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Making repetitive motions like working on a computer for a prolonged period can make your arm or hand feel numb. If you experience these symptoms of carpal tunnel disorder, it is crucial that you seek treatment before you get permanent nerve damage. J. Michael Bennett, MD, PA, provides treatment for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome in Houston and Sugar Land, Texas.
Symptoms of carpal tunnel disorder
Individuals with carpal tunnel disorder usually get mild symptoms at first, such as numbness that affects some fingers occasionally. You will usually get these symptoms in your middle and index fingers, or even your thumb. Sometimes the numbness can extend to your ring finger.
These symptoms can also affect your arm and wrist. If you have the symptoms of carpal tunnel disorder, your muscles are likely to flare up when you are holding, gripping, or to hold objects. When your muscles are weak, you can end up letting go of these objects.
Causes of carpal tunnel disorder
If you apply pressure on your middle finger regularly, you can get carpal tunnel disorder. This pressure can extend from your fingers to your hand and wrist. The pressure can be caused by the following:
- Menopause, pregnancy, or other conditions that cause your body to retain fluid
- Diabetes and other medical conditions that might cause nerve damage
- Smaller carpal tunnels in your wrist
- Arthritis and other conditions that might affect your joints
- Injuries to your fingers or wrist, like wrist fractures
Carpal Tunnel disorder Treatment
Dr. Bennet and his team will try nonsurgical treatments for carpal tunnel disorder to determine if they will relieve your symptoms. These options include:
- Doing exercises that involve the wrist and hands, such as stretching your fingers and rotating your wrist.
- Maintaining a healthy weight.
- Taking short breaks when undertaking tasks that need you to use your fingers and hands
- Corticosteroid injections to minimize inflammation
- Over-the-counter pain medications that relieve inflammation
Surgical options available for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome
If these medications fail to relieve the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, the physician can recommend carpal tunnel syndrome surgery. The goal of the surgery is to cut a ligament in your palm to take the pressure off your median nerve in the carpal tunnel.
Dr. Bennet recommends surgery for patients with severe symptoms of the condition that might interfere with daily activities, and after nonsurgical methods have failed to relieve these symptoms. He will discuss your options and assist you in deciding the procedure that will be more effective for alleviating your symptoms. Some of the surgical options available at his health center include:
- Open surgery that entails cutting through your palm to remove the ligament that is affecting your median nerve
- Endoscopic surgery entails utilizing a small camera and surgical instruments to cut the ligament that is affecting your median nerve.
If you require treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, please contact J. Michael Bennett, MD PA, today to schedule an appointment. You can reach them by calling their office numbers or using their online scheduling tool.
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