Double Crush Syndrome & Complex Regional Pain
Double crush syndrome is a condition involving pain, tingling and numbness in your hand, fingers, wrist and arm that occurs when your median nerve is pressed or squeezed at the wrist. The median nerve is housed inside the carpal tunnel which is a tiny, rigid passageway at the base of the hand which includes bones and ligament. Double crush syndrome is also known as carpal tunnel syndrome. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic condition of severe pain typically affecting one arm or leg. It often begins after an injury and includes burning pain which is worse then expected for that injury. Both double crush syndrome and CRPS are painful and may be caused by injury.
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CRPS Symptoms
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Symptoms of complex regional pain syndrome include intense, burning pain in your leg, foot, arm or hand. This pain gets worse over time. Other symptoms of CRPS include joint swelling, stiffness and damage, a decreased ability to move body parts affected by CRPS, and muscle loss, weakness or spasms. You may also discover your skin changes temperature from warm and sweaty to cold, changes color from white to red and blue and is tender, thin and shiny.
Double Crush Symptoms
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Symptoms of double crush syndrome include weakness in your hands, a tendency to drop things, and numbness or tingling in your fingers and hand. This will occur when you are holding something like a phone. As double crush syndrome gets worse the numbness and tingling may become constant. Another symptom of double crush syndrome is pain which moves up from your wrist to your arm and into your shoulder, or down your arm into your palm and fingers. This occurs when you engage in forceful or repetitive movement.
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Causes
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CRPS can be caused by forceful trauma to the arm or leg such as a shrapnel blast or gunshot wound, surgery, heart attack, fractures or infections. It can also be caused by nerve injury. Double crush syndrome is caused by pressure on your median nerve which gives the nerve signals to move muscles and it gives sensation to your fingers. Pressure on the median nerve can be caused by repetitive use or injury of the tendons in your hands and wrists, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and other health conditions.
CRPS Treatment
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Complex regional pain syndrome is treated with non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, naproxen sodium and aspirin which will ease pain and inflammation. Your doctor may choose prescription antidepressants, anticonvulsants, corticosteroids, opiads and for bone loss alendronate and calcitonin. CRPS treatment may include using topical analgesic such as lidocaine, physical therapy, injections of anesthetic to block pain, and electrical nerve or spinal cord stimulation in which electrodes are applied to affected areas to relieve pain.
Double Crush Treatment
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Treatment of double crush syndrome includes resting your hands, applying cold for swelling, using a splint on your wrist while you sleep to ease numbness and tingling, anti-inflammatory drugs for pain and inflammation and corticosteroid injections for pain. Your doctor may recommend surgery to treat double crush syndrome when your condition has not improved with other treatment or lasts longer then six months. In surgery, the ligament pressing on your median nerve will be cut.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Sasha Wolff
