How to Decrease Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Trish Muse: Hi, I am Trish Muse with Body Productions, Inc. I am a Physical Therapist. Today, I will be showing you how to avoid injuries in the workplace. Next, I am going to show you a stretch that will help to alleviate any discomfort you might be having from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndrome comes when pressure is applied to the median nerve which runs right through your wrist. Anytime there is increase in flow in your fluid or pressure on that nerve you tend to get pain, numbness, tingling or tend to have a decreases tolerance of use with your hands. So one stretch that you can do is to simply straighten out your arm, point your fingers towards the floor and then use your other hand, place it right into the middle of your hand and give a gentle amount of pressure to bring the hand backwards towards yourself. That takes pressure of the median nerve which runs right through the carpal tunnel in your wrist.

So your objective is to try to relieve that pressure by doing this stretch. Another position to do the same stretch is to reach your fingertips upward and bring your hand back towards yourself again. Now, this will simply stretch that area in your wrist. It's going to stretch your wrist. The other position will also help to stretch some of your arm muscle. You want to hold the stretch 20-30 seconds and repeat 3-5 times on each side. So let's go ahead and do that other side. Straighten out the arm, fingers down, apply a gentle amount of pressure with your opposite hand through the middle or your hand and hold there 20-30 seconds. Again, if you are not able to tolerate 20-30 seconds at the same time, try ten seconds and build the duration of your stretch-up as your tolerance increases. Remember, repeat this stretch 3-5 times on each side and you can do it several times throughout the day. This will help you keep pressure off of the median nerve and help to prevent some of the discomfort you might be having from carpal tunnel syndrome.

Next, I will show you how to alleviate pain if you are a frequent user of PDAs, your blackberry or your cell phone with text messaging. This next stretch is for you.