need a little height under your head to create comfort, then do that, too. 

You can even make your own neck roll/pillow from a fiberfill batt.  You can get fiberfill batting at a fabric store.  It's very inexpensive.

Massage can be very valuable for carpal tunnel symptom relief but every massage therapist is different.  We have  different personalities, training, skill levels, etc.  We talked about 7 questions that you can ask your potential massage therapist to determine whether they are the one you might like to work with to help relieve your symptoms.

The questions are:

• What are the most common

You Can Heal Your Carpal Tunnel Symptoms!

A recent note from Beverly said: 

"I'm doing much better as far as the carpal tunnel.  I don't think it is carpal tunnel, but the strain on the muscles in the arm with the (heavy) work I do all day.  You have made me realize I can massage that arm, neck and hand to make it feel better at the end of the day.  I am still doing my stretching and keeping my shoulders back and that has helped tremendously.  Still taking vitamins.  Of course I still have my arthritis, but all of these things has helped with that also."

My question is:  Where would Beverly have gotten all of that self-help information from?

Why, right here, of course! :-) And you can, too.  Just take your time and scroll through all of the categories.  You'll find some for "Causes" and "Triggers" and "Massage." 

I know it takes a long time to read everything, and that's why you can listen to Carpal Tunnel Radio, if you prefer.  Either click on the link or go to the radio button on the right hand side of the home page of Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief (where you are reading this.)

Where did Beverly learn how to keep her shoulders back so they would stay back?  At Simple Strengthening.  Easy, simple movements are there to help you get a strong back side.  A strong back side will relieve a lot of your symptoms and help you in so many ways!

Beverly paid attention to what she learned and put it into action.  When you want to get better, you must be your own doctor and physical therapist.  You know your body best.  Beverly has made big improvements and I'm so proud of her.  Why?  Because she took action steps.

My point in writing this post is to show you that all you need is a little knowledge about how your body works.  Put that knowledge into action and you will be on the road to getting rid of your carpal tunnel symptoms naturally.

What step will you take today to begin getting rid of your carpal tunnel symptoms?

deQuervain's Syndrome

If DeQuervain's is diagnosed, that means your doctor has found a name for the pain and tenderness on the outside of your thumb.  The pain might feel sharp, like a stabbing pain, and happens when you move your hand a certain way.

DeQuervain's may also cause difficulty for you when you are making a fist or trying to grip or grasp something.  Since it can have several symptoms (pain, gripping difficulty) it is a "syndrome."  A syndrome is a collection of symptoms.

Arthritis of the thumb can have similar symptoms.  I suppose it's possible that they have much the same cause.  Muscles cause arthritis (some muscles too "tight" and some too "weak--they pull on the joint and cause bony changes.)  Arthritis is caused by using the body in an out-of-neutral position and DeQuervain's is caused by excessively tilting the hand at the wrist, which would also be out-of-neutral position.

What is it?  Apparently, it's not a true "itis" or inflammation of the tendons, although many doctors call it "tendonitis."  More likely, it's an irritation of the tendons at the base of your thumb.  The tendons pass through a tough band of tissue.  According to David Nelson MD,  restrictions occur while the tendons are passing through this band, possibility because of thickened tissues and increased blood flow. 

Does a brace help?  There are some braces which prevent the thumb from moving and the wrist from tilting.  They may help by eliminating the ability of your wrist to tilt from side to side, but when they are no longer being used, your pain may come back.  If a brace can "train" you to do a movement correctly, rather than tilting, then perhaps it's good to wear for those times when you do the "wrong" thing.  They cost approximately $23 to $30 and it looks like they do keep your thumb from moving, too, so you'd just have to try and see if it would work for you.

What about surgery?  Surgery is available, of course.  The surgeon cuts the band of tough tissue so the tendons can move freely.  Apparently, sometimes they can move TOO freely because sometimes when a patient flexes or extends their wrist fully--and at the same time does forceful movements of their thumb--the tendons that are no longer contained by the band of tough tissue can pop out of position.  Any surgery can have side effects, and even though this one is usually done on an out-patient basis, many patients report quite a bit of pain afterward, much more than they expected.

Dr. Nelson says that steroid (cortisone) injections (shots) are helpful in about 82% to 95% of the patients.

How is it diagnosed?  Easy.  If you tuck your thumb into your hand, and tilt your hand in the direction of your baby finger (toward the outside of your arm) and it hurts, you have just make the diagnosis.

What causes deQuervain's?  There are 3 movements your wrist can make.  1) bending forward, or palm-ward, 2) bending backward, or toward your elbow, 3) tilting side to side or from the thumb side to the baby finger side (and baby to thumb.)

Doing fairly equal amounts of the 2 bending movements is okay.  The wrist is called a "hinge" joint.  That means it's made to move in those directions.  But the tilting movement, well, it's not built to move that way too often and therein lies the problem.

