carpal tunnel Archives | Ergonomics Fix

Many people with carpal tunnel lay in bed at night wishing for better sleep while their numb hands keep them awake. During pregnancy my carpal tunnel symptoms worsened and made sleeping at night nearly impossible. Each night I would struggle to fall asleep due to the pain and after finally sleeping I would wake up to a tingling hand and even more pain. I knew that I had to find relief to the carpal tunnel pain so I could sleep at night.

After just a few weeks I knew I had to research options to help get better sleep. I couldn’t stay awake each night so I found ways to get better sleep by relieving some of the carpal tunnel pain symptoms.

Use Self-Massage For Pain Relief

For many, massage helps relive the symptoms of carpal tunnel. There are self-massage techniques you can use to help relieve and prevent carpal tunnel. You can apply a nice lotion and gently massage your hand and fingers from the tips to the palm and even past your wrist to your forearm. Keeping the muscles loose will help with the pain. As you feel knots during the massage apply pressure and slowly rub over the knot to dissolve it.

Before bed plan to massage your arm and wrist gently using a relaxing essential oil. Many companies sell soothing essential oils and some have even created them specifically for carpal tunnel like this Frankincense and Myrrh Carpal Tunnel Rubbing Oil. Using this oil or another pain relief cream in addition to massage can help provide night time relief.

Apply Cold/Heat To Reduce Swelling Before Sleep

Since carpal tunnel isn’t an injury you may not have thought to use cold or heat to reduce the pain. However, applying cold or heat can provide major relief and help you relax enough to fall asleep.

You need to speak with your healthcare provider and do some testing to find out whether heat or cold helps the most. Some people like to alternate cold and heat to reduce swelling to find pain relief.

You can use an inexpensive cold and hot therapy wrap on your pained wrist for about an hour before bed. This will help reduce the swelling and pain and allow you to drift off to sleep.

Relax With An Epsom Salt Soak First

Similar to the concept of using hot or cold therapy wraps before sleeping, taking an epsom salt bath will help relax you into sleep with less carpal tunnel pain. Epsom salt baths help your whole body relax because the magnesium in the bath is a natural muscle relaxer with anti-inflammatory properties.

Soaking in a epsom bath will not only help relieve the inflammation that makes carpal tunnel pain so bad but it will also help you fall asleep better due to magnesium being a natural sleep aid. People who are deficient in magnesium have trouble sleeping so taking a bath with epsom salt can help almost everyone fall asleep better.

We like using either Epsoak Epsom Salt or Dr Teal’s Pure Epsom Salt Soaking Solution in a warm bath before bed for the best and most relaxing results.

Elevate Your Wrist While Sleeping

Unfortunately most of us sleep in awkward positions that make carpal tunnel pain worse at night. If you end up in a bad position you could be jolted out of sleep halfway through the night with intense pain. That is why some sufferers chose to elevate their wrists above the body during sleep so there is reduced fluid and swelling on the median nerve that causes carpal tunnel pain.

Sleeping with a pillow to elevate your wrist can take some getting used to at first but the relief felt will encourage you. Ultimately the best sleeping position for carpal tunnel relief is the one that keeps the wrist neutral and elevated. You can do this many ways either with a special wedge pillow or just using your regular pillows to prop your arm up at night.

Wear A Carpal Tunnel Brace For Sleeping

For nighttime carpal tunnel relief, many people choose to use a brace while sleeping. This worked for me during pregnancy and I still occasionally wear my wrist brace to sleep at night if the carpal tunnel pain flairs up. Most people choose a more rigid wrist brace or wrist splint for sleeping since it aligns your wrist in a neutral position while sleeping to reduce irritation. Wearing a brace will prevent your hand from getting into a bad position that causes additional pain.

Below are some of the best wrist braces for sleeping with carpal tunnel. We’ve listed some of the best braces available through the trusted retailer Amazon. You can learn how to wear a carpal tunnel wrist brace to utilize these braces for pain relief.

Futuro Night Wrist Sleep Support, Adjustable

Moderate, stabilizing relief and protection
Couples light compression with support from cushioning beads and removable palmar stabilizer
Adjustable straps provide customized fit and support

This sturdy wrist brace helps ensure a comfortable and restful night’s sleep despite carpal tunnel pain. Helps relieve night time hand and wrist pain due to carpal tunnel syndrome, post-cast and arthritis. Moisture-wicking, soft material keeps wrist comfortable overnight. Cushioning beads support ideal neutral hand position during rest. Futuro Night Wrist Sleep Support on Amazon

Mueller Sports Medicine Night Support Wrist Brace

Maximizes circulation
Super cushioned for comfort during sleep
Unique 360 degree design provides rigid stability above and below the wrist

Helps relieve pain, tingling and numbness associated with carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, tendonitis, and repetitive motion stress or injury. Mueller Sports Medicine Night Support Wrist Brace on Amazon

ACE Night Wrist Sleep Support

Cushioning beads support ideal neutral hand position during rest
Adjustable palmar splint optimizes wrist support
Easy sleeve slide-on design for effortless application
Breathable, durable, soft and latex free materials
One size adjustable

The ACE Brand Wrist Sleep Support provides comfortable support and protection during the night for those who suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, or have injured, arthritic, weak, or post-cast wrists. ACE Night Wrist Sleep Support on Amazon

Custom Carpal Tunnel Wrist Braces

You can also get a custom wrist brace for your carpal tunnel from your health care professional. These custom wrist braces are fabricated from physical or occupational therapists and they will fit to your hand or wrist precisely.

