"Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:
Gadgets and Alternatives"
I've noticed many patients use gadgets to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.
But is this a good choice or another fad? Sometimes our health advice
comes from friends, family, and customers at the local health food
store. I am sure you were given a persuasive story before buying. Late
night TV infomercials are used too often for medical advice. If your
carpal tunnel symptoms show up at night, you may have fallen prey to
these sales pitches. There are lots of snake-oil salesmen to take
advantage of this often debilitating and frustrating condition which
affects millions every year.
Copper bracelets and magnets seem to be particularly in style today. But do these and similar gadgets even work?
There are a couple of studies looking at herbs and magnets. According
to the research there is very little evidence that these devices do
anything at all. There are no studies on copper-so I guess the jury is
still out on that question. However, they don't pass the smell test in
my opinion. These gadgets are probably safe, except for making your skin
turn a little green from a copper bracelet.
What about yoga? Surprisingly, one clinical trial of 51 patients over
eight weeks showed that doing yoga improved carpal tunnel symptoms
better than using a wrist splint.
As far as chiropractic care, there is some evidence that mobilization
movements can help ease symptoms. In the short term, chiropractic care
is at least as effective at reducing pain when compared to taking
powerful pain-killing drugs.
The first step is to make sure you are properly diagnosed. There are
too many patients who get incorrect diagnoses or have resigned
themselves to taking pills for indefinite periods of time.
One important consideration is whether your hand symptoms are from a
neck injury. Injury to nerves in the neck and wrist can lead to what is
known as double-crush syndrome. The wrist and the neck, needs to be
examined to get a thorough diagnosis. There are also rare causes of
carpal tunnel syndrome, such as diabetes, which has to be considered.