Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - What Should You Know?

Having an optimum body weight is sure to aid in the prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome. This is a condition that can get triggered either by being overweight or by being underweight. Eating a healthy well-balanced diet and exercising regularly will help you ensure that your body weight stays at the most favourable level for the prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome and other health complications.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition that occurs mostly in adults. Among children, the frequency of its occurrence is extremely low. Children who are likely to develop this condition are the ones who engage in activities that require repetitive hand movements such as playing computer or video games. In even rarer cases, practicing on musical instruments for long hours at a stretch or engaging in gymnastics and racquet sports at a young age may also trigger this condition among children.

It is most common for carpal tunnel syndrome to occur during the night especially at the onset of the condition. This is mostly due to a person s sleeping position many people sleep with flexed wrists which causes the symptoms to flare-up. As the condition worsens, the symptoms begin to occur more frequently during the day and eventually start hampering day to day activities. Wearing a splint on the wrists during the evening may prevent the symptoms from occurring at night.

Women are three times more at risk of suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome than men are. The obvious explanation for this is that women tend to have smaller wrists than men and hence have narrower carpal tunnels which press the median nerve that runs through it more easily when it gets swollen. Carpal tunnel syndrome is also more likely to affect women who are pregnant than those who are not.