Why Does My Wrist Hurt After Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Why Does My Wrist Hurt After Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Why Does My Wrist Hurt After Carpal Tunnel Surgery

When Can I Resume Athletics

Broken Wrist Post Op after surgery Part 2

Although there is a lot of variability, most patients can comfortably resume athletics at 4-6 weeks from the time of surgery. Although the incision can get wet in the shower after the suture is removed, it is best to avoid immersing it in pool, ocean, lake, or river water for a full 3 weeks after surgery.

What Factors Affect Aftercare For Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Exactly how long your aftercare will take depends on several factors. Generally these include:

• The type of surgery you had.Open release surgerywill require more extensive aftercare thanendoscopic surgery.
• Dominant hand surgery.If surgery was on your dominant hand, aftercare will take longer.
• Your overall health. If you have chronic conditions like diabetes, fibromyalgia, etc. then healing will take more time.
• Smoking delays healing.This will prolong your aftercare time.
• Complications are always an issue.If you had complications then aftercare for carpal tunnel surgery will be longer and more involved.;

What Is The Technique For Carpal Tunnel Decompression /release

Carpal tunnel surgery is usually performed under local anaesthetic. I make a cut of 3-5 cm down the base of your palm. Then I divide the transverse carpal ligament so it springs open. This allows more room within the carpal tunnel and reduces pressure on the nerve. During the procedure, I inspect the nerve, and then the wound is closed with dissolving sutures. A bulky dressing is applied to support the wrist.

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Surgery

If your CTS is getting worse and other treatments have not worked, the GP might refer you to a specialist to discuss surgery.

Surgery usually cures CTS. You and your specialist will decide together if it’s the right treatment for you.

An injection numbs your wrist so you do not feel pain and a small cut is made in your hand. The carpal tunnel inside your wrist is cut so it no longer puts pressure on the nerve.

The operation takes around 20 minutes and you do not have to stay in hospital overnight.

It can take a month after the operation to get back to normal activities.

Types Of Pain After Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Immediate pain after carpal tunnel surgery is perfectly normal – and expected. The pain’s intensity usually is related to the type of surgery you have:

• Pain normally is more intense with theopen release;type of surgery.
• Theendoscopic releasetype of surgery normally results in less pain.;

But regardless of which type of surgery you have, painwillhappen. And will be most intense within the first week. This is a normal outcome of both surgery types.;

Most of yourrecoveryandaftercarewill revolve around managing the pain. In general, you’ll experience 2 types of pain after either carpal tunnel surgery. Again, both are perfectly normal. Namely, they’re referred to as:

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Your Wrist Pain May Not Be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Bottom Line: These are the signs its time to see a doctor

Robert E. Markison, MD, hand surgeon and clinical professor of;surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. MarkisonMD.com

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Dont take wrist pain lightly! Our lives have become increasingly technology-centric, and this puts the vulnerable wrist joint at great risk for repetitive strain injury . Even nontech activities like riding a bike, playing a musical instrument, knitting or gardening and other hobbies can make your wrist hurt all the timeand many people dont realize just how debilitating wrist pain can be. They dont take their symptoms seriously early on, when they could do something about themand then the condition could become permanent.

Another mistake: Assuming that any chronic wrist pain is carpal tunnel syndrome and treating it that way. Its often notand in that case, treatment for carpal tunnel wont help you and can make matters worse. Heres how to know whats going on with your wrist

How Often Is Hand Pain Caused By Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

While carpal tunnel syndrome is a common condition, it has a different set of symptoms from many other sources of hand pain. There are actually several similar conditions that cause hand pain. These include:

• De Quervains tendinosis: A condition where swelling affects the wrist and base of the thumb. In this condition, you will feel pain when you make a fist and simulate shaking someones hand.
• Trigger finger: This condition causes soreness at the base of the finger or thumb. Trigger finger also causes pain, locking and stiffness when bending the fingers and thumb.
• Arthritis: This is a general term for many conditions that cause stiffness and swelling in your joints. Arthritis can impact many joints in your body and ranges from causing small amounts of discomfort to breaking down the joint over time .

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Is Carpal Tunnel Surgery Painful What Kind Of Pain You Will Have After The Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Pain after carpal tunnel surgery is very common and its duration depends on many factors. Usually pain lasting for six months after carpal tunnel surgery is regarded as normal.

Commonly, after a traditional open surgery of the carpal tunnel, you may feel pain in the area of the incision rather than endoscopic carpal tunnel release. You may experience two types of pain in your palm of the hand after carpal tunnel surgery which can be categorised as incision pain and pillar pain.

