CARPAL TUNNEL AND NERVE ENTRAPMENT SYNDROMES
It is out of my scope of practice to diagnose carpal tunnel, but I can recognize and treat the symptoms. I am one of the few who have the training to treat carpal tunnel with therapeutic massage. I have become aware of a number of clients who are either developing, or have already developed, nerve entrapment or carpal tunnel symptoms. The three major nerves that account for approximately 90% of nerve compression or entrapment in the arm are the ulnar, radial, and media.
Any compression of these nerves along their pathways from the neck to the fingertips can cause a client to experience the symptoms below.
NUMBNESS IN THE HAND
· PAIN IN THE WRIST AND FOREARM
· SLEEP INTERRUPTED BY PAIN
· PAIN SHOOTING DOWN THE ARM
· FINGER NUMBNESS
· WEAKNESS/CLUMSINESS OF THE HAND RESULTING IN PROBLEMS GRASPING
· HARDNESS OF THE HANDS
· LIMITED RANGE OF MOTION OF WRIST OR FINGERS
· SWELLING OF FOREARMS, HANDS, OR FINGERS
· THE FINGERS, HANDS, WRIST, FOREARMS, OR ELBOWS GET INCREASINGLY HARDER TO MOVE
· SWELLING AROUND THE JOINTS OF THE ELBOWS, HANDS, WRISTS, OR FINGERS
· ADHESION (connective tissue stuck to surrounding structures) IN THE ARM
In figure 1, you can see how many nerves are in the arm and how they branch out through the muscles in the forearm. In figure 2, in the body-reading photo (before) you notice how the hands and arm are contracting. The tight fibers in the forearm muscles and upper arm, contract around the nerves, causing all or some of the symptoms above. In figure 3, you can see the difference in the hands and arm after the carpal tunnel protocol, and how the muscles are now stretched and more relaxed, in one session. The other photos are a client with elbow pain and numbness in the hand before and after treatment
Primary long-term goals: How would it be to enjoy a normal life without pain? Example: By using myofascial release techniques, a computer operator who comes in with pain and nerve entrapment symptoms such as carpal tunnel, will be able to return pain free to a normal life following treatment. This is what every step of this treatment is aiming to for. This goal can be obtained and is only limited by circumstances where a client is doing activities to injure ones self, such as lifting weights or over exercising during the healing process.
Short-term goals that will help the client achieve the primary long term goals: Reduce pain, release the strain pattern, restore full range of motion, regain strength, regain coordination, and soften hardened tissues. With the accomplishment of each short-term goal, the client is that much closer to pain free, normal, everyday activities. When all these short-term goals are met, the primary long-term goal is achieved.
Specific goals for an area that will achieve the short-term goals: Release the forward rotation of the shoulder and arm, release the compression on the brachial plexus, release the adhesions that affect the median, radial or lunar nerve, reduce schema (underlying pattern), reduce swelling and inflammation, deactivate trigger points, release myofascial (connective tissue separating muscles) holding patterns, normalize scar tissue, separate bunched groups of muscle fibers. These goals are all specific to the results we want from the actual work of our hands. As these goals are met, we will achieve the short-term goals, and ultimately the primary goal.
Why Manage Pain, When You Can Get Rid of It?
Copyright © 2013 Dennis E. Lutz All rights reserved.
