How to Heal Wrist Pain and Why Chances Are You Don’t Have Carpal Tunnel
For better or for worse, the world is becoming computerized. That means that more and more people now have full time jobs that require typing on a keyboard. It also means that more than ever, people are complaining about chronic wrist pain. The good news is that most of the time, wrist pain is completely curable.
[The lure of success in your profession may tempt you to ignore your wrist pain. Remember that true success is doing great with your career while keeping your body strong and pain free to enjoy life. That's what this blog is all about.]
The bad news is that your doctor might not properly understand wrist pain and how to cure it, and will then target the symptoms of your pain rather than the underlying problem. Fortunately, by virtue of reading this article, you’ll be one step closer to understanding wrist pain and getting your pain cured.
The Causes of Wrist Pain
Wrist pain can be caused by a multitude of reasons, including a wrist strain or sprain, carpal tunnel syndrome, inflammation of the tendons (tendinitis), and arthritis, which we’re not going to discuss here. Both strains and sprains have various definitions depending on who you ask. For our purposes, we’ll define a strain as a stretched or injured tendon, and a sprain as a stretched or injured ligament. Carpal tunnel syndrome is when the median nerve is squeezed and irritated at the wrist. Tendinitis is when the tendon becomes inflamed due to irritation or repetitive stress.
How to Find Out Which Injury You Have
Diagnosing wrist pain is a difficult task. Part of the problem is that the major symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome are numbness and pain in the hand, but those same symptoms can also be present in ligament injuries. Because of this, in my opinion, carpal tunnel syndrome may often be misdiagnosed. Making sure to get a second opinion by a doctor who is knowledgeable in tendons and ligaments, referred pain, and Prolotherapy is a good way to make sure that you weren’t misdiagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome.
How to Prevent Wrist Injuries
We all know that prevention is the best cure. Here are some easy tips that will help you prevent injuring your wrist:
1) Stop – From the moment you feel pain, stop what you’re doing and take a day off. This may be difficult for those of you whose income depends on using your wrist. To help you do this, think about about how much income you’d lose if your wrist is injured to the point you can’t work at all. You’ll then realize that taking a day off isn’t a loss of income, but an investment in having income for life.
2) Use a Wrist Brace as well as an Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse – Construction workers wear hard hats, soccer players wear shin guards, so why don’t computer professionals wear wrist braces? If you’re in a profession that has a lot of wrist movement, then wrist injuries are an occupational hazard. Wearing a wrist brace and using an ergonomic keyboard and mouse is an excellent way to help avoid wrist injuries.
3) Take Breaks and Stretch Your Wrist- Take breaks throughout the day to stretch and relax your wrist. Here are a few stretches for your wrist:
a) Open and close your hand.
b) Stretch out your thumb from your index finger.
c) Slowly Rotate Your Wrist.
d) Pull back your fingers to lightly stretch the wrist and forearm.
e) Gently massage the tendons and ligaments in your wrist.
4) Minimize The Time You’re Using Your Wrist – Try to minimize the amount of time you work with your wrist. You may be a computer professional who needs to work a certain amount of time a day to do your job. In that case, try to limit the time you use the computer for recreational activities.
How to Heal Your Wrist Injury and Get Rid of Your Pain
The first step to healing your wrist injury is getting a proper diagnosis. Ligament and tendon injuries, in my opinion, are often misdiagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome. I suggest seeing a medical professional equipped with detailed knowledge of referred pain from tendons and ligaments who is skilled in Prolotherapy. Once diagnosed, if it turns out that you don’t have carpal tunnel, you should consider receiving Prolotherapy to help heal your injured ligament or tendon. (I have an article on Prolotherapy here)
If you want to get some temporary relief before you’re able to do Prolotherapy, I suggest massaging the tendons and ligaments that are in your wrist, and doing the exercises I recommended for preventing wrist injuries.
Note: Has wrist pain affected you or someone you know? Join the conversation and leave a comment about it!
Also, next week I have an interview coming up with Dr. Hauser, a world reknown doctor who is a big proponent of Prolotherapy. It’s going to be really interesting so stick around. You can automatically get updated when I post by signing up with your email in the upper right corner!
