31 May My hand is numb, do I have Carpal Tunnel?
Are portions of your hand going numb? Do you feel hand numbness in certain fingers? Do your fingers tingle or do you get sharp shooting pains in to your hands?
Many people come to my office telling me “my hand is numb, do I have Carpal Tunnel”? In 90% of those cases, and sadly even some they have been to the MD for, it is not the correct diagnosis.
What is carpal tunnel? You have an indentation within the many bones of your wrist that the muscles that control the flexion of your fingers and your median nerve passes through. It supplies the palm of your hand and first three fingers. When you are having carpal tunnel symptoms you are getting compression of the median nerve AT your carpal tunnel.
Many times, even though you have numb fingers, the compression is happening somewhere else. Often, I find the patient’s forearm to be full of trigger points (tiny painful adhesions between the muscles) that are causing hand numbness. You can also have hand numbness that is caused by problems with your neck. If the small holes between the bones of your spine where your nerves exit are causing compression or pressure to build up around your nerves, whatever they supply is not going to get the message.
With any of these issues, your first stop should be a chiropractor. We are trained to diagnose and treat these problems as well as many others. If you give chiropractic care a fair chance to work, listen to your doctor’s recommendations and still find after a couple weeks your symptoms aren’t improving, the chiropractor can refer you on for advanced imaging or diagnostics, physical therapy or even a neurologist consult. Please give us a call at 918-940-4630 to schedule your visit with Dr. Travis Ring DC with Eastern Oklahoma Chiropractic.