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Find out where the nerve is actually compressed
This is the entire point. The examination looks at the wrist, the elbow AND the cervical spine, because a nerve can be irritated anywhere along its length.
Health conditions · Carpal tunnel
The nerve in your wriststarts in your neck.
Carpal tunnel release is one of the most commonly performed surgeries in the country. It is also one of the most commonly misdiagnosed conditions — which are two facts that belong in the same sentence.
Down the arm into the wrist, hand and thumb. The median nerve runs from the cervical spine all the way to the hand.
What carpal tunnel syndrome actually is
Patient education — general information about the condition, not medical advice about your body. Only an examination can tell you what is going on with yours.
The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway in your wrist. The median nerve passes through it — and the median nerve does not begin at the wrist. It originates in the cervical spine and runs the length of the arm. Any swelling in that tunnel compresses the nerve, and the result is carpal tunnel syndrome: tingling, numbness, burning and pain in parts of the hand and wrist, and sometimes the loss of a proper grip.
Women develop it about three times as often as men. The suspected reason is simply that most women have a smaller carpal tunnel to begin with, though that is not settled. Repetitive motion — construction, factory work, typing — is implicated in some cases, and there is evidence genetics plays a role in others, because some people are just born with a narrower tunnel.
Here is the fact worth sitting with. Nearly half of carpal tunnel surgeries do not relieve the symptoms. The leading explanation is misdiagnosis: the symptoms of CTS look a great deal like the symptoms of several other conditions — arthritis, or a subluxation or disc degeneration in the cervical spine irritating the median nerve much further upstream. If the nerve is being compressed at the neck rather than the wrist, operating on the wrist was never going to work.
How it shows up.
Does this sound like you?
Tick what you actually feel.
Not a diagnosis, and not a test — nothing here can tell you what you have. It is a list you can take with you, because everybody forgets half of it the moment a doctor walks into the room.
0 things to mention. However many you ticked, the exam is what tells you anything.
What tends to be behind it
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Compression at the wrist
Swelling inside the carpal tunnel presses on the median nerve where it passes through.
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Compression at the neck
The median nerve originates in the cervical spine. Irritation up there can produce hand symptoms that look exactly like carpal tunnel.
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Repetitive motion
Research points to repetitive work — construction, factory work, typing — as a contributor in some cases.
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Anatomy
Some people simply have a narrower carpal tunnel than others, and there is evidence that genetics plays a part.
How care approaches it
What Dr. Meansactually does about it.
Written as aims, not outcomes — because that is all anyone can honestly promise you before they have examined you.
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Treat the site, not the label
Chiropractic care for CTS can involve gentle manipulation of the wrist, the elbow and the cervical spine — determined by where the exam says the problem is.
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Change the load
Workstation setup, wrist position, and how often you break from a repetitive task. Unglamorous, and it matters.
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Try non-invasive first
Both the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and academic medical centres list chiropractic among the alternative approaches for CTS. Exhausting the conservative option before the surgical one is a defensible order of operations.
Chiropractic care is not a cure for any condition on this page, and no honest clinic will promise you one. What Dr. Means can do is examine you, tell you plainly whether this is something chiropractic care is suited to help with, and refer you elsewhere if it isn't.
If you come in
Here is what actually happens.
Step 01
Free consultation
Call or book online and we'll sit down with you at no cost or obligation. Tell us what's going on and we'll start building the picture.
Read this part
When this is not a chiropractic problem.
Some of what looks like carpal tunnel syndrome is something else, and some of it is urgent. A clinic that only ever tells you it can help is not being straight with you. If any of the following is true, do not book a chiropractic appointment — get medical care.
- Constant numbness that no longer comes and goes — that can signal nerve damage, and left untreated the syndrome can cause permanent damage to the hand or thumb.
- Visible muscle wasting at the base of the thumb.
- Symptoms in both hands together with neck pain and any leg symptoms.
- Sudden weakness or numbness with slurred speech or facial droop — that is not carpal tunnel. Call 911.
This page is general health information, not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for examination by a qualified provider. In an emergency call 911. See our healthcare disclaimer.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, honestly answered.
Including the questions where the answer is no.
Why would you examine my neck for a wrist problem?
Because the median nerve starts in your cervical spine. If it is being irritated there, that is where the problem is — no matter where you feel it.
Is surgery inevitable?
No. It is worth knowing that a large share of CTS surgeries do not relieve symptoms, which is a strong argument for establishing the actual source before anyone operates.
Will a wrist splint help?
Splinting is a common conservative measure, particularly at night. Whether it is right for you depends on what the exam finds.
Can I keep working?
Usually, with modifications. Left untreated, though, CTS can do permanent damage — so it is not a thing to just push through indefinitely.
Often connected
Not sure if this is what you have?
That is what the consultation is for — and it costs you nothing to find out. If it turns out Dr. Means is not the right person for it, he will tell you that too.