Some people have a job that causes them to tilt their hand a lot and that aggravates those tendons.  Some people do things in a way that they don't have to, and that causes tendon irritation, too. 

I'm thinking of a hospital worker who ripped

When Carpal Tunnel Pain Won't Go Away, Check Trigger Points In Muscles

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is very often caused by trigger points in your muscles.

What ARE trigger points?  Trigger points are hyperirritable (crabby) areas of muscle.  Trigger points can also be found in other soft tissues.  Soft tissues are everything except bone.

What do trigger points do?  They cause pain and symptoms in other parts of the body, sometimes at a far distance from the trigger point.  This is called "referred" pain.

What CAUSES trigger points?  There are some nutritional related causes, but the most common cause is muscle overload.

Who gets trigger points?  We ALL have the potential to have them, because we all have soft tissues. 

When a nagging pain or symptom won't go away with treatment, that most likely means that a trigger point is causing the pain and needs to be released.

When I was making my notes for a recent Carpal Tunnel Radio show, I noticed a relationship between Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and trigger points:  All of the things that cause

Trigger Points and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

What are trigger points and how do they cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Conventional allopathic medicine (that means your medical doctor) sometimes recognizes trigger points. Some doctors do truly understand trigger points--what they are, how they work--but others think that every tender place is a trigger point.  That's not true. 

When doctors treat trigger points, it is usually with injections (which may or may not work) or by attempting stretching to resolve the trigger point (which will probably not work.) 

Trigger points are caused by something.  The "something" must be taken care of first before the trigger point can go away.

Manual therapy--pressing into the trigger point AND releasing the muscles that caused it--is usually very successful. It takes time and that's why there are muscle specialists (certain massage therapists) who do this work. Conventional medical practitioners generally don't have the time or training to release trigger points.

There are several areas that can have trigger points that cause Carpal Tunnel symptoms: your neck (scalene muscles), chest (pectoral muscles), and muscles in your upper arm and lower arm.

If you go to Carpal Tunnel Radio  you will find an episode on trigger points.

Here at Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief  you will find more on "Triggers" under "Categories."

The problem with a lot of conventional medicine is that it overlooks the most basic cause of most of our pain: Our muscles! As technology overtook natural medical treatments, muscles were kind of thrown by the wayside as being causes of pain.

There are countries in the world where massage and manual therapies are part of their medical treatment because massage is OLD medicine!

Trigger points can cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as well as other hand/wrist/arm pain.  The beauty of it is, trigger points can be released.  When you release trigger points, the symptoms they cause will go away, too.

Scalene Muscle Video for Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief

This carpal tunnel pain relief video really gets to the point!

Bodies are just so amazing!  They want to be well.  Sometimes they need a little help from you to get better.  Sometimes they need a little help from a professional massage therapist who understands bodies.

There are muscles in your neck which cause carpal tunnel syndrome and thoracic outlet syndrome.  (Syndromes are collections of symptoms.)  These muscles are called the scalene muscles, or scalenes.  There is a set of 3 or 4 on each side of your neck.

The professional in this video demonstrates a massage technique which addresses the scalenes.  It also shows more massage for carpal tunnel or thoracic outlet syndromes or symptoms.

It's a short video, but very useful.  If you go to a professional massage therapist, ask whether he or she knows how to treat the scalenes.  They are very often the cause of carpal tunnel symptoms.  After you see this video, you will have an idea of how your scalenes may be released. 

The professional who is demonstrating has a little accent, but if you listen with "soft ears" you will get a lot of it.  The words he says at the beginning that you need to know are "scalenes" and "sternocleidomastoid."  The sternocleidomastoid is also called the SCM muscle.

You have 2 pairs of SCM's, one pair on each side of your neck.  These muscles run from the "notch" in the middle of your collar bone to the skull bone just behind your ear.

Your scalene muscles are kind of hidden by, or tucked behind, the SCM muscles and collar bone.  The SCM needs to be moved out of the way in order to access the scalenes.

Other words you may hear are "brachialplexus" (a group of nerves in the collar bone area) and "thoracic outlet syndrome." 

You will notice that the model looks very comfortable.  Well, the truth is that when muscles are tight, and when there are trigger points in muscles, there may be some discomfort as they are being released.  This is normal. 

If you have any concerns or extreme discomfort, be sure to talk to your massage therapist.  It is, after all, your body!

Note:  This video is from YouTube and if an ad pops up, you can "x" it out if you want.

And, now, On With The Show!

IMPORTANT!   If you want more information on the company that makes the video, Google that website and see what your security preferences say about it. 

What Muscles Cause Pain In Your Fingers And Wrists?

Sometimes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is the real cause of pain in wrists, hands and fingers.

