Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief Now

How To Get Rid Of Pain In Your Hands And Wrists

If you have pain in your hands and wrists but the doctors cannot find a reason for the pain that is GOOD NEWS!

The reason it is good news is because that almost always means the cause of your pain is muscles. And muscles can be treated. :)

The muscles in your

Do Ganglion Cysts Cause Pain In Your Wrist - What Is The Cure For Ganglion Cysts

A ganglion cyst feels like a hard "ball" or marble under the skin on the back side of your wrist.  They sometimes go away on their own.  I had one years ago and it went away on its own.

Some people smash a cyst on their wrist with a book to get rid of it but I think that would be a bit too drastic.  What if you break a bone?

And, as you will read below, many times ganglion cysts go away on their own. :-)

I know a man who

Do Massage Therapists Get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

A massage therapist who has thumb and wrist pain asked me whether I had any suggestions.  Hoo boy!  I almost always have suggestions! :)

How could this have happened?  Well, all massage schools are not the same.  Some teach relaxation type massage and some teach therapeutic massage.  Some give good instruction to students about using their bodies safely and ergonomically.  Some don't.  :( 

And sometimes a practitioner just doesn't pay attention to how she or he works.  I know there have been times when

Wrist Pain That Circles Your Wrist Like A Bracelet

If your pain circles your wrists like a bracelet or wristwatch, the most likely muscle is between your shoulder blade and your ribs on your back.  Imagine that your ribs and shoulder blade are the "bread" of a sandwich and the muscle is the "filling."  That muscle (the filling) can have trigger points which cause wrist pain.

Trigger points are very irritable places in a muscle that cause pain elsewhere.  In this case, trigger points in the muscle between your shoulder blade and ribs cause pain that circles your wrist.  This can happen to one or both wrists at the same time.

If you "walk like a lion" on all fours and

Should You Wear a Wrist Brace for Wrist Pain or Correct Your Working Position?

Wrist and hand pain can be caused by holding your hands and arms in stressful positions when you work.  If you tend to flex your wrists up or down while you are working or playing, it can cause pain in your hand or in your carpal tunnel area.  If so, you might feel that wearing a brace is the answer. 

Maybe it is.

A wrist brace will help you hold your wrist in a straight or "neutral" position when you work or when you sleep.  You cannot wear it all of the time.  Braces are to be worn only during day or night, whichever time causes you the most wrist and hand pain.

Or, perhaps, another solution would be to "re-work" yourself and "re-build" your working area.  Reposition your equipment, table, desk, chair or footrest so

Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Caused by Gardening? Tips to Avoid Wrist & Hand Pain in the Garden

Can Carpal Tunnel Syndrome be caused by something as enjoyable as gardening?

Well, first a little history.  A "syndrome" is a collection of symptoms.  "Symptoms" are the pain, numbness, weakness or tingling you feel in your hand and arm.

There are a lot of muscles that can cause symptoms in your hand, fingers and arms.  And, what do we use when we garden?  Yup!  Muscles!

So, it's possible that you could actually get a diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome caused by gardening.  But the good news is:  If gardening is what's causing your symptoms that means muscles are involved.  Muscles are treatable!  (I love muscles!)

And, it's not just the muscles around your carpal tunnel either!  Your symptoms can come from your upper back, chest and neck, too.

If you scroll over to the "Categories" and look through the articles in the "Self-Help" and "Massage" and "Causes" Categories you will find lots of helpful articles.

And here are some tips to prevent hand, wrist and arm pain while you're gardening:

1.  Pull weeds

Gardener Hikes Shoulder--Can She Have Relief From Pain & Loss Of Strength?

Does gardening cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?  Probably not but it can cause pain and numbness in your hand and arm and a lot of the same self-care techniques will help get rid of your symptoms.

Here's a letter I got from a gardener:

"I'm a right-handed gardener. I grasp various hand tools, I shovel, I pull weeds. Those arm/wrist actions have wreaked havoc on my arm starting with a raised right shoulder blade, pain in the notch of my right elbow with certain movements, soreness of the what could be a lower arm muscle muscle and top of the wrist/hand aching. Basically, I've lost strength with grasping and the strength of my right arm. My right hand/fingers occasionally swell. Having all that said, I don't think I have what I first thought was CTS.

