Risk Factors of Carpel-Tunnel-Syndrome
You may have heard of someone you know who has just been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). It may be the first time for you to learn of such a medical condition. If so, you might have found out by now that it is a condition characterized by pain, numbness, or weakness in the affected person’s hands and wrists. Although such painful sensations may arise from other conditions, carpal tunnel syndrome is considered the most common and prevalently known among the various neuropathies that are due to compressed or traumatized peripheral nerves.
The carpal tunnel is a passageway containing the median nerve that innervates your thumb, index finger, middle finger, and the middle finger side of your ring finger. As such, it provides sensation to the palm side of your thumb and other fingers except for the small finger. It also innervates the muscles in those fingers that are responsible for their movement. The tunnel also contains nine tendons supporting the bones and muscles in your fingers. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition wherein the median nerve is compressed or injured as a result of various factors.
Learning about carpal tunnel syndrome, especially if you know someone who suffer from this condition naturally brings you to the question of its associated factors. You would certainly want to know whether or not you are at risk of developing this condition.
The risk factors associated with carpal tunnel syndrome include the following: Your dominant hand is usually the first one to be affected, and the symptoms it experiences are greater in severity.
* Sex
If you’re female, your risk is three times greater than the average male, probably because the carpal tunnel may be smaller and narrower in women than in men. A woman’s risk of developing CTS generally heightens after menopause, and a man’s risk also peaks during middle age.
* Genetic factors
If you have relatives with carpal tunnel syndrome, your risk may be greater too. This risk is more related to the physical characteristics, such as size, shape, and length of your carpal tunnel.
* Underlying medical conditions
Your risk of developing CTS is also heightened if you have other metabolic and hormonal conditions that have a direct influence on your body’s nerves increasing their susceptibility to compression and injury. Such health conditions include diabetes, thyroid disorders, rheumatoid arthritis and obesity. Hormonal changes brought about by pregnancy, menopause, and oral contraceptive pills may also increase your risk. Pregnancy-related fluid retention may also lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, which usually improves after childbirth. If you smoke cigarettes you may experience worse symptoms and delayed recovery than people who do not smoke.
* Type of work
Although the incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome is not limited to a single industry or job, and clinical data positively identifying repetitive use as a direct cause, this condition is prevalently seen among people involve in assembly line work such as manufacturing, finishing, sewing, cleaning, and packing of meat, fish and poultry.
A study conducted by the Mayo Clinic in 2001 revealed that heavy computer use of up to 7 hours a day did not result in increased risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome in the participants.
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