Among all of work-related traumas, the Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most expensive one. Through the course of his or her entire lifetime the carpal tunnel victim may lose up to $30 000 in medical expenses as well as lost wages.
The Carpal tunnel syndrome generally occurs in adult people and women are three times more likely to develop this condition than men. Initially, the dominant hand is affected and painful sensations are harsh in most cases. The Carpal tunnel syndrome is very common in factory workers and assembly line personnel, including, cleaning, sewing, finishing, meatpacking as well as other similar industries. Although the popular opinion says otherwise, individuals, who are dealing with the data entry at a PC (up to 8 hour daily), are not a category with increased risk of the CTS occurrence.
The definition of CTS
The Carpal tunnel syndrome is an issue of the median nerve that is running from the forearm and to the hand. It occurs once the media nerve is compressed in the carpal tunnel, which is a narrow tunnel in the wrist that is made of soft tissues and bones, including tendons, nerves, ligaments as well as blood vessels. It may result in painful sensations, weakness as well as numbness in one’s wrist and hand – those may radiate into the forearm as well. The Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the most common “entrapment neuropathies” trauma or compression of one’s nerves in his feet or hands.
The CTS symptoms
Numbness, itching, tingling, burning in the thumb or the palm of the hand, middle and index fingers are the most common symptoms. A number of people who are suffering from the Carpal tunnel syndrome claim that their fingers feel absolutely useless and are swollen despite the fact that there are no signs of swelling. Due to the fact that most people are sleeping with their wrists flexed, the first symptoms often occur during sleep. As the condition progresses, the symptoms may begin occurring during the day. Furthermore, weaker grip strength could make it hard to form a fist or grasp smaller objects. A number of people are also developing wasting of muscles at the very base of the thumb and some cannot distinguish cold from hot by touching.
Factors that cause CTS
Seeing how some individuals have much smaller carpal tunnels than others, it makes the median nerve compression much more likely. Other people develop CTS due to a trauma of the wrist that caused swelling, hypothyroidism, diabetes, mechanical problems in the wrist joint, inflammatory arthritis, poor work ergonomics, over-activity of the pituitary gland, repeated use of vibrating hand tools as well as fluid retention during menopause or pregnancy.
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