How to Treat and Prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome With Massage

Could that irritating pain in your hand and wrist be caused by carpal tunnel syndrome? Detecting the symptoms can help you determine the cause so that you stop making it worse and prevent future recurrences. Carpal tunnel syndrome is usually caused by repetitive flexing of the wrists. People who write or type a lot are prone to this kind of injury. What happens is that the muscles in your wrist tighten over time and compress the median nerve that runs from your shoulder down through your forearm and then it splits off midway inside your hand to each finger. You can usually tell that it's carpal tunnel syndrome by the distribution of numbness and pain toward from the outside of your wrist closets to your pinky to your middle finger and all the area of your palm in between. You probably also have a sense of tightness deep in the middle of your palm and wrist. If you have it or think might be getting it, here are some effective ways to treat it with deep-tissue massage.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• just your hands

1. Place your thumb on the bottom of the middle of your wrist right where your arm meets your hand. Apply firm pressure all around the area. You might feel small knots deep inside the muscle. These are the places that need to be massaged the most. Think of massage as a way to "iron out" and loosen the knots in your muscles.

2. Pull on your hand. Try pulling on each finger gently until you feel a slight "pop" in your knuckles. To go a step further, try holding onto each finger so that it stays in place while you move and twist the rest of your hand and wrist. This may help relieve some of the pent-up tightness deep inside your hand.

3. Take your massaging hand and use it to bend your fingers back. Turn your arm upsidedown so that the undersides of your wrist face up and the fingers point down.

4. Try kneading the top of your forearm around your elbo. You might be surprised to feel it relieve many muscles at once especially the ones in the top of your hand.

5. To prevent it carpal tunnel syndrome in the future, keep your wrist and hands unbent when you type and write. Be sure to stretch and massage your hands on a regular basis.