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CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME
Ross Hauser,
M.D.
A
recent report out of Sweden says that in a study of the general population of
that country, 14% of Swedes suffer from
chronic wrist pain, and 2% can be
diagnosed as having Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Now if those same results hold true
in the U.S., then it can be estimated that 5 million people have Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome and that some 37 million people suffer from chronic wrist pain. Not so
fast says the University of Michigan School of Public Health who questioned the
study's results. Researchers there say that the Swedish study was using
electrical conductivity tests that may have skewed the tests to show higher
positive pain results.
Additionally the Swedish study said
women were four times more likely to have the problem than men, and overweight
people were more than twice as likely to have chronic wrist pain.
So who do you believe? Well if you have
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome you believe yourself because you are the one in pain!
We all know
where Carpal Tunnel Syndrome comes from: Pressure, damage, or repeated injury to
the median nerve at the wrist. We all also know that wrist surgery has limited
and widely varying degrees of success in treating it. Women are more likely to
have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome because it has been linked to
pregnancy, PMS, and
menopause. Where typing at a keyboard is also a major factor, this one time
realm of women office workers is now nearly equally shared by men as the number
of computer related jobs increase among the male population.
Other factors for Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome include rheumatoid arthritis, renal failure,
diabetes, high blood
pressure, and
obesity.
Unfortunately, many patients with elbow and hand pain have been
misdiagnosed
with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. A typical Carpal Tunnel Syndrome patient will
experience pain and numbness in the hand. Because most physicians do not know
the
referral
pain patterns of
ligaments, they do not realize that
cervical
vertebrae 4 and 5 and the
annular ligament can refer pain to the thumb, index,
and middle
fingers.
Ligament laxity can also cause numbness. Cervical and
annular ligament laxity should always be evaluated prior to making a diagnosis
of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome should not be done
until an evaluation is performed by a physician who understands the referral
problems of ligaments and is experienced in
Prolotherapy.
Seldom do patients find relief from
"Carpal Tunnel" complaints of pain in the hand and elbow with
physical therapy and surgery because the diagnosis is wrong. The most common reason for
pain in the elbow referring pain to the hand is weakness in the annular
ligament, not from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Several sessions of Prolotherapy will
easily strengthen the annular ligament and relieve chronic
elbow pain.
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