A custom carpal tunnel wrist brace may be the best option for you especially if your health insurance may cover the cost of the splint or brace in your treatment. Check with your insurance company prior to fitting the brace to see how much you will have to pay for your wrist brace out of pocket. This may determine whether you want to proceed or not. You may also decide to purchase one of the best over the counter wrist braces available until your custom wrist brace is available.

The braces listed above should give you a good start in finding the right option for you. Once you’ve purchase a wrist brace take some time to get the fit right and learn how to wear it. You’ll be amazed at how much relief you’ll find and how great it can make you feel!

It probably started with tingling or numbness in your hands or arms that just happened once and you thought nothing of it. However, if the tingling and numbness persists and lasts for several months or gets worse over time, it might be carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Carpal tunnel is the result of pinched nerves in your wrist, often cause by frequent repetitive motion. It causes tingling sensations and weakness and eventually lots of pain.

Both myself and my mom deal with carpal tunnel syndrome due to our jobs which involve lots of typing and mouse clicking. While I’ve done things like get an ergonomic keyboard and ergonomic vertical mouse and wear a wrist brace at night, I still struggle with the symptoms at times. I’ve found many home remedies that work (some better than others). Today I wanted to share some carpal tunnel home remedy ideas you can try too.

Please note: If you think you might have carpal tunnel syndrome, learn more on reputable online sources and visit your doctor. We personally have carpal tunnel syndrome ourselves so we share what works for us but this shouldn’t be viewed as medical advice a qualified doctor can give you.

Carpal Tunnel Home Remedies

Whether you have carpal tunnel syndrome because of your work or other every day activities, home remedies can help relieve the pain and prevent future pain. These home remedies and lifestyle changes work extremely well for people with mild CTS like I have. Hopefully they can help you too!

Take Breaks

The repetitive nature of many office and every day tasks can aggravate conditions like carpal tunnel and repetitive stress injuries. Stop and take a breather any time you are doing a repetitive activity that involves your hands. Whether this is typing, playing guitar, knitting, using power tools, or anything other task, force yourself to stop and take a rest. Take at least a five minute break every hours. Use the time to wiggle your fingers, do stretches and just give your hands time to chill.

Wear Wrist Braces

Poor posture and bad wrist positioning can make carpal tunnel pain feel much worse and aggravate the situation. Eliminate this by wearing wrist braces design to stop wrist pain during the day and at night. Symptoms are the worst at night so start out by wearing a good night time wrist brace to relieve symptoms. This will help stop problems at night before they affect you during the day. Wrist splints are available at most drugstores or major box stores. Check with your doctor on which is the best for you and learn how to properly wear a carpal tunnel brace.

Use A Softer Grip

One easy thing you can do to help with carpal tunnel at home is to just ease up! You will often unconsciously strain or force when doing tasks like writing or typing. This puts more pressure on the affected areas and aggravates them causing more pain. Try to relax your grip and reduce force during long lasting tasks. Do things like tap the keys more lightly while typing and stop pressing as hard when writing.. You can help yourself achieve this by more using tools that cause this to happen like soft-grip pens.

Keep Your Wrists Neutral

Similar to the concept of lightening up your grip, you ability to consciously keep your wrists neutral will help a lot. Many activities that cause carpal tunnel pain cause your wrists to flex in extreme ways in either direction. If you can keep your wrists in more neutral positions for longer periods of time you’ll find much relief.

Elevate Your Hands

Certain types of carpal tunnel syndrome can be helped by elevating your hands and wrists. This can work well when you are suffering from carpal tunnel due to pregnancy, fractures or fluid retention issues. Elevation helps reduce swelling so you can lie down and elevate your arms with pillows (while keeping your wrist stable and neutral!) so that it’s above your heart.

Learn About Ergonomics

You can use the internet or visit an occupational or physical therapist to learn how to correctly position your wrists when you perform certain actions. Learn about ergonomics and how to complete tasks without irritating the median nerve can be a great benefit. Learning about correct posture and things like how to calculate ideal heights for your ergonomic office desk, chair, & keyboard can help you prevent and relieve pain from CTS.

Alternative Therapies

You can integrate many different alternative forms of therapy into your home health plan for carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s best to consult with an expert on all of these to find the best way to practice but things like yoga, wet cupping, and acupuncture can help with mild to moderate CTS problems. Learning how to strengthen your grip strength and properly stretch body parts through yoga can help a lot.

Use Pain Relief Cream

You can slather on pain relief with special pain relief creams like Penetrex World’s #1 OTC Pain Relief Cream.

Adding a topical cream designed to relieve pain often helps many people get through the workday with reduce pain. There are many pain relief creams available on the market so try some out with your doctor’s help to find the one that works best to relieve your carpal tunnel syndrome pain.

Self-Massage

There are self-massage techniques you can use to help relieve and prevent carpal tunnel. You can apply a nice lotion and gently massage your hand and fingers from the tips to the palm and even past your rist to your forearm. This will help with blood flow and circulation in your hands and it just feels nice!

Try Over-The-Counter Medicine

If all of the above home remedies haven’t produced any relief, try taking an over-the-counter pain reliever. Things like aspirin or ibuprofen may be beneficial to relieve pain and reduce inflammation around the nerve that is causing your carpal tunnel pain. Make sure you check with your doctor or pharmacist to make sure taking these medications are safe in your situation.

Carpal Tunnel Home Remedies Can Help

Those are a few of the ways I help control my carpal tunnel symptoms at home on my own! Hopefully some of these home remedies help you as well. Keep in mind that if your CTS is severe or has been persistent for a long time then these ideas might not work.

If pain, numbness or weakness recurs and persists, see your doctor.

You may have to seek out other carpal tunnel treatment ideas with your doctor, including corticosteroid injections or surgery. It’s much easier to treat CTS in the early stages so if your case is mild please work to prevent permanent damage!