Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the most common hand conditions that we see patients for. As a condition of the hands that causes tingling, pain, numbness, and even some swelling, carpal tunnel syndrome can be little bit painful and irritating to deal with. When it comes to treating carpal tunnel, there are a variety of things that you can do including surgery. However, because nobody wants to do surgery, we have a few other things that we may encourage you to try first.
Hand Braces
Certain movements can irritate your carpal tunnel joint and cause it to become even more inflamed. One way to neutralize your wrist and hand (carpal tunnel joint) is to demobilize it with a hand brace. Typically, we only encourage patients to wear these hand braces at night while they’re sleeping, but there are some instances in which you may have to wear a brace while you are typing.
Physical Therapy
During physical therapy, our hand therapists will teach you ways that you can stretch your hands and strengthen them; that way you experience fewer symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. However, just like with any sort of physical therapy, hand therapy will only be as effective as the patient, meaning that if you put in the work, you should see results. Whereas if you don’t put the work in, you likely won’t see results.
Ibuprofen
Depending on the swelling that you are experiencing in your hands, it will help us determine whether or not ibuprofen will be effective for you. Ibuprofen is a great way to help patients not only get rid of chronic swelling but pain as well. However, just like most medications, it isn’t a long term solution.
If none of these solutions work for you, then we may have to consider surgery. If you want to learn more about how we can help you alleviate your carpal tunnel symptoms, contact us at our Merrillville office at (219) 795-3360.
