Steemit Learning Challenge-S22W1; Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

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It is always a joy for me whenever I have the opportunity to participate in the Steemit contest weekly and today I will be participating in the crypto academy community contest. Stay tune below.

Talking about carpal tunnel syndrome according to my own understanding and what I learnt, I discovered that it is a medical condition that happens when our nerves are compressed. Most of the time, it always causes severe discomfort and pain and at the end of the day can affect the day to day activities. CTS as it is popularly called is a common medical condition affecting a whole lot of people in the world.

Causes of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

I will like to talk briefly about the causes of Carpal Tunnel syndrome of which some I know.

• Repetitive Hand Movements: If you find yourself always carrying out tasks that involve your hand movements repetitively, it can affect your wrist and lead to the cause of the condition.

• Underlying Health Conditions: There are some health conditions also that I discovered that if you have it, it can lead to.the condition also. Examples like diabetes and obesity.

• Wrist Injuries: Even though this might not be a popular cause, I will say when you suffer fracture or any wrist injuries, it can increase the pressure that will be on the median nerve.

Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

I will also like to talk about some basic symptoms that I believe we can pay attention to which can help us to detect the carpal tunnel syndrome at the early stage.

• Numbness

• Body Weakness

• Body Pain

• Tingling

Treatment Options

There are some basic steps I believe we can take to help us treat the condition of CTS which I will also be listing some of them out below;

• When you are able to work on reducing some tasks that might be causing repetitive wrist motion.

• Wearing Wrist splints can help reduce the compression on the nerve

• There are some medications that can be prescribed like NSAIDs to help treat the condition.

• Engaging in Physical Therapy also can go a long way to help curb it and settle the issue.

• And lastly if the condition is severe, you can opt to go for surgery as that will be the best case.

Prevention of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

I will like to round up this post but it will not be complete without mentioning some preventing measures for the carpal tunnel syndrome.

• First always reduce the rate of your repetitive wrist task.

• Most of the time, engage in wrist and hand stretches

• Always maintain a good body and healthy weight

• Most of the time, make use of wrist supports.

Of course, there are some tests or should I say ways to diagnose that I will carry out on carpal tunnel syndrome which I will like to talk about.

• Medical History: This will be the first, I will try to carry out some medical history tests on the patient to know the state of that patient. I can try to ask the patient whether he or she is feeling or noticing some symptoms like numbness and many more.

• Tinel’s Sign: The second clinical.test I will carry out is something called the Tinel sign. I can try and check the median neve condition on the wrist by tapping to see whether there is response.

• Phalen’s Test (Wrist Flexion Test): This is the third. I will carry out something called the phalen test on the patient wrist and I will do that by pressing the back of the patient's hands together. The response I get will determine my assessment.

• Durkan Compression Test (Carpal Compression Test): The fourth one is something called the Durkan compression test which is also called the carpal compression test. I will just try to put pressure on the carpal tunnel.

• Electrodiagnostic Testing: Then lastly I will carry out something called the electro diagnostic tests like the Electromyography, the Nerve Conduction Study, the MRI and many more.

I strongly believe that these 5 clinical tests I mentioned will help me to diagnose the condition.

For this exercise, I will be carrying out three exercises below

• Wrist Rotations

• Arm Prayer Stretch

• Stretches for CTS

1. Wrist Rotations

YouTube video below 👇