If you have carpal tunnel syndrome, reducing inflammation in your body may help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, or at least will cause its symptoms to be less severe. Inflammation can cause your ligaments, joints and tissues to swell, which in turn can put pressure on the median nerve of the wrist. This is what causes carpal tunnel syndrome, or CTS, to begin with. How do you reduce inflammation, then?
Most anti-inflammation treatments for CTS begin with anti-inflammatory pain killing drugs like aspirin or Ibuprofen. Some people recommend staying away from aspirin because it thins the blood, and in the case of carpal tunnel syndrome that can just make symptoms worse. The drugs in question are just over the counter ones, though, so you shouldn't need to worry about getting any prescriptions. Always take the drugs with water, to help the body fully absorb the active ingredients within them. Most of the drugs you'll find have instructions that they're to be taken ever four to six hours; you should not take then any more than that, either in frequency or amount. (The usual capsules are 200 to 400 mg; you don't want to take any more than 1200 mg per day). Keep in mind that all of these pain killers could possibly cause stomach bleeding, not just aspirin.
In addition, you can help carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms by minimizing use of the wrist that's affection as much as possible for about two weeks. After this amount of time, you can try to use it more and see if taking the NSAID medications made any difference. If possible, wear a wrist brace at night to further stabilize the affected wrist and help it heal. If it's not feeling much better, you should see your doctor and ask for further intervention. Special anti-inflammatory drugs only available by prescription, such as corticosteroids, may be able to help your pain. These are more powerful than the drugs that are available over the counter, and they do contain steroidal medications, which may have side effects.
You can also give your body anti-inflammation treatment by a change in your diet. Among anti-inflammatory foods that you want are omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in abundance in cold water fish, pumpkin and flax seeds, canola oil, and walnuts. Olive oil is not an omega-3, but it is highly effective in helping to reduce inflammation and ease pain. If you've been eating a lot of fatty red meat, you'll need to cut it out. You can replace some of it with the fish, but your body does require protein to fend off inflammation and meat is the most complete of all proteins. Replace your hamburgers with lean, grass-fed beef, or game meat like venison. Replace cow's milk with soy milk. Eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly green, leafy vegetables. Berries are among the best fruits you can eat. Don't eat fruit cocktails that are packaged in corn syrup, and avoid sweets. Also get a lot of whole grain. Only eat whole grain breads. Temporarily cut out starches as much as possible--no potatoes or corn.
Many people might find all this excessive just to treat CTS, even though this kind of approach has been proven to be effective for some. Instead of an anti-inflammation approach, you may want to try out some specially designed exercises that strengthen your wrist, hand, and forearm so that CTS is cured and prevented.
Most anti-inflammation treatments for CTS begin with anti-inflammatory pain killing drugs like aspirin or Ibuprofen. Some people recommend staying away from aspirin because it thins the blood, and in the case of carpal tunnel syndrome that can just make symptoms worse. The drugs in question are just over the counter ones, though, so you shouldn't need to worry about getting any prescriptions. Always take the drugs with water, to help the body fully absorb the active ingredients within them. Most of the drugs you'll find have instructions that they're to be taken ever four to six hours; you should not take then any more than that, either in frequency or amount. (The usual capsules are 200 to 400 mg; you don't want to take any more than 1200 mg per day). Keep in mind that all of these pain killers could possibly cause stomach bleeding, not just aspirin.
In addition, you can help carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms by minimizing use of the wrist that's affection as much as possible for about two weeks. After this amount of time, you can try to use it more and see if taking the NSAID medications made any difference. If possible, wear a wrist brace at night to further stabilize the affected wrist and help it heal. If it's not feeling much better, you should see your doctor and ask for further intervention. Special anti-inflammatory drugs only available by prescription, such as corticosteroids, may be able to help your pain. These are more powerful than the drugs that are available over the counter, and they do contain steroidal medications, which may have side effects.
You can also give your body anti-inflammation treatment by a change in your diet. Among anti-inflammatory foods that you want are omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in abundance in cold water fish, pumpkin and flax seeds, canola oil, and walnuts. Olive oil is not an omega-3, but it is highly effective in helping to reduce inflammation and ease pain. If you've been eating a lot of fatty red meat, you'll need to cut it out. You can replace some of it with the fish, but your body does require protein to fend off inflammation and meat is the most complete of all proteins. Replace your hamburgers with lean, grass-fed beef, or game meat like venison. Replace cow's milk with soy milk. Eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, particularly green, leafy vegetables. Berries are among the best fruits you can eat. Don't eat fruit cocktails that are packaged in corn syrup, and avoid sweets. Also get a lot of whole grain. Only eat whole grain breads. Temporarily cut out starches as much as possible--no potatoes or corn.
Many people might find all this excessive just to treat CTS, even though this kind of approach has been proven to be effective for some. Instead of an anti-inflammation approach, you may want to try out some specially designed exercises that strengthen your wrist, hand, and forearm so that CTS is cured and prevented.
About the Author:
Tom Nicholson has made available to the public his unique carpal tunnel exercises that can reduce pain and discomfort for any carpal tunnel sufferer. Discover a way to help yourself without resorting to surgery. Follow this link to reduce your pain and improve your quality of life by doing a series of simplecarpal tunnel exercises.
