A 38 year old female teacher complained of a gradual onset of numbness and pain in her right hand over a six month period. She noticed the pain was getting gradually worse at night and often woke her up 2 or 3 times from sleep. She would have to spend 10 minutes shaking her hand during the night to relieve the symptoms and by the morning her hand was often completely numb.
The teacher used her right hand for everything and she became very worried when she started to drop items in the classroom and have difficulty writing or holding a pen. Her GP said her symptoms were caused by repetitive strain and suggested she rest more and that if the symptoms didn't resolve she would need to be referred to a specialist for injection therapy or even surgery. The teacher stopped going to the gym, stocked her fridge with ready meals and got her pupils to help out more in class but despite these measures her hand numbness and pain now began to appear during the day also. She found that gripping a pen or typing on the computer would make her hand completely numb and it would ache constantly.
She attended Hand Kinetics and following a detailed assessment of her presenting symptoms her therapist was able to diagnose
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, a condition affecting the median nerve as it enters the wrist.
She was made a specially moulded wrist support on the same day as her assessment to wear in work for activities that aggravated her condition and all night for 6 weeks. She was also taught specific tailored hand exercises to maintain tendon and nerve gliding in her wrist so the condition would not recur after treatment.
The first change she noticed at the start of treatment was that she immediately benefited from a full night's sleep and could cope with her workload more effectively. When she returned to Hand Kinetics for her final appointment at the end of 6 weeks she reported that the splint had been very comfortable and that it had been no problem to wear in bed or in work and that her symptoms had now faded away. She was delighted that she didn't need to take any time off work in the run up to her busiest time of year during exam season.
