CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME:
New Thoughts:
Carpal tunnel syndrome can be thought
of as two separate diseases:
Acute carpal tunnel syndrome - this is the most easily treated portion of the disease.
It consists of the acute symptoms - awakening at
night, positional numbness, numbness and pain with use.
The second disease is the Chronic Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - this is much
more difficult to treat.
This consists of the constant numbness and pain that some patients experience. Many
patients with long-standing carpal tunnel syndrome also have muscle weakness and atrophy.
While the acute onset symptoms usually respond immediately
or almost immediately to carpal tunnel release surgery; the long-standing, chronic numbness tends to take much longer to respond
to nerve release, if at all. This is due to the scar and fibrosis that occurs within the nerve due to the chronic pressure
on the nerve.
