There are 8 small bones known as carpal bones of the wrist. A ligament (also known as retinaculum) is located in front of the wrist. Between this muscle and carpal bones in a space called the carpal tunnel. The muscles that attach the forewarn muscles to the fingers that passed through the carpal tunnel. A main nerve to the hand (median nerve) also passes through this tunnel before dividing into smaller divisions in the palm of your hand.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is numbness, tingling, weakness, and other problems in the hand caused by pressure on the median nerve in the wrist. The median nerve along with tendons run along the forearm to the hand into a small space in the wrist. Adding pressure along the median nerve causes the carpal tunnel to become smaller. Additional causes for this disease is injury or trauma to the wrist such as a sprain or a fracture. Medical problems such as an enlarged pituitary gland, hypothyroidism, and fluid retention during menopause can all cause this disease. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and strokes states that women are more likely to have this disorder compared to men because a women’s carpel tunnel is smaller.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition treated by orthopedists. The carpal tunnel is a narrow structure inside of your wrist which houses flexor tendons and the median nerve, both of which are protected by a type of tissue called synovium. When the synovium swells, pressure is put on the nerve, resulting in numbness in the palm side of the thumb and long fingers. Many factors can cause the synovium to swell and crowd the median nerve including heredity, hormonal fluctuations, hand usage, age, and medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. There are several symptoms that indicate carpal tunnel syndrome. These are often experienced when holding a steering wheel while driving or at
Flynn TW, Cleland JA, Whitman JM. Users' guide to the musculoskeletal examination. Fundamentals for the evidence-based clinician. United States:Evidence in Motion; 2008.
There are many different types of disease that can affect our hands mobility like Dupuytren’s Disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis but, one of the most well-known hand disease that affect millions of people is known as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. What is Carpal Tunnel syndrome you ask? Well in this essay we will discuss the symptoms, treatment and the history of this disease and how it can affect your everyday life?
DOI: 06/04/2008. The patient is a 61-year-old female dispatcher who sustained a work-related injury to her right hand and arm due to repetitive duties. As per OMNI entry, she is status post right proximal median nerve decompression on 05/12/11 and right carpal tunnel release on 09/26/11.
DOI: 9/30/2014. Patient is a 28-year-old female research assistant who alleges pain and weakness in her hands/wrist as a result of repetitive scooping dirt from soil barrels. As per OMNI entry, the patient was diagnosed with cervicobrachial syndrome (diffuse), right carpal tunnel syndrome and insomnia. She is status post endoscopic carpal tunnel release (CTR) on 09/24/2015 for the right and on 06/02/2015 for the left side.
The hand is a very important extremity attached to the human body and is used in everyday life. Humans use it doing almost everything. The major systems the body uses to be able to move the hands are the skeletal, muscular and nerves systems. The skeletal system of the hand involves the bones, such as, eight carpal bones, five metacarpal and fourteen finger bones (Istitute for Quality & Efficiency in Health Care, 2013). All connected by joints and ligaments. The muscles include two parts, the thenar eminence and the hypothenar eminence (Istitute for Quality & Efficiency in Health Care, 2013). The thenar eminence moves the base of the thumb, also lets the thumb touch the four fingers; the hypothenar eminence allows the little finger to bend
Patient is a 57-year-old male fuel tank driver who sustained cumulative trauma on 2/7/2004 due to repetitive movement caused by delivering fuel. As per QME dated 1/25/14, the patient has numbness in the fingers and the patient is diagnoses that he has carpal tunnel syndrome. The left wrist had undergone carpal tunnel surgery; however, he gets numbness from the wrist up into his forearm and numbness in the fingertips. It was also noted that on 12/5/13, the patient complains of shoulder pain bilaterally at 7/10. It is constant and goes into noth arms, along with weakness with numbness in the hands, decreased ability to perform activities of daily living, and impared grip. The pain in the bilateral shoulders is constant and aching with intermittent
Carpal Tunnel syndrome is a very common disease that cures in months, and affects more than 3 million people per year. Carpal tunnel is numbness and tingling of the arm and hand due to a pinched nerve in the wrist.Carpal tunnel is not a serious disease but if you were to get carpal tunnel it would cause you enough pain in the night to wake you up. But by moving the fingers you can ease the pain in your wrist, forearm, or
Symptoms can vary from patient to patient depending on the severity of the compression (ACSN, 2015). Paresthesia, the ‘pins and needles’ feeling, in the fourth and fifth digit and pain at the elbow are the most common signs of cubital tunnel syndrome. Grip strength may also decrease as the condition worsens along with muscle atrophy in the hand. The patients might have a positive Tinel sign, which is tested by simply tapping on the ulnar nerve and seeing if the sensation of tingling or “pins and needles” is reproduced. The Wartenberg sign is positive if the patient is unable to abduct the fifth digit to the rest of the hand. This shows that there is weakness in the ulnar innervated intrinsic muscles of the hand (Guardia, Berman, & Lorenzo,
DOI: 8/6/2015. Patient is a 51-year-old female licensed vocational nurse who sustained a work-related injury to her back and hips while moving a client. As per OMNI, she was diagnosed with muscle spasm, pain over the low back and thoracic region. She is status post right carpal tunnel release on 02/26/16.
DIAGNOSIS: Strain of muscle, fascia, and tendon at neck level; Carpal tunnel syndrome, unspecified right limb,;Carpal tunnel syndrome, unspecified left limb; Status post left carpal tunnel release; and Adhesive capsulitis of right shoulder (M75.01).
Carpal tunnel syndrome causes pain in your wrist because the nerve is irritated from inflamed tendons. This often comes about due to a repetitive motion you make during work. While stopping the motion and rest might help you heal faster, that's difficult to do when your condition is caused by your job. Therefore you need to find effective treatment, and unfortunately, that is often tricky with this painful condition. Even surgery isn't always a permanent solution. One treatment to consider is chiropractic care. Here's a look at some treatments you chiropractor might recommend to help with carpal tunnel syndrome.
There is tenderness with motion of the wrist. Strength is 4/5. She is tender over the first dorsal extensor compartment and has a positive Finkelstein’s test. Assessment includes internal derangement of the right wrist, status post right wrist arthroscopy and De Quervain’s tendinitis of the right wrist/thumb. Patient will benefit from an additional course of PT to enhance and restore strength and function of her right wrist. She will benefit from a thumb spica splint to allow her tendinitis to resolve. She will continue applying her Voltaren gel.