It may be the results of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. AKA CTS or CTD (carpal tunnel disease) is a disorder that affects the muscles of the wrist and palm.
CTS or CTD is caused by repetitive injury which leads to compression of the median nerve. Compression of the median nerve can occur from swelling of the tendon and ligament of the carpal tunnel. This median nerve runs down the length of the forearm, and enters the wrist though the carpal tunnel. The median controls the movement and feelings of your thumb and the movement of all your fingers, except your little pinky.
The pain will include burning, tingling or itching and numbness in your palm, thumb or your index and middle fingers. Weakness in your hand and trouble holding things, shock like feeling that move into your fingers.
Prevention to this pain is to keep your wrists straight, use a splint or brace keeping your wrist in a neutral position, avoid flexing and extending your wrists over and over again. Ibuprofen and Tylenol can be of help.
The average age for CTS is 45-54 and the ratio is 3 to 1 vs. women to men. There are 8 million people that suffer from CTS.
The highest rate of work that leads to CTS are; apparel manufacturing, textile workers, telephone operators, mechanical assemblers, food and coffee shop attendants, to name a few.
Now, even in this pandemic we are trotting through, many of us are on the computer daily. Not for a minute but for hours and hours of Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, Webinars, Cisco, WebEx and it goes on and on, from morning to night. This additional grouping of workers now leads to surgery.
There were 250,000 surgeries for carpal tunnel repairs this past year! A recent CDC report indicates that 36% of carpal tunnel cases require long term, ongoing and unlimited medical treatment.
The most common surgery is severing the ligament around the wrist to alleviate pressure on the median nerve. This CTS is the second largest surgery in the country following back surgery!
Slow down and take breaks!
To Your health!
Jim
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