Sensitivity After Carpal Tunnel Surgery

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is Really in Your Neck and Causes Hand, Wrist and Forearm Pain

I had surgery on my left hand for carpal tunnel syndrome. After the nerve block wore off, the tip of my middle finger became very sensitive to the touch and feels swollen but isn’t. My left hand is sweaty and much warmer in comparison to the right. Also, the pad is swollen near the thumb. What do you think might be causing these problems?

Your symptoms suggest a relatively uncommon problem that can follow trauma, surgery, or any painful condition. The inciting event can be minor, and is usually disproportionate to the reaction that follows it. This syndrome is known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy , which implies that the autonomic nervous system plays a role in its development. The syndrome has been renamed “complex regional pain syndrome type I” by the International Association for the Study of Pain, but most physicians continue to use the term RSD. While an infection seems unlikely, it should be ruled out by your physician.

RSD after surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome is uncommon. This type of day surgery is performed either as an open procedure or arthroscopically . It is usually very successful, especially if performed early in the course of CTS.

A very important additional event is that the bones of the limb eventually lose mineral that is, they become osteoporotic.

Therefore, if RSD remains untreated, it will result in structural changes of the skin, muscles, and bones that severely limit the functioning of the affected extremity.

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How Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treated

Carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated in two ways: non-surgically or with surgery. There are pros and cons to both approaches. Typically, non-surgical treatments are used for less severe cases and allow you to continue with daily activities without interruption. Surgical treatments can help in more severe cases and have very positive outcomes.

Non-surgical treatments

Non-surgical treatments are usually tried first. Treatment begins by:

• Wearing a wrist splint at night.
• Taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen.

Other treatments focus on ways to change your environment to decrease symptoms. This is often seen in the workplace, where you can make modifications to help with carpal tunnel. These changes might include:

• Raising or lowering your chair.
• Moving your computer keyboard.
• Changing your hand/wrist position while doing activities.
• Using recommended splints, exercises and heat treatments from a hand therapist.

Surgical treatments

Surgery is recommended when carpal tunnel syndrome does not respond to non-surgical treatments or has already become severe. The goal of surgery is to increase the size of the tunnel in order to decrease the pressure on the nerves and tendons that pass through the space. This is done by cutting the ligament that covers the carpal tunnel at the base of the palm. This ligament is called the transverse carpal ligament.

If you have surgery, you can expect to:

What Are The Risks Of Carpal Tunnel Surgery

As with most surgeries, carpal tunnel release is not without its risks. Your wrist will be made numb and you may be given medicine to make you sleepy and not feel pain for the procedure. In some cases general anesthesia is used, this when drugs are used to put you into a deep sleep during surgery. Anesthesia poses risks for some people. Other potential risks of a carpal tunnel release surgery include:

• Bleeding
• Injury to the median nerve or nerves that branch out from it
• Injuries to nearby blood vessels
• A sensitive scar

The recovery from carpal tunnel surgery takes time anywhere from several weeks to several months. If the nerve has been compressed for a long period of time, recovery may take even longer. Recovery involves splinting your wrist and getting physical therapy to strengthen and heal the wrist and hand.

There may be other risks, depending on your specific medical condition. Be sure to discuss any concerns with your doctor before the procedure.

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If You Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome And Planning On Having The Traditional Open Surgical Technique Youll Be Required To Wear Thick Bandages That Cover The Carpal Area Of Your Hand For Up To A Few Weeks Following Surgery

The carpal area of the hand encompasses the wrist all the way up to the knuckles.

Your fingers will be free to move and bend, but the palmar and back of your hand will be bound in a thick wrapping of bandages.

My mother had carpal tunnel syndrome release surgery, the open technique, on both hands at the same time, and wearing the heavy bandages was no picnic.

She wondered why the wrappings had to be so constricting for such a seemingly small incision.

The purpose of the thick bandages following carpal tunnel surgery was to provide immobilization to the wrist.

Post-surgical swelling is another reason for the layers of bandages, since carpal tunnel release involves the cutting of a band of tissue that goes across the median nerve.

After 10 days, my mother had the bandages removed. They were cut away with a pair of shears by the surgeons nurse, and revealed incisions, with stitches, that appeared to be about an inch and a fourth in length.

The nurse then removed the stitches; a painless procedure. At that point, my mother was good to go, with no restrictions with the use of her hands as far as getting them wet.

When the bandages were on, she was instructed not to get any water on the wrappings.

Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome:

Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome can also include pain in the forearms and even shoulder, even though the compression site of the median nerve is at the wrist.

;

Pain And Tenderness After Carpaltunnel Surgery

• Normal scar tenderness with anxiety / awareness.
• Normal scar adhesions to the perineural tissues. This may resultin a sudden, brief electrical paresthesia, typically shooting from thepalm out the middle finger tip. It may occur while reaching, gripping,or at rest. It may be alarming, but does not necessarily mean that thereis a technical problem with the surgery or with the healing process. Adhesionsby themselves would not explain constant pain.

