What You Need to Know about Carpal Tunnel
How your Orland Park doctor at Salvatore Fanto, MD can help you
Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by nerve compression at your wrist and results in numbness, tingling and loss of strength in your hand and arm. The carpal tunnel is a narrow tunnel containing the median nerve, a main nerve in your hand which controls the nine tendons that bend your fingers. If you have carpal tunnel syndrome, Dr. Salvatore Fanto, MD in Orland Park, IL wants to help correct your carpal tunnel syndrome and relieve your symptoms.
Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the carpal tunnel space is narrowed, leading to median nerve compression. There are many reasons why the carpal tunnel space can narrow, including wrist fractures, chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and work-related repetitive motion activities like computer keyboarding.
Dr. Salvatore Fanto wants you to try a few simple tips at home to ease your symptoms, such as:
- Taking breaks while you are doing repetitive, hand-intensive activities
- Taking over-the-counter pain medications including ibuprofen, aspirin or naproxen
- Stretching your palms and fingers and rotating your wrists
- Wearing an over-the-counter wrist splint while you sleep and try not to sleep on your hands
You need to see Dr. Fanto as early as you can, even if you have minor symptoms. He will diagnose the severity of your carpal tunnel syndrome and treat accordingly. For less severe cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, he may suggest non-surgical treatments including:
- Custom-made wrist splints--to wear while you sleep
- Anti-inflammatory medications--to help relieve pain and reduce swelling
- Corticosteroid injections--to reduce swelling and pressure on the median nerve
For severe cases of carpal tunnel syndrome that don’t respond to non-surgical therapies, Dr. Fanto may suggest surgery. During carpal tunnel surgery, the ligament that presses on your median nerve is cut, to relieve pressure. There are two methods of surgical therapy:
- Endoscopic surgery--which is performed using an endoscope to go inside your carpal tunnel and cut the ligament, through one or two tiny incisions in your wrist or hand
- Open surgery--during which Dr. Fanto will make a larger incision in your palm over the carpal tunnel; he will cut through the ligament to relieve pressure on your median nerve