More often, muscles are to blame.  "Trigger points" are crabby places in your muscles that "refer" or "fire" pain elsewhere.  That means that when you have pain, lots of times it is referred pain.  A trigger point some distance away is causing your pain.

This is the case with pain in your fingers and wrists.

If you turn your arm palm-side up, you will be able to warm the muscles on the palm side of your lower arm.  You can warm them by applying a heating pad or pack, or you can massage them.  You can do this yourself, or ask a friend or loved one, or go to a professional massage therapist.

Start out rubbing gently, and as your muscles relax and begin to loosen up, massage more and more deeply.

As you press deeper, you will find tender places.  You may be surprised at how tender and how many places there are.  If you feel sensations or relief in your fingers or hand and wrist as you press, then you have found a trigger point.

Keep massaging on and around the tender areas.  Press and hold trigger points for 12 seconds.  You can go back to each one multiple times.  Apply enough pressure so there is definite discomfort but don't "kill" yourself.

Take as many breaks as you need.  You don't need to release everything all at once or even all in one day.

And, take time to "smell the roses."

"Because You Deserve To Feel Better!"

Pain In Your Hand & Upper Arm - Is It Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Pain from trigger points runs in typical patterns.

If you have pain in your upper arm and hand that meets the following pattern, there is a fairly easy fix.

Sometimes the muscles that are causing symptoms are deep inside the body, hidden under bones or other muscles.  But, the cause of this pain pattern is on the outside of your shoulder blade, so that makes "treating" it easy.

When I give directions for locating pain on your arm or body, like "outside" or "front," that means you are standing or seated with your thumbs rotated outward or away from your body.  Your thumbs are pointed away from you, sideways.  Your palms are facing forward.  Then "outside" or "front" always means the same thing, because we are all in the same position.

Here's the pain pattern:

The most painful area is usually on the outside (side) of your upper arm and on the front side of your upper arm, through your bicep muscle.  (That's the muscle that pops up when a man flexes his arm.)  A lesser amount of pain runs down your arm as far as the fingers (but just the part of your fingers close to your palm.)  That pain is usually felt on both the back side and the palm side of the hand and arm. 

You might also have quite a bit of pain on the spine side of your shoulder blade.  You might also have head or neck pain at the base of your skull on the same side as the painful arm.  Pain in both of these areas is caused by trigger points in the muscle on your shoulder blade and it will go away when the trigger point is resolved (gone.)

I say "usually" or "generally" because every body is different, and we all feel things somewhat differently or in slightly different places.  We are not all built exactly the same, just similarly.

What's a trigger point?

A trigger point is a hyper-irritable (really crabby) place

Pain in Your Thumb? Is it Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

If you have pain in your thumb, maybe it seems like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but...

There are lots of reasons why you can have pain in your thumb, and most of them involve your muscles!

Let's count the ways...

There are muscles on the outside of your lower arm that cause pain in your thumb.  There are muscles on the underside, or palm side, of your arm that refer pain into your thumb.

Also, the muscles on the palm side of your thumb cause thumb pain.

But, wait! 

There's more!

How about these muscles:

• on the lower part of your shoulder blade on your back
• under your collar bone
• and on the side of your neck?

Yes, all of those muscles can cause pain in your thumb, too.

When the muscles far away from your thumb cause pain, it is "referred" pain.  Muscles that are "too tight" can "refer" pain to other parts of your body.  Muscles generally become "too tight" from being overstretched (they get tight to protect themselves.)

So, what can you do to get rid of pain in your thumb?

Press into your own muscles and look for tender places.  "Look" all around your arm and thumb.  Press in under your collarbone and gently on the side of your neck.

When muscles are tight, you can release them with pressure--unless they are overstretched.  If a muscle is overstretched, it doesn't want to relax through pressure.

Overstretched muscles need to be shortened (and the short muscles that caused them to be overstretched need to be made longer, or stretched.)

One way to shorten overstretched muscles is by strengthening the area they are in.  Go to www.SimpleStrengthening.com to find easy ways to get a strong back.

You can apply pressure by massaging your muscles yourself.  (Look under "categories" here at www.CarpalTunnelPainRelief.com for "massage.")

You can press into tender areas and hold for about 12 seconds.  You can go back to the same tender area several times.  That will warm your muscles and get the blood flowing again.  Pressure will release your tight muscles.

You may be surprised when you discover a tender area.  It may even make you wince or jump. 

When an area of muscle is that tender, there's a good bet that is the cause of your thumb pain.

When muscle is that tender, the best thing to do

The Muscle In Your Neck That Causes "Knots" and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

There are two pain symptoms that can both be caused by the same set of muscles, even though the symptoms are not close together.

Carpal tunnel syndrome and "knots" in your upper back pain (muscle spasm between your shoulder blade and spine) can be caused by your neck muscles.

