Muscle Spasms Mimic Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome & Cause Repetitve Strain Injury by Zev M. Cohen MD and Julie Donnelly, LMT

visualize pulling your hair at the end. You don¹t feel it at the end where

you are pulling, but you do feel it on the scalp where it inserts.

Likewise, you rarely feel the pain in the part of the muscle that is being

pulled, but you do feel it at the insertion.

With so many people working for hours on the computer, we are seeing more

and more people with wrist and hand pain. Using the information just

mentioned above, examine the muscles that move the hand. The muscles of the

forearm originate at, or near, the elbow. They then insert in the hand and

wrist. The muscles on the top of the arm are called the "extensors", and the

muscles on the underside of the arm are called "flexors". When the flexors

contract the hand is pulled into a fist, &/or the hand moves down. When the

extensors contract the hand &/or finger are pulled up. If you grip your

forearm with your opposite hand, then wiggle your fingers, and open & close

your hand, you will feel the flexors & extensors contracting. Also, if you

move your hand side to side you will also feel the muscles that are

responsible for that motion.

These are very powerful muscles, and they are being used repetitively for

many hours daily. After work if you go home and play tennis, or the piano,

crochet or play computer games, you are again contracting these muscles over

and over. Eventually you have pain at your wrist, and you are told you have

carpal tunnel syndrome. In reality you have repetitive strain injury (RSI)

of the forearm muscles.

At the Carpal Tunnel Treatment Center we use an analogy that helps our

patients understand why the pain is felt so far from the spasm. If you

pulled your hair at the end you wouldn¹t feel it there, you would feel it at

the scalp where it inserts. If you pulled it for a very long time you would

eventually get an inflammation, swelling, and pain would radiate away from

the point of insertion. Exactly the same thing is happening in your wrist.

When the muscles of the forearm contract, and stay in the contracted

position due to spasms, the strain is put on the insertion point at the

wrist. Eventually you end up with an inflammation and swelling. Since all

the flexor tendons travel through the carpal tunnel, they cause pain and

swelling in that area. You are diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, but

the quickest and easiest therapy is to release the muscle. Surgery will

open the bridge to the carpal tunnel, but the muscles will still be putting

strain on the insertion points.

Another muscle that has a serious impact on the carpal tunnel is the muscle

of the thumb. This is the meaty muscle that is felt at the base of the

thumb, called the Opponens Pollicis. The Opponens Pollicis originates at

the ligament that forms the bridge of the carpal tunnel, and it inserts at

the base of your thumb. When this muscle contracts you draw your thumb in

toward your palm. You use this muscle many thousands of times a day and

you never stretch it. It is extremely common for this muscle to contract,

and stay in the shortened position. When that happens it is pulling hard on

the bridge to the carpal tunnel and is pressing down on the median nerve.

You now experience numbness in your thumb and first two fingers. Releasing

the tension in this muscle will also release the pressure on the median

nerve.

It is vital to work on the muscles of the forearm. Each individual muscle

spasms needs to be worked out. These are deep muscles, a light massage

won¹t be as effective as deep muscle therapy. Proper therapy, and

stretching all of the muscles, has proven to completely heal this condition

without surgery.

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BIO:

Zev M. Cohen MD, is Medical Director of the Carpal Tunnel Treatment
Center. Dr. Cohen,an expert on carpal tunnel syndrome may be reached at www.aboutcts.com
Julie Donnelly LMT is the Principal Therapist Carpal Tunnel Treatment Center.She has authored "How To Be Pain-less…A Beginner's Guide to the Self Treatment of Muscle Spasms". She may be contacted at julie@aboutcts.com

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