What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?:

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=88

Carpal tunnel syndrome is numbness, tingling and pain in the thumb and fingers of one or both hands.

It is caused by pressure on the nerve that passes into the hand. Carpal tunnel syndrome is more common in women than in men.

One survey found that it affects 7% of women, compared with 1% of men.

The condition can occur at any age, but tends to affect those in their 40s and 50s.

The carpal tunnel is a narrow space at the front of your wrist.

The tendons that bend the fingers and wrist pass through this space.

A tough ligament, known as the retinaculum, covers the carpal tunnel and prevents the tendons pulling away from your wrist when it is bent.

The main nerve to your hand is called the median nerve, and also passes through the carpal tunnel, before dividing into smaller branches in your palm.

Space in the carpal tunnel is limited, and there is no room for the tendons to expand.

Therefore any swelling in the region will compress the median nerve and interfere with nerve impulses.

This can cause pain, which may become prolonged and intense, making it difficult to grip things.

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?: www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=1536819203

Carpal tunnel syndrome results from compression of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel and is characterised by painful paraesthesiae of the fingers and hand.

It is a consequence of the tight packing of tendons and the median nerve in the carpal tunnel such that any swelling is likely to cause ischaemia and compression of the nerve.

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?: www.dwp.gov.uk/medical/med_conditions/mi...rpal_tunnel_syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition that occurs when there is too much pressure on the median nerve as it passes through the wrist.

As a result, there is usually aching, numbness or tingling in the thumb, some of the fingers (index and middle predominantly), and sometimes part of the hand.

Weakness of the small muscles at the base of the thumb may also occur.

The carpal tunnel is a narrow rigid passageway or channel in the palm side of the wrist.

The bones of the wrist are arranged in a semi-circle, and a tough ligament (the carpal ligament) forms a roof over them.

This creates a passageway – the carpal tunnel.

Running though the carpal tunnel are tendons that bend (flex) the fingers and wrist, and the median nerve.

This is one of two nerves that allow feeling in the palm side of the hand.

The median nerve also controls some of the hand muscles, the most important of which controls certain thumb movements.

There is little room for expansion in the carpal tunnel.

If swelling of the tissues in or around the tunnel occurs, the tunnel becomes narrowed.

This leads to pressure or squeezing of the median nerve, causing the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?: www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/335/7615/343

Summary points: www.bmj.com/cgi/content/short/335/7615/343

*Carpal tunnel syndrome is the commonest cause of nocturnal hand paraesthesias and should be suspected in any patient with this symptom, whatever age

*Initial treatment should be with neutral angle splinting at night; milder cases may be treated with local steroid injection before further investigation

*Refer more severe cases—those with thenar weakness, sensory deficit, and daytime symptoms—for nerve conduction studies and possible surgery

*Either open or endoscopic surgery may be used depending on availability of local expertise

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?: www.neurosurgerytoday.org/what/patient_e/carpal.asp

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common problem that affects the use of your hand, and is caused by compression of the median nerve at the wrist.

It most often occurs when the median nerve in the wrist becomes inflamed after being aggravated by repetitive movements such as typing on a computer keyboard or playing the piano.

It also seems to affect professional artists fairly commonly – in particular, sculptors and printmakers.

The \"carpal tunnel\" is formed by the bones, tendons and ligaments that surround the median nerve.

Since the median nerve supplies sensation to the thumb, index and middle finger, and part of the ring finger, and provides motion to the muscles of the thumb and hand, you might notice numbness and weakness in these areas.

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?: www.mayoclinic.com/health/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/DS00326

Introduction: www.mayoclinic.com/health/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/DS00326

Some people might think that carpal tunnel syndrome is a new condition of the information technology age, born from long hours of computer keyboarding.

But carpal tunnel syndrome isn't new.

Evidence of people experiencing signs and symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome occurs in medical records dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.

Bounded by bones and ligaments, the carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway — about as big around as your thumb — located on the palm side of your wrist.

This tunnel protects a main nerve to your hand and nine tendons that bend your fingers.

Pressure placed on the nerve produces the numbness, pain and, eventually, hand weakness that characterize carpal tunnel syndrome.

Fortunately, for most people who develop carpal tunnel syndrome, proper treatment usually can relieve the pain and numbness and restore normal use of the wrists and hands.