Pillar pain (tenderness adjacent to the actual ligamentrelease, where the prominences of the trapezial ridge and the hook of thehamate are closest to the skin. The transverse retinacular ligament, dividedduring carpal tunnel release, attaches to these structures, and the inflammatoryreaction of normal wound healing is most obvious at these points, oftenmore than the central area of the actual release.

• Aggravation of preexisting asymptomatic basal joint, pisotriquetral ortriquetrohamate arthritis due to altered isometric stresses on thesejoints.
• Reinnervation hypersensitivity – most often occurs if there wasconstant tingling, numbness or altered sensibility before surgery.
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy.
• Coexisting neruritis from cervical radiculopathy, pronator syndrome,diabetic or other peripheral neuropathy.
• Direct nerve irritation of one of the palmar cutaneous sensory branchesto the palm or of the median nerve itself.

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What Does Carpal Tunnel Surgery Entail

There are two types of carpal tunnel surgery. Traditional surgery is known as the open procedure method. With this method, the doctor will make an incision about two inches long on the wrist to perform the surgery. A newer method is the endoscopic release method, where the doctor will make two small incisions and insert a camera and robotic tools to perform the surgery.Both types of surgeries are typically outpatient surgery, meaning youre released the same day. During the procedure, the surgeon will use a local anesthetic to numb the wrist and hand so that you will remain awake during the procedure. Then the surgeon will cut the carpal ligament and possibly try to enlarge the tunnel. Once the surgery is complete, the surgeon will stitch up the incision or incisions, splint or bandage the wrist so that you cannot move your wrist, monitor you for a short time, and send you home that same day.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

This is a syndrome of pain, stiffness and swelling that occurs in about 5% of people following surgery. The symptoms are out of proportion to the nature of the operation. At the moment we are not sure why it happens, and it cannot be predicted whom it will happen to. I will monitor you for this after the operation. The treatment involves special forms of pain relief and physiotherapy. Read more about Complex regional pain syndrome.

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Unbearable Pain After Carpal Tunnel Surgery And Trigger Thumb Surgery What Could It Be

I had carpal tunnel release and trigger thumb surgery 11 days ago.

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What To Expect After The Operation

Why Choose The Carpal Solution Carpal Tunnel Wrist Support? Carpal Tunnel Relief without Surgery!

Scar

Dressings

Rehabilitation

Not everyone needs to see a physiotherapist after surgery unless there is a problem with scar pain or stiffness. Some general rules that are useful for everyone are:

• Hand elevation is important to prevent swelling and stiffness of the fingers.
• Remember not to walk with your hand dangling, or to sit with your hand held in your lap.
• It is fine, however, to lower your hand for light use and you should get back to normal light activities as soon as possible as guided by common sense.
• It is safe to use the fingers for day-today activities such as eating, dressing, brushing your hair. These activities all help to prevent stiffness and swelling.

Symptoms

The pain and tingling you experienced at night before the operation should settle immediately. If you have established numbness, dryness, lost dexterity or wasting of the muscle at the base of the thumb, then recovery of these problems is uncertain, especially as you get older. Ideally, surgery should be performed before these problems develop.

Stitches

Your stitches will be removed at about 10 to 14 days after the operation.

Recovery

You will find that your grip is weaker than before the operation and slightly uncomfortable. This can be a bit frustrating but you should be back to full power by 6 to 12 weeks as healing occurs. Exercises such as squeezing balls will not speed up the process, and if overdone this can actually delay your recovery.;

Painkillers

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Tendonitis Pain In Wrist After Carpal Tunnel Surgery Workers Comp Hassle

I had carpal tunnel surgery over a year ago and it took care of the pain I was having. Now I have pain in my wrist. It limits range of motion as far as turning my wrist or picking or carrying anything too heavy.

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Recurrent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

It is possible to have recurrent symptoms after carpal tunnel surgery. The likelihood of this complication is estimated to be about 10 to 15%.

Unfortunately, even if this problem is addressed with another surgical procedure, the results of a second surgery tend to be not as favorable as the results of initial surgery.

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How Do I Get Ready For Carpal Tunnel Surgery

• Tell your doctor about all medicines you are currently taking, including over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, herbs, and supplements. You will probably need to stop taking any medicines that make it harder for the blood to clot, such as ibuprofen, aspirin, or naproxen.
• If you’re a smoker, try to quit before to the surgery. Smoking can delay healing.
• You may need to get blood tests or an electrocardiogram before surgery.
• You will usually be asked not to eat or drink anything for 6 to 12 hours before the surgery.

Based on your medical condition, your doctor may request other specific preparations.

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