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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Learn Whether or Not Gloves Help Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Prevent carpal tunnel and avoid the pain
by Chris Adams
Wearing
gloves may or may not help carpal tunnel syndrome, which is commonly
caused by repetitive stress injury to the wrist. They won't cure it, to be
sure.
Carpal
tunnel syndrome is basically a swelling around or compression of the carpal
tunnel inside the hand that presses on the median nerve at the wrist.
This
causes numbness, weakness, tingling, or pain in the hands and wrist. Symptoms
include burning, tingling, or itchy numbness in the palm and fingers. Swelling
won't necessarily be visible.
People
doing assembly work are highly susceptible to carpal tunnel, even more so
than data entry workers. The dominant hand is usually the one more likely
affected or more severely affected.
Gloves
Pros & Cons
Gloves can help relieve
symptoms, such as cold fingers, that are caused by poor circulation.
Wearing
them can help keep your hands and wrists warm by conserving body heat, which
improves circulation without adding heat
to the area.
Warmth
and the increased circulation it brings helps the healing process, especially
with tendons and ligaments that do not receive a lot of blood flow to begin
with.
Swelling
or inflammation can be aggravated by heat packs and the like, but because you
are just retaining natural warmth with the use of gloves, fingerless or
otherwise, you are probably not going to hurt anything more by wearing them.
When
you are resting and healing, nonrestrictive gloves can help relieve the
symptoms of the condition.
Please
note that wearing tight gloves can actually restrict circulation to your hands.
You'll want to keep the gloves loose and comfortable.
Thus,
compression gloves worn for arthritis may actually exacerbate carpal tunnel
syndrome rather than give relief to the problem.
Other
Remedies
For
relief of carpal tunnel, wrist splints and anti-inflammatory drugs may be worth
trying.
Splints
will keep the tunnel from being compressed, and anti-inflammatories may reduce
the pain, though they won't actually cure the problem.
Icing
the area can help if there is visible swelling in the wrist, but often the
swelling is internal and can't be helped by applying ice.
In
severe cases of carpal tunnel, you may try cortisone shots, or your doctor may
recommend surgery, which can take months to recover from and result in a loss
of grip strength.
If
you have rheumatoid arthritis, you may help relieve your carpal tunnel
symptoms by treating arthritis.
Preventive
Measures
Work
with proper ergonomics and posture, take breaks from repetitive tasks, and
perform wrist and hand stretching exercises. An occupational therapist can give
advice on proper form at your workstation and show you how to perform the
exercises.
Other
Causes of Carpal Tunnel
Besides
repetitive injury, carpal tunnel can be caused by physical injury to the wrist,
such as a sprain or fracture as well as issues with the pituitary and thyroid
gland.
It's
more common in women than in men, partially because of having smaller hands.
Pregnant or menopausal women can experience it if they are retaining fluid, and
people with diabetes or other disorders that affect their nerves are at a
higher risk as well.
Chris Adams
Chris Adams
Human
factors engineer and industrial designer
Human
systems integration lead at Strata-G Solutions, Inc.
Experience
Chris
Adams is a former writer for ThoughtCo who wrote about ergonomics for more than
nine years. Ergonomics is the study of how humans effectively interact with
their work environment. Chris has more than 11 years of experience working in
the field of human factors and ergonomics. He was a human factors and systems
engineer with Jacobs Engineering working on NASA's the Ares I and V rocket
systems. Chris later became the lead of human-system integration for Strata-G
Solutions, Inc.
Chris
specializes in furniture design and corporate identity and works as an
independent consultant on various design projects. His work for ThoughtCo
appears on many websites, newsletters, and books which focus on engineering
spaces for human use.
Education
Chris
Adams earned a Bachelor of Industrial Design (B.I.D.) in Industrial and Product
Design from Auburn University in 1999.
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