Carpal tunnel syndrome treatment↓

The carpal tunnel is located on the palm side of your wrist and protects the median nerve. When there’s damage to the tunnel, the nerve can become compressed resulting in tingling/numbness into the fingers and discomfort at the wrist and possibly up the arm. Physical therapy can help you find relief from your symptoms and avoid surgical intervention.

Physical therapy will involve an in depth review of your symptoms. Since the median nerve starts at the neck, your physical therapist will screen your neck and shoulder to rule out any other sources of symptoms. Treatment will likely include activity modification to place less stress on the carpal tunnel, stretches to keep the wrist and hand mobile, mobilization/manual therapy techniques to keep the nerve mobile and strengthening to provide support to the wrist and decrease the compression at the tunnel.
Post-op care:

Do I need surgery?↓

Depends, the large majority of cases do not require surgery despite positive findings on MRI or imaging. Most will resolve with conservative treatment a.k.a physical therapy. During your initial evaluation and even during follow up visits, your physical therapist will educate you on how physical therapy can help with you specific symptoms and whether or not you’ll require a consultation with a surgeon.

How can physical therapy help? ↓

Because the symptoms and pain are individual, each patient will have a different presentation at therapy. A physical therapist will do a thorough medical history review including gathering all the information about your current pain levels, current functional deficits and how this impacts your daily activities. A movement assessment will be performed including observation of activities such as walking or getting in/out of a chair as well as movements specific to your pain location and symptoms. With this information your physical therapist can develop a personalized treatment plan to help relieve your back pain and get you back to your normal routine. Your physical therapist will likely prescribe a combination of exercises, stretches and activities to avoid while you’re recovering as well as advise you on how to resume activities once you find relief.