This cause of both carpal tunnel symptoms and "knots" is quite common but almost always overlooked.  It's possible that you have both pain symptoms caused by the same muscle!

What are these muscles and where are they?

These muscles are on the sides of your neck. There is a set of muscles on each side of your neck called the scalene muscles.

When the scalene muscles get tight, or aggravated, they develop "trigger points."

If you have a therapeutic massage to work out your knotty back problem or carpal tunnel symptoms, and it doesn't help, then the problem isn't in your back or arm. The cause of your pain is somewhere else.  (I am assuming here that your therapist worked ALL of your arm or back and rib muscles, not just the knot.  The knot is just a symptom--other muscles are causing it.)

The problem is in your scalene muscles.

Trigger points in your scalene muscles are "firing" or causing pain in your upper back or around your carpal tunnel. If you get a well-trained massage therapist to work on your neck muscles and release the trigger points that are causing your carpal tunnel syndrome or knots in your back, your pain will go away.

If you suspect this may be what is causing your carpal tunnel symptoms or "knotty" back, you can try to release the scalenes yourself.

How to release your scalene muscles.

Press gently

Who Can Help You Get Rid of Your Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Here are four causes for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and the people who can help you for each of the causes:

Diabetes.  You need a doctor to help you control your sugar diabetes.  You can often take control yourself with diet and lifestyle changes, but if your diabetes is severe enough to cause symptoms like carpal tunnel syndrome, you should see your doctor.

Pregnancy.  When you are done being pregnant, your carpal tunnel syndrome will usually go away.  It is caused by extra fluids causing pressure in your carpal tunnel.  In the meantime, your doctor may have suggestions and a massage therapist may be able to move some of the fluid away from your carpal tunnel, at least temporarily.

Injury or trauma to your wrist.  If you have had an injury to the bones around your carpal tunnel area, it's probably a good idea for any breaks or surgeries to heal.  Then, you can begin having massage therapy to get the soft tissues (muscles, etc.) back to normal.  Depending on your injury, you might also need occupational or physical therapy to regain full use of your hand and wrist.

Postural imbalances.  Poor posture causes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by pressing on the nerves, muscles and blood vessels in your shoulder area.  If your posture is "poor" (collapsing forward) the following people can help.  Neuromuscular massage therapists (if they assess your posture and develop a strategy to normalize it,) Rolfers (Rolfing is a form of bodywork designed to correct posture,) Physical Therapists, and strength trainers. 

It is important for you to learn as much as you can about the causes of your carpal tunnel syndrome.

And, when you are looking for a therapist to help you, you also want to know that they know what to do for your condition.  It's a good idea to interview your potential therapist before starting treatment.  You want to feel pretty sure that they can help you get rid of your carpal tunnel pain before you start paying for treatment.

Have they worked with people who have carpal tunnel syndrome before?  What were the results?  What would their plan be for you?  How does it all sound to you?

You are the "contractor" for your body and the people who help you are your "subcontractors."  You have to be in charge of the job in order to get better.

"And You Deserve to Feel Better!"

Does Massage Hurt if You Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

There is always a reason when you get pain.  Sometimes the reason is easy to figure out.  In the field of massage, there are many professionals who have an excellent understanding of the causes of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Those causes almost always involve muscles.  Your muscles.

You most likely developed carpal tunnel syndrome, or similar discomfort, because some of your muscles were being used more than others.  Some muscles became tighter than they were designed to be, and some became weaker than they were designed to be.

Therapeutic massage helps normalize those too tight muscles and soft tissues.  Massage gets the body fluids moving through your tissues and helps flush out metabolic wastes (anything that would usually pass through our body normally.)  When muscles are "stuck," the metabolic wastes don't move much either.  Massage helps them get a move on.

Here is how massage might "hurt" when you have carpal tunnel syndrome.

When muscles and tissues are in contraction (tight) it can be uncomfortable to have someone pressing on them, or into them.  Unfortunately, if your massage is so light that it doesn't cause any discomfort at all, you will have very little benefit from it.

A certain amount of pressure is required in order to get deep enough into your soft tissues to soften them and normalize them.

Not all massage therapists know what to do about carpal tunnel syndrome, so it's a good idea to interview the ones you are considering.  Go to

http://www.carpaltunnelpainreliefnow.com/2008/09/carpal-tunnel-pain-heres-how-to-interview-a-massage-therapist-for-carpal-tunnel-pain-relief.html

to find out what to ask before you schedule your massage appointment.

Also, most massage therapists understand that it is your body, and you get to let them know whether the pressure they use is okay with you or too much.  Don't be shy--this is your body and you are in control of your massage.  They will try to work within your pain tolerance level.

So, yes, massage can be uncomfortable.  But, often people say, "Ahhh, That's Good Pain!" 

What they mean is, "Yes, it does hurt, but it feels just like what my body needed.  Don't stop!"