Carpal Tunnel Question

“It is normal to wake up in the morning with numb hands, right?”

Michael
Computer Network Engineer
Des Moines, Iowa

Carpal Tunnel Answers from Doctors:

Thanks for your question, Michael. It reflects a common misconception that people with chronic Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) often develop. In the beginning the person thinks, this is not that bad. I can live with this.

Then after a while begin to believe that living with the annoying symptoms of Carpal Tunnel is normal. Chronic CTS sufferers often think that everyone wakes up with numb tingling hands. The fact is waking up with numb tingling hands in the morning is not normal and it is a classic symptom of CTS. It is not something that you should get used to having.

It really can slow you down in the morning when your hands are numb and tingling. Doing simple tasks to get ready for the day like shaving or putting on makeup or styling your hair become prolonged difficult tasks.

It also makes it harder to get out of bed and face the challenges of the day when your hands don’t function normally and they feel like they are asleep. Your whole body feels reluctant to get moving when your hands are in this state. It is hard enough to get out of bed in the morning without adding one more deterrent, like achy numb hands.

Chronic Carpal Tunnel Syndrome will get worse if it is not addressed. CTS will start waking you up in the middle of the night with numb hands and sometimes painful hands.

It usually interrupts REM Sleep. The body can take hours of sleep before it goes into this deep restorative sleep mode, so when it is interrupted by Carpal Tunnel, the person does not get enough REM Sleep.

Deprivation of REM Sleep can lead to irritability and short tempered behavior in the short-run and more serious metal issues in the long-run if it is not addressed. Your mind needs REM sleep for optimum cognitive function.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can lead to depression and mental illness due to REM sleep deprivation. It is not something to be trifled with.

So, if it is not normal to wake up with numb tingling hands, what can be done about this to prevent numb hands in the morning?

Doctors have developed treatment options for people with these symptoms at night. Some are much better than others here are the top two choices to evaluate:

1 – A better first line treatment for Carpal Tunnel is The Carpal Solution Stretching Therapy.

It is a unique stretching therapy developed by Doctors working with patients. It consists of a soft tissue stretching protocol over six weeks using a disposable stretch taping system. The devices are made of medical tape and are put on your hand at night before bed and the tension is set and customized for an ideal fit to your size and shape of hand. Then the device performs active stretching to the injured tissue in and around the Carpal Tunnel for eight hours during sleep. This approach results in stretching therapy represents one third of your day is dedicated to this unique therapy without any downtime since it all happens comfortably while you sleep.

There is nothing like the feeling of waking up refreshed in the morning with your hands free of numbness and your mind alert and ready to go and do whatever you need to do with vigor and enthusiasm and without any reservations. The Carpal Solution works for 97% of people with CTS and has been used by over 70,000 people to avoid the downtime, risks and complications of Carpal Tunnel Surgery. The Carpal Solution will likely work for you too.

2 – The traditional medical treatment is prescribing a “Cock-up Splint” to wear at night.

There are positives associated with this this Wrist Support – it keeps the hand cocked-up in a neutral position and prevents bending the wrist at a right angle. When the wrist is bent at a right angle, the space in the Carpal Tunnel is reduced by one third to one half of the original space available.

There are also some downsides to wearing any kind of a rigid brace on your hand for a long period of time during the day or night. These rigid devices result in muscle atrophy. They can cause injury to soft tissue where the rigid part of the hand brace is pressing against the skin. While the rigid splints sometimes help in the short-run, these two factors usually combine to make CTS worse in the long-run from wearing a rigid hand brace or wrist splint of any kind.

Complicating the use of the Cock-up Splint further is that for most people the splint requires a custom fit by a physical therapist or orthopedic specialists. If the Cock-up Splint is not fit correctly, it can cause alignment problems and further injure the soft tissue in the hand and wrist. Customs splints take time to make and can be expensive.

Rigid casts, splints and braces are best utilized for immobilizing a broken bone so it can heal. Carpal Tunnel is a much different kind of injury and treating it with a rigid immobilizing device will actually make it worse in the long-run.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can interfere with your work and with your sleep. A condition that interferes with your earning power and your sleep will create a lot of psychological stress and even depression. People with CTS are often experience high levels of irritability. This syndrome can damage important relationships, because people around you are often unaware that you are suffering so intensely. They do not understand the shortness of temper and the unusual lack of patience.

Usually this syndrome starts with just the tingling numbness as described in your question above. However, direct pressure on the Median Nerve can produce the most intense kind of pain. Like a tooth ache, Carpal Tunnel affects the nerve directly and the burning pain can be intolerable in more advanced stages.

The key is treating it early with a reliable treatment developed by Doctors who have worked with thousands of patients and know all the possible situations that can develop.

So, no, it is not normal to wake up with numb, tingling hands in the morning. However there is hope, there is a reliable home remedy developed by Doctors that is comfortable to wear, that can eliminate these annoying symptoms of Carpal Tunnel before they become more serious. We can help you!

Call our experts toll free today at: 1-800-798-5210