Do your hands fall asleep at night? New therapeutic approaches

Do you know this? Do your fingers tingle and your hands fall asleep at night? Sometimes your hands even fall asleep while holding your cell phone, riding a bike or reading. If your hands fall asleep frequently, this is a typical symptom of incipient carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Those affected should act quickly and purposefully at the first signs of carpal tunnel syndrome. But it doesn't always have to be surgery. Find out more here about a new, gentle and effective treatment method for carpal tunnel syndrome.

What does the tingling in the hands mean?

Initially, the tingling often only occurs at night, but over time the frequency increases and the numbness in the fingertips intensifies. This may indicate the presence of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Around one in ten adults in Germany suffers from these symptoms, with women during and after the menopause being particularly frequently affected. The exact underlying cause of the condition is often unclear.

The pain or numbness in carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by an increase in volume in the carpal tunnel. The carpal tunnel or carpal canal is a channel through which tendons and the median nerve, the middle arm nerve, run. The tendons are surrounded by a thin sheath, colloquially known as the tendon sheath.

Excessive strain can cause these tendon sheaths to swell, which requires more space and increases the pressure in the carpal tunnel. In carpal tunnel syndrome, the pressure on the median nerve increases, which leads to pain as the nerve is pinched.

Hands fall asleep at night. This is how it progresses.

As a rule, carpal tunnel syndrome begins with the hands falling asleep and tingling in the tip of the middle finger; many sufferers report tingling or painful sensations in the thumb, index and middle finger. A little later, the whole hand feels swollen and the pain radiates into the hand and forearm.

Carpal pain occurs preferably at night. It is accompanied by increasing weakness in the hand: it is difficult to unscrew a lid, grip small objects or open a button.

If the condition is not diagnosed early, it can lead to irreparable damage to the median nerve and muscle atrophy in the ball of the thumb. This severely restricts fine motor skills, making gripping movements in particular virtually impossible.

Step 1 of conventional treatment:
The night splint

As a first step in conventional therapy, the doctor will often prescribe a night splint. The aim of wearing the splint during sleep is to prevent unconscious twisting of the hand. It is important that the splint is only actually worn at night, as wearing it during the day can lead to stiffening of the wrist.

However, it is often reported that wearing a night splint is uncomfortable and unpleasant. The real disadvantage, however, is that although it can disturb sleep, the splint has no long-term effect on the cause of carpal tunnel syndrome. The pressure on the median nerve remains unchanged as the carpal tunnel is not widened.

Step 2 of conventional treatment: the operation

If the symptoms do not improve and the hands continue to tingle and hurt, the next step in conventional treatment is often surgery after a few weeks or months. During carpal tunnel surgery, the carpal ligament is cut open and the nerve canal is widened as a result.

This can be carried out by means of open surgery or minimally invasive (endoscopic) surgery and involves the usual risks associated with surgery.

What are the risks of carpal tunnel surgery?

The first risk of carpal tunnel surgery is that the median nerve can be injured when the carpal ligament is cut, resulting in permanent damage. In such cases, patients report persistent pain immediately after the operation.

curpal® is considered a manual therapy and is often successful

With curpal®, we have developed a long-awaited alternative to conventional treatment and surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome for many people .

The treatment approach of curpal® is:

• Carpal tunnel is stretched & widened
  By applying mechanically generated pressure to the back of the hand, curpal® stretches the carpal ligament on the inside of the hand, which runs transversely from the ball of the hand to the edge of the hand, thus widening the carpal tunnel.

• Pressure on the nerve is reduced
  The nerve now has more space in the widened carpal tunnel and the pressure is reduced. The pressure was the cause of the pain and discomfort.

• Pain and tingling subside
  As a result, the pain decreases or disappears completely. If it ever recurs, the carpal tunnel can be stretched again with Curpal®.

How Curpal® is used

The hand is inserted into the device. Using a hand pump, the air cushion is gradually inflated and the pressure is maintained for around three minutes. This process is repeated three times in succession and the entire cycle is performed three times a day. In this way, the carpal tunnel is slowly and steadily stretched. Most patients notice significant improvements after just a few weeks.

This stretching gives the median nerve, which runs through the carpal tunnel, more space, which reduces the pressure on the nerve and relieves the symptoms of nerve pressure, such as tingling in the fingers, night-time pain or numbness.

As this gentle method has no side effects, it can be used at any time and is also suitable during pregnancy.

Read what Focus Online reports about Curpal® here.