Carpal Tunnel Syndrome? We’ll Give You a Hand with That!
Symptoms associated with carpal tunnel syndrome (commonly referred to as wrist pain and sometimes repetitive strain injury (RSI)) usually include numbness, tingling, pins and needles as well as weakness of the hand. The issue stems from the median nerve not working as it should.
It was commonly thought that the pinching of the median nerve was resulting in carpal tunnel syndrome through repetitive movement or awkward wrist positioning. We (ABC™ practitioners) now know through the work and research of Dr. Alf Breig that it is instead stretch on the nerve that causes abnormal function or the nerve to stop working all together.
The carpal tunnel is a narrow passage in your wrist through which muscles and tendons as well as the median nerve pass through.
The median nerve is the main nerve of the front of the forearm. It supplies nerve impulses from the central nervous system to the muscles of the front of your forearm and muscles of the hand. It also provides feeling from the hand.
Problems with this nerve can result in weakness, numbness, pins and needles and pain in the hand and forearm.
Traditional methods of treating carpal tunnel would involve daily stretching as well as the wearing of a wrist splint at night. Failing this, patients would next be referred for surgery. Sadly, this is often also unsuccessful as it focuses on the symptom and not the cause.
In some rare cases a tumour pressing on the associated nerve can also result in carpal tunnel syndrome and can be the reason for failure of the traditional methods. However, it is becoming more apparent that the reason for failure in the overwhelming majority of cases is because they do not tackle the underlying problem.
Unfortunately, the state of healthcare has become more and more allopathic (symptom chasing) in its approach. In other words, they focus solely on symptoms and suppressing them through the use of drugs and/or surgery. By employing a microcosmic approach and only focusing on the symptom area, Doctors and the like are failing to take the macro-cosmic (bigger picture) view and to look at the entire body as a whole. Things are all too often missed with such an approach as a result. It’s no wonder treatments often make little to no change.
Our approach to the problem is instead more holistic, where we treat your body as a whole.
Looking back at the median nerve we can see how it not just runs through the wrist but also all the way up the arm, past the shoulder and up to the neck. Inside the vertebra (bones) of the neck, the nerves are attached to the spinal cord, which is attached to your brain.
Dr. Alf Breig researched and published his work in his book Adverse Mechanical Tension in the Central Nervous System: An Analysis of Cause and Effect: Relief by Functional Neurosurgery in 1978 that showed how stretch on nerves would cause many of the symptoms we see in carpal tunnel syndrome. He determined how flexion (looking down) would increase stretch on nerves, therefore worsening symptoms.
We now know that poor posture is as a result of misaligned bones in your body, particularly the spine. When this occurs you become stuck in a forward or ‘flexed’ posture, creating tension on your nerves. In the case of carpal tunnel syndrome, what makes matters worse is the muscles around the front of your shoulder as well as misalignment of the collar bone and upper ribs can also pinch and stretch the nerves as they pass between them.
Often the median nerve will be stretched along its entire length and not just one area. Remember the body is a whole and works together. By focusing on correcting your body alignment through Advanced BioStructural Correction™ (ABC™) we can quickly reduce the stretch on your median nerve.
This involves;
- Releasing any spinal cord lesions hindering movement and nerve function (meningeal release)
- Improving position of 1st and 2nd ribs
- Correcting the overall shape of your spine to reduce mechanical stretch
- Correcting the alignment of your legs and feet to maintain corrections of the torso above
Doing all of the above not only reduces stretch on the nerve(s) but also helps relax various muscles, offering immediate relief in those areas!
It is often the case that those displaying one or more of the following signs will at some point require treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome;
- A very forward head posture.
- A hump at the base of the neck.
- A flattening of the spine between the shoulder blades.
- Rounded shoulders.
- Poor chest function leading to breathing issues.
Many individuals will have other issues alongside carpal tunnel complaints such as; poor sleep quality, headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain and lower back pain. Given that we employ a holistic total body approach to healthcare as well as targeting the root of the problem, we find that all these other issues usually resolve too.
This is because the nerves can immediately recover their function once the tension is released. Sometimes it can take about 10 days for a nerve to return to full function but, if you are diabetic or have other issues that affect your nerves, this can take longer or prevent a full recovery (although this situation is rare).
Each treatment releases and unlocks your body and therefore several treatments are required to achieve a life-changing difference. Long-term treatment is needed to completely correct the deep-seated injuries that created the misalignments in the first place. This long-term journey is called ‘unwinding’ and is needed to remove the majority of the underlying cause.
Quite often those undergoing ABC™ care will find they can make do with less of and even eventually completely stop whatever medications they were taking (all of which have serious side-effects) to help their respective ailment(s) not just carpal tunnel syndrome.
Our goal is to help you get back to health and be the best you can be. Let us get to the root cause of your ailment(s). We offer a FREE consultation including a demo of the ‘First Rib Manoeuver’ before you decide on proceeding with any treatment. You will feel the difference to your pain and movement right from the off.