Carpal tunnel syndrome question?

Besides surgery, are there any other options or home remedies for CTS? For me, it comes and goes in both of my hands. At times, it is very painful and just plain annoying! I've tried the wrist splints, but they don't work. I've heard about getting a shot. But from what I've heard, it is only a temporary fix. If the problem does get even worse, I will probably have to get the procedure done at the doc! Any help will be much appreciated! Thanks!

I used to handle workers' compensation claims and we saw CTS injuries all the time. Usually we would start with physical therapy to see if that would help. If not the next step would be a cortisone injection (the shot you would referring to). If the patient never got relief the final course of action would be surgery. The good news about the surgery is that your wrist is actually better than the average person after words, because they go in and open the carpal tunnel so that the tendons move freer and unrestricted.
CTS is actually very common and many, many people have this but don't know because they do not do repetitive activities that would cause pain and/or numbness. After doing a bunch of house and yard work recently, I am positive I have it too, but since my normal daily activities are not repetitive, after I get over the initial pain, I am doing fine and doubt any additional treatment is necessary.

I would never get a surgery for CTS unless my bone structure were deformed or altered in an accident. When it comes to CTS, the problem rarely has a thing to do with the actual carpel tunnel area that they would operate upon. Ten to one says the area to the upper outside of your chest has clumps that need broken up (massage them out, and keep working on them til they are gone). You are also likely to have similar clumps throughout your arms. Pressing upwards at the base of your hand (in the hollow where your rist is) should alieve some of the pressure. A good massage therapist that claims to be good at resolving carpel tunnel should be able to rid the problem for you (I definately could, and I am aware of many others who also could, techniques vary though but results are often immediate and permanent... all depends on the skill level of the practitioner).

I think the best course to take is to address the cause of the problem. Is your CTS caused by using the computer? Is it aggravated by other activities?

For instance, mine was aggravated by riding a bicycle. I didn't want to stop riding, but when I did, my CTS got better. Any activity that stresses the hands or wrist or bends the hand backwards toward the wrist will aggravate CTS. Sometimes there are alterate ways to do an activity that are better. For instance, when doing yoga, put your hands in a fist, rather than palm down. This eliminates the bent backwards stress.

As for the comptuer, there's several things you can do. If you're associated with a large company or school, there's probably a person who can give you an ergonomic assessment and recommend behavior changes.

The easiest changes to make are: 1) Use a wrist pad for both the keyboard and mouse. This reduces the backward bending. 2) Don't tilt your keyboard up at the back, for the same reason. 3) Use proper posture and keep your keyboard at the correct height. The ideal is to sit up straight and have your elbows form a right angle. 4) Consider switching the mouse to the other hand, or even using a Dvorak keyboard layout, which reduces hand movement. (Google it or see http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/Dvorak/).

I had it. I know that the surgery doesn't sound like a good idea, but in the long run it ssaved me from pain. Mine came and went, but without the surgery I wouldn't be able to play drums anymore. The surgery helped me out better then anything else I tried.
The shot is a temp. fix, that depending on how bad it is , may not even affect it. It hurts to get the shot, makes teh area stiff, and such, but after a day or so I would need another.

I had carpal tunnel in both hands and had the surgery. I also wore the sprints and didn't help.I was so miserable before the surgery. Believe me, having the surgery was a blessing! My surgery was 9 years ago. The only problems now is that my fingertips tingle a little when my hands get real cold. I had one hand done at a time. They just made a cut across my wrist and went into the hand from there to fix the nerve. Healing time was pretty fast. They can cut you across your hand,but I wouldn't advise surgery this way. It takes a lot longer to heal, and I have heard of the hands drawing up. I hope this helps.