Are you suffering with wrist pain or numbness? Not sure where it’s coming from or what’s aggravating it? Wish you just understood what started it?
Hyperextension of the wrist can significantly affect how well nerves in the wrist function which can lead to pins and needles in your hand or wrist pain.
It’s hard to take when simple tasks are made difficult due to something as annoying as pain. Or when you feel healthy but a single, simple thing stops you from doing the things you love!
I’m sure that you don’t want to spend the rest of your life wearing wrist supports or applying creams just to get you through the day. That’s not the answer. Neither is radical surgery the first place to start.
Wouldn’t it be great to just know the reason why the problem began in the first place and have a simple way of rectifying…permanently?
When it comes to avoiding damage to your wrist it can be easier than you think. By understanding the basic function of your wrist, we can begin to understand exactly which actions may actually be contributing to the problem.
The wrist joint itself is made up of bones that come from the forearm (radius and ulna) as well as small bones in your wrist itself area called carpals. You have two bones in your forearm that come down from your elbow and join onto your carpal bones in your wrist.
When we push the wrist backward, it forces the small bines in our wrist back into the radius and ulnar driving them apart. This separation force stresses out the muscles, ligaments and fascia that hold the two bones together altering their function and irritating the median nerve.
The resultant irritation to the median nerve further alters the function of muscles that support your wrist exacerbating the issue creating sensation changes to the areas of the hand that it supplies, primarily the thumb and first two fingers.
Weight bearing during wrist extension is a very common action. Think about how many times you load your wrist each day in that position.
Think of simple actions like push ups or pushing yourself of a chair to get up.
There is no doubt in my mind that this movement of the wrist is the most significant preventable cause of carpel tunnel syndrome.
Here’s two tips that I share with my patients everyday to help them prevent and improve their carpal tunnel problems.
- Just for one week, avoid 100% all extension movements with your wrist. Don’t let the wrist go backwards at all. For example, if you’re doing push ups, then do them on your knuckles. Or if your pushing yourself up of a chair then make a fist and push off with that.
- Using a firm tape or strapping, tighten it around your wrist firmly (without cutting off any circulation) and continue with your daily routine. This action will help pull the radius and ulna together reducing the irritation to the median nerve.
If these tests provided any form of relief then these is a high chance that the strain mechanism might be the cause of your problems and we might be able to assist you in getting over your wrist problems. If this is the case and you want to get on top of this ASAP then please give a call and we will organise a time for you the get checked.
Struggling and need some help? Just want to chat and see if there’s more that you can do to get your life back?
If so, just give my team a call on 9318 7758 or send me a message, always happy to help!