Any other possible indicators as to what's going on and if so, any recommendations for self help pain relief?"

She also commended me for all the resources "you have available to help keep us tuned in and for the encouragement."  I just had to tell you that part because it's so sweet. :-)

Here's what I told the gardener:

You have really done a great job of diagnosing the cause of your symptoms.  You know exactly

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

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

Your Carpal Tunnel Area Can Heal!

Carpal tunnel pain relief?  You bet!  Your carpal tunnel can heal.  Your symptoms can go away. 

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 careful to keep my muscles open (long) so they wouldn't shorten and seize up.  I took anti-inflammatories a few times (Aleve) and I iced all of the areas I thought were involved many times to reduce the swelling.

After everything settled down a bit, during the second and third weeks, I had two different massage therapists treat all of the muscles from my chest and shoulder to my hand.  It was absolutely amazing all of the tight and tender areas they each found! 

I also did a lot of self-massage, drank plenty of water, took my vitamin & mineral supplements and ate healthy.  (Those last 4 things are part of my "health insurance policy.")

While I couldn't use that hand or type for several weeks, at the end of the 6 week healing period, it was back to normal.  I knew it would be.  I actually told my body that it would be healed by then. (We can talk to our bodies.)

There were a couple of very little "pops" when I stretched my arm on the day that marked my "six week anniversary" and that was that.

Your carpal tunnel symptoms happened for a reason.  Everything happens for a reason.  You can discover the reasons here.

And, your body needs certain things to help it heal.  You can find out what they are here at Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief and other good places.  Just check the categories.  You can find out what to do about them, too. 

And, yes, you can have carpal tunnel pain relief.

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?

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.

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!"

Should You Use a Wrist Brace for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Should you wear a wrist brace if you have carpal tunnel symptoms in your wrist, hand and arm?

Well, the purpose of a brace is to prevent you from working or sleeping with your wrist in a bent position.  The neutral position for your wrist--and the one we should use the most--is the straight wrist. 

Doing tasks with a straight wrist generally doesn't aggravate the muscles around the carpal tunnel.

If you wake in the morning with carpal tunnel symptoms that are worse, because you sleep with your hands and wrists all curled up, then wear a brace at night.

If your carpal tunnel symptoms are worse during the day, then wear a brace during the day.

The idea of the wrist brace is to help you remember not to overextend or stress your wrist.  It will restrict your movements and make it more difficult for you to aggravate your carpal tunnel area.

If you were to wear a brace all day and all night, the muscles around your wrist would weaken.  A brace is like a girdle:  it prevents you from using your muscles and they become weak.

We sure don't want weak muscles!

If you feel that a wrist brace helps you, wear it only part of the day or during the night, whenever you need it most.

What should you do the rest of the time?

• Move your wrist, arms and hands in many different positions. 
• Stretch your hands and arms in the opposite direction of the one you are usually in. 
• Open your hands and your chest. 
• Lift your chest.
• Lift and rotate your shoulders, especially back.
• Start walking and swing your arms at your sides sometimes straight and sometimes bent at the elbow.
• Hold your arms straight out sideways from your shoulders and rotate your hands.  Make circles in one direction and then in the other direction.

If you move in a variety of ways, your muscles will be much happier, and you can reduce your carpal tunnel symptoms.

It takes a lot of these counter-movements for you to reduce your carpal tunnel symptoms, but...

You Are Worth It!

7 Steps to Carpal Tunnel Pain Freedom

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) has a variety of debilitating symptoms.  Many people diagnosed with CTS believe they "just have to deal with it."  This is completely untrue!

Here are seven steps to help free you of carpal tunnel pain for good:

Research.

Learn about carpal tunnel syndrome.  You may not realize it, but dysfunction in the carpal tunnel area can cause a variety of symptoms.  (A "syndrome" is a collection of symptoms.) You may have heard the phrase "knowledge is power."  With CTS, it could not be more true.

