Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is experienced by 1 out of 20 individuals in the United States meaning that there are 2 million people in the US suffering from this condition. There are half a million surgeries that are done for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in the US every year. CTS is the most common form of work-related injury and is the number one reason for work absences in this country.

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

There exists inside the wrist a narrow area comprised of bones and ligaments. The tendons and nerves that are attached to the forearm muscles and the fingers travel to this tunnel. When inflammation occurs in this area, the inflamed tissues enlarge and start to impinge on the nerves residing in this tunnel. The pressure causes a sensation of burning, tingling and pain in the fingers and hands. This discomfort and pain can initially be experienced at night; the condition eventually worsens over time leading to difficulty in performing fine motor functions, interrupted sleep caused by pain, and problems in grasping objects.

Conventional modes of treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome include splinting, painkillers, corticosteroids and even surgery. All of these modalities have adverse side effects. Surgery requires anesthesia, which obviously has side effects. These factors force people to look for safer alternative treatments like acupuncture Orlando for  the relief of the painful symptoms related to CTS.

A study done in 2009 compared the effects of acupuncture to corticosteroids for the treatment of CTS. The results of the study revealed that acupuncture was as equally potent as corticosteroids in resolving the symptoms of weakness, tingling, numbness and pain. For interrupted sleep and problems in fine motor function, acupuncture provided much better results than corticosteroids, and had no known side effects that are associated with the use of corticosteroid.

A recent 2012 study compared the effectiveness of acupuncture and fake acupuncture in improving nerve conduction. The group given real acupuncture showed much better nerve conduction in terms of electrophysiological function. This group not only had experienced a resolution of their painful symptoms, many in the group also were able to regain healthy nerve conduction function which meant a total cure of their carpal tunnel syndrome.

If you have problems with motor skills and pain caused by CTS and if you do not want to experience the side effects of CTS medications or if you want to avoid surgery at all cost, then you need to give acupuncture a try.