Carpal tunnel syndrome, commonly known as mouse hand, is the most common peripheral nerve compression disorder. Its pathological basis is the compression of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel of the wrist, leading to numbness and functional impairment of the fingers.
Clinical manifestations
The incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome is higher in women than in men, but the reasons are still unclear. The main symptoms include abnormal sensation and/or numbness in the area innervated by the median nerve (thumb, index finger, middle finger, and radial side of the ring finger). Many patients experience finger numbness at night, especially those who wake up with numb fingers. They often need to get up and move or shake their hands to some extent to relieve the symptoms and go back to sleep, which is related to the fact that people tend to have a flexed wrist position when sleeping at night. Prolonged flexion of the wrist during certain activities during the day can also worsen finger numbness, such as sewing, holding a phone for a long time, or reading a book for a long time. It is a common manifestation of modern occupational diseases.
Especially for office workers who spend a lot of time typing and clicking the mouse every day, the local muscle tissues around the wrist cannot rest for a long time, and numbness, swelling, and pain are inevitable. In order to improve mouse hand, besides changing bad postures, resting the wrists regularly, and reducing time in front of the computer, you can also massage the Laogong and Daling acupuncture points in your spare time:
1. The Laogong point is located in the palm of the hand, between the second and third metacarpal bones, slightly towards the third metacarpal bone. When making a fist and bending the fingers, it is located at the tip of the middle finger. One thumb presses the Laogong point on the opposite palm, while the index finger or other four fingers can press against the outer Laogong point in the same position on the back of the hand. The thumb and index finger (the other four fingers) exert force on each other and massage until there is a distinct soreness and swelling sensation in the palm.
2. The Daling point is located at the midpoint of the transverse lines of the wrist palm. If we slightly bend the wrist, we can see two raised tendons on the transverse lines of the wrist, which are the tendon of the palmaris longus muscle and the tendon of the radial flexor of the wrist. The Daling point is between these two tendons. Because the Daling point is between the two tendons, we can lift the fingertips and press and knead this area. Massage until there is a sore and swollen feeling, regardless of time or frequency.
5 small movements to treat wrist pain
First move: palm lift
Keep your arms naturally hanging by your side, slowly lift the palms upwards, and make a 90-degree angle between the hands and arms. Pause for a moment to stretch the wrist joint.
Then, use force to separate the fingers, making them as sharp as needles. Then, bend the joints of the fingers inward, like a powerful tiger claw.
Finally, starting from the little finger, rotate and bend the fingers one by one, making a fist. Keep the fist tight. Open the fist and repeat the palm lift to claw motion about 10 times.
Second move: wrist massage
Hold the right wrist with the left hand and massage it by twisting it back and forth. At the same time, relax the right hand and exert a slight resistance in the opposite direction of the twist, i.e., when the left hand turns outward, the right hand exerts inward force to enhance the massage effect.
After twisting dozens of times, switch hands.
Third move: pinch and knead the fingers
Starting from the wrist of the right hand, pinch and knead towards the fingers, while pinching, pull the hand back when reaching the fingertips, and pull the right hand back when the left hand reaches the fingertips, exerting resistance.
After pinching and kneading dozens of times, switch hands.
These three moves are simple and easy to do. They can be done continuously or separately. They can help release adhesions in the carpal tunnel, promote blood circulation in the fingertips, enhance the strength of the small muscles in the hand, and relieve pain and muscle atrophy and weakness caused by carpal tunnel syndrome.
If you have a massage cream that promotes blood circulation, you can apply it to the wrists before doing the exercises for better results.
Note: Do not wash your hands with cold water after exercising. At this time, the capillaries are dilated, and cold water stimulation will only worsen the symptoms.
Fourth move: squeeze and roll a paper ball
If you don't have time to do finger and wrist exercises, you can relieve mouse hand by an interesting method - squeezing and rolling a paper ball.
Choose a slightly hard paper and crumple it into a small ball, then unfold it and crumple it again. Repeat this action continuously, without time, place, or frequency limitations. Easily accessible printing paper, newspapers, etc. are good choices, but if there is ink on the paper, don't forget to wash your hands after crumpling.
Of course, when you don't have paper at hand, you can use any method you are used to to move or knead your finger and wrist joints, which will also be effective.
For example, touch the palm: stretch your fingers, touch the palm with one finger each time, while keeping the other fingers as straight as possible. After becoming proficient, you can also try to challenge the speed of the exercise.
Fifth move: twist the towel in the opposite direction
For people who have experienced carpal tunnel syndrome, adjusting the habit of exertion can help alleviate symptoms. Here is a method that everyone can master - twisting the towel in the opposite direction: if you used to twist clockwise, change to counterclockwise.