Exercise.

If you are suffering with carpal tunnel syndrome or pain, you must devote some time to exercise every day.  Wait--don't go! 

Many people cringe at the thought of exercise because they are looking at too large of a picture.

Start small. 

Your arms and hands are a great place to start.  Your goal should be to start with the underdeveloped muscles in your arms, back and hands. 

You may be thinking, "How are simple strengthening exercises going to help prevent carpal tunnel pain?" 

It works like this: our overstretched muscles go into their own form of contraction.  They are trying not to be stretched any farther.  However, they do like to complain.  So, to call attention to themselves, they cause pain symptoms or things like carpal tunnel syndrome.

Overstretched back muscles cause pain in your back, of course, but they can also cause pain in your arms and hands.  The shortened muscles in the front of your body can also cause arm and hand pain, including carpal tunnel pain.

As you know, we have several hundred muscles in our bodies.  Most of us use only the same 50 or 60 muscles over and over.  We get out of muscular balance because we are not using the rest of our muscles. 

Carpal tunnel syndrome starts out because our muscles get "out of balance."  Some get weak and others get too tight.

A good goal is to use your muscles in different ways every day.  Think about moving in many different directions, rather than the same ways over and over.

Stretch daily.

By stretching the muscles in your arms and wrists on a daily basis, you are preventing your carpal tunnel area pain from

Simple Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief - 5 Easy Moves For Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Maybe you have a doctor's diagnosis that you have carpal tunnel syndrome.  Or, maybe you don't have an official diagnosis yet.

But, you know for sure that you have do pain in your wrist, hand or arm, or even all three.  Is it carpal tunnel syndrome?  Maybe.

Or, maybe you have repetitive strain injury.  Or, maybe what you really have is...regular, old, complaining muscles.

Regardless of what it is called, the fact is that you have pain, numbness or tingling sensations in your carpal tunnel area.

The carpal tunnel is the internal tunnel, or passageway, through your wrist.  Nerves and blood vessels pass through this "tunnel."  If this area gets compressed for any reason, uncomfortable sensations can result.

Compression can result from movements which aggravate your wrist or arm, or from swelling of the tissues.  Swelling and compression are the result of incorrect and repetitive use of the hands, arms and body.

Whether what you have is called carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive stress injury or something else, the cure is basically the same.

Because the cause is basically the same: soft tissue irritation and muscle imbalance.  Some people might say "soft tissue damage," but I don't want you to think in any way that you are "damaged." 

You're not!

Soft tissue is everything which is not bone.  Muscles, skin, nerves and everything else which is not bone is soft tissue. 

The good news is that soft tissue problems can be made better, and carpal tunnel syndrome is

Carpal Tunnel Pain - Can It Be Caused By The Way You Sleep?

Carpal tunnel pain has many causes.  Here's a cause for carpal tunnel pain you probably didn't think about yet:  the way you sleep.

What?  Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by sleeping?  Here's how.

Kay said to me, "I don't remember a lot of the stuff in your carpal tunnel tips booklet, but I remember the part about sleeping on your back to keep your chest open, and I do that.  And my wrists do hurt less!"

When we sleep on our sides, our shoulders generally get squashed forward, toward our chest.  This position shortens our chest muscles,  And, lots of times we have both our arms curled up on our chest, too. 

When we sleep all squashed and rolled forward like this, the muscles that attach our chest to our arms tend to get short.

This is not good!

This causes discomfort in the carpal tunnel area - our arms, hands and wrists (along with many others places, like our back.)  This can cause carpal tunnel syndrome.

But, opening up and stretching our chest muscles is good.  Stretching our arms and legs back (behind) us is good for us.  This helps correct and get rid of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Think of a cat, or a dog, or a baby.  Think about how they stretch.

All of them stretch long, and open, and outward, away from the centers.  They do this every time they wake up or get up from a rest.

And so should we.

Stretching like that is a great way to start getting rid of our carpal tunnel syndrome.

We used to stretch, but we forgot about doing that as we grew up and became shy or self-conscious about calling attention to ourselves.

If you're still shy about