Many of our patients have been diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Remember this: the nervous system controls and coordinates all functions in the human body. We have seen quite a few people cancel their scheduled carpal tunnel surgeries following chiropractic treatments.
We correct the misalignments (subluxations) in the spine, shoulder, elbow or hand. To help you understand this, visualize an electrical system in a house. The breaker box divides electrical current to all the different areas in your house. If there is dysfunction at the breaker box or anywhere along the wires that take the current to its final destination, there will be dysfunction at the final destination. At each segment of the spine, a spinal nerve exits the spinal column to deliver its vital life force to its designated areas of nerve supply. In your body the nerves that send sensory and motor information to the hand exit the spine at the neck and then pass under the collarbone, through the shoulder and elbow, then on to your hand and fingers. The function of all the joints along this nerve path need to be checked by a chiropractor before any surgery is done.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome according to Dorland’s Medical Dictionary is “a complex of symptoms resulting from compression of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel, with pain and burning or tingling parathesias (sensations) in the fingers and hand, sometimes extending to the elbow.”
An important note to this definition is that the symptoms occur primarily in the area of the thumb and pointer finger. Therefore, if you are having abnormal sensations, pain or change in strength in the ring finger or smallest finger it is a problem with a completely different nerve, and is not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.