Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Carpal Tunnel Exercises Using Yoga Relieve Thousands of CTS Sufferers

By Tom Nicholson

RSI, CTS, and How Yoga Can Cure Them Repetitive Strain Injury or RSI is the most modern incarnation of illness related to repeated use of the arm. Prior to this modern interpretation related to computers and typewriters was something called "writer's cramp" Writer's cramp, also known as scrivener's palsy and logographic, was a condition where a writer would experience pain and spasms in his or her hand, such that he or she becomes unable to write.

In the good old days, pain in the arms and wrists was called "writer's cramp." You've probably heard of this, but what about all the abbreviations like CTD, OOS, and WRUAD? The names may be different, but the problem is much of the same. What happens is you receive a nice shot of pain in your arms. Most people automatically scream carpal tunnel, but RSI can also be misconstrued as the CTS. It's something we've had a hard time figuring out.

Understanding carpal tunnel is an easy process. It's when the structure in the wrist guides tendons to allow the fingers to flex. It also does the same thing for the median nerve, but when the nerve becomes compressed, carpal tunnel is soon to follow. However, before you jump to the conclusion that CTS is the culprit, it is sometimes misrepresented by the symptoms. While CTS reasoning is difficult, you can find all kinds of weird problems. The worst probably has to be waking up in the middle of the night for no reason, then feeling the pain and numbness come about relentlessly.

When you take a look at all the medical records you won't find a connection between CTS and RSI. Then again, since there appears to be one, it creates mass hysteria in the field which can result in a misdiagnosis. A good way to figure out the difference is when the fingers start to swell. Even though it doesn't necessarily happen all the time, it is a small indication. When the median nerve becomes compressed, the symptoms will be associated with CTS.

Numbness, burning or prickling sensations and weakness in the hand are the symptoms most associated with this. There is no medically-proven connection between RSI and CTS. Regardless, there is what appears to be a logical connection between RSI and CTS, which is why the two can be confused with each other. When the fingers are used repeatedly for long periods of time, such as typing on a keyboard of some sort, the tendons may swell - this is RSI. The swelling compresses the median nerve, and results in the symptoms as with CTS. CTS is manageable with carpal tunnel exercises using yoga, surgery, localized steroid injections, and binding to stretch and relieve pressure. This last treatment is of particular interest. If the binding is meant to stretch and release pressure, than shouldn't exercises do the same? Carpal tunnel exercises using yoga is an age-old tradition of exercises focusing on body positions. It originated from Hindu philosophy, but you do not need to be Hindu to practice it.

Although they were originally made to facilitate meditation in addition to health, today yoga is practiced mostly for its health benefits. Practitioners of yoga, or yogis are they are called, are found all over the world due o the popularity of yoga. In carpal tunnel exercises using yoga, various parts and sometimes the whole of the body is held in various positions.

So how does yoga work? In short you hold various positions for longer periods of time. What this does is allow the muscles and tendons to stretch out and experience slight amounts of strain. You will soon find yourself with massive amounts of flexibility and the rush of experiencing healthy arms when you work. However, this isn't something you do a couple times and everything fixed. Once you've become healthy again, it's important to integrate yoga into your daily routine. When you do, the prevention period will begin and you'll enjoy the results.

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