It’s 3 a.m. and you wake up suddenly from a sharp pain pulsing through your wrist and firing into your hand. Wanting to be roused only by the smell of a freshly brewed pot of coffee, you try to fall back asleep, but you cannot shake the feeling that something might be wrong. You ask yourself, “Does this have anything to do with the tingling that I have been feeling in my hand?” “What about the persistent, nagging numbness in my fingers?” Putting these thoughts out of your mind, but pondering one possible explanation – Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - you resolve, after that pot of coffee is finished, to make an appointment with your doctor.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a condition whose name is descriptive of the location that it affects. The medial nerve leads from the arm into the hand and resides within what is called the carpal tunnel. When that area is swollen and irritated, the medial nerve is compressed, causing pain, weakness, tingling, and/or numbness in the hand and fingers.