Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a common disorder of the wrist and hand characterized by pain, tingling, and muscular weakness, caused by pressure on the median nerve in the wrist area and often associated with trauma, rheumatoid arthritis, or edema of pregnancy.

This disorder is a repetitive stress injury to the wrist and hands often caused by typing on an ergonomically unsound keyboard. In this case, pain is thought to occur when swelling and scarring from the repetitive motion of typing compresses the nerves in the wrist. It is an example of an occupational disease.

The carpal tunnel is formed from a U-shaped cluster of eight bones at the base of your palm. A strong ligament arches across these bones, providing a roof for the tunnel. Within it lies the so-called median nerve, which travels all the way from the spinal cord and controls sensations to the palm side of the thumb and the fingers. This nerve also transmits impulses to hand muscles that move the fingers and thumb. When the tunnel narrows, it can create pressure that decreases blood supply to the nerve. This decreased blood supply results in the pain, weakness, and tingling that announce the syndrome.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 7, 2006) says this about Carpal Tunnel Syndrome “— The popular belief that excessive computer use causes painful carpal tunnel syndrome has been contradicted by experts at Harvard Medical School. According to them, even as much as seven hours a day of tapping on a computer keyboard won't increase your risk of this disabling disorder.

The pain, numbness, and tingling are more common in those who do assembly-line work in industries such as manufacturing, sewing, cleaning, or meatpacking. Genes account for about half the cases. Women are more likely than men to suffer the syndrome.

This Harvard Medical Study is interesting. Click on ScienceDaily above to see there column on the subject.

A person that worked with my wife interpreted for the hearing impaired on a daily basis for her job was diagnosed with this syndrome. She signed daily to her roommate, interpreted on weekends for church, and took other freelance interpreting jobs on her free time. She basically lived signing. Her Carpal Tunnel became so bad that she had to have an operation to relieve the pain.

Carpal Tunnel has touched my life because I have some of the symptoms of the syndrome.. I do have to say mine is not doctor diagnosed it did come from PC gaming and typing. My job as a Computer Programmer means I'm repetitively typing five days a week. When I get home I spend about two hours gaming with repetitive movement key press and mouse clicks. I find the wrist brace helps out to relieve my pain. I wear it for several days and the pain goes away. Course I keep doing the same things over and over which means I will be back in pain sometime in the future. Currently, as I type my fingers are getting numb so it's time to break out the brace.

Please post your experiences and remedies for others to share.

Thanks