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Carpal tunnel syndrome massage
The carpal joint is the same as the wrist. It is a joint made up of several small bones and between them a narrow channel is formed, called the carpal tunnel. Over this canal lies a strong ligament, the transverse carpal ligament. Many structures pass through the canal, so it can get crowded. There are tendons from the muscles of the forearm to the fingers, blood vessels and a large nerve, the median nerve. The median nerve’s job is to register sensation from the inside of the hand, thumb, index finger, middle finger and the side of the ring finger towards the middle finger. Part of the thumb’s motor function is also controlled by the median nerve. In carpal tunnel syndrome, it is this nerve that is haunted when it is pinched and becomes irritated when the canal becomes too narrow.
Carpal tunnel syndrome massage
Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve, which runs from the elbow to the hand, is pinched at the wrist in the narrow space called the carpal tunnel. This can lead to symptoms such as pain, tingling, numbness and weakness in the hand and fingers.
A massage for carpal tunnel syndrome focuses on reducing pressure on the median nerve. This may involve techniques that soften the surrounding tissues and improve circulation in the area.
Fascia Treatment for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Fascia treatment can be your way to get pain relief and regain function in carpal tunnel syndrome. Similar to a carpal tunnel syndrome massage, fascial therapy increases flow and stimulates the body’s own healing. The benefits of fascia treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome are that the body’s largest organ (the fascia) is restored and bodily nerve entrapments or misalignments are easily addressed in a natural and effective way.
What is a Fascia Treatment?
Actually, any type of manual treatment is a type of Fascia Treatment because the fascia is always affected as soon as you touch a body part. However, what we mean by Fascia Treatment is the treatment performed at the Fascia Clinics by a Fascia Specialist who has specialized training in fascia. It is also largely performed with a soft vibrating machine which, with its gentle varying vibrations, accelerates the flow in a more effective way and over larger areas than manual massage can do. This causes the fascia to be remodeled, collagen fibers that have stuck together are pulled apart and become mobile again and the flow between all cells is accelerated. The flow between cells is crucial for health and mobility. The cells are nourished and energized and residual products and any inflammatory substances, etc. are cleared away.
Fascia treatment at the FasciaClinics also often produces very good results, as the therapist analyzes the body’s stress and asymmetries and tries to treat the cause of the problems in order to achieve a longer-term solution.
Manual massage can also make your wrist feel better and relieve the pain. At least for a while. Massage affects the tissue positively in many ways, but one effect is that hyaluronic acid is affected. During manual massage, friction occurs against the tissue, which then heats up and this of course affects the hyaluronic acid (also occurs in Fascia treatment). As it gets warmer, it becomes less viscous and slides more easily, which means that different tissues slide more easily against each other and the body becomes more mobile.
How to treat carpal tunnel syndrome?
How is carpal tunnel syndrome affected by the body’s fascia?
The carpal joint is made up of many different fascia structures, tendons, ligaments, and also looser fascia and a so-called retinaculum to hold everything in place. This structure also contains a large number of nerve receptors, which are involved in the coordination of movements of the hand.
The fascia structures of the carpal joint are connected to the rest of the body and are affected by what happens in other parts. Especially of course the immediate neighbors, the hand, the arm and the shoulder, how they are used and move. And between all of this there is a flow and a looser fascia. This flow thickens and becomes more viscous in a tissue that is overworked or injured. It becomes slower to move the whole chain, everything that is connected. This means that if there is a problem somewhere along the arm chain, other parts have to work harder, for example to move the wrist. This will soon lead to overexertion and tightening in the wrist, even though the problem was originally in the shoulder. In the wrist, it then becomes extra sensitive with a thickening, thickened hyaluronic acid, when it is already from the beginning a narrow passage, where everything should normally slide smoothly.
Hyaluronic acid is a substance that is abundant in the fascial fluid, where it binds large amounts of water and, among other things, facilitates the gliding function between different structures as the body moves. It responds to pressure, temperature, pH and movement, among other factors, and changes viscosity rapidly (at high viscosity it is more viscous). In the event of an injury or overexertion (high pressure, low pH), we get what is known as a thickening of the flow; you could say that the hyaluronic acid has thickened and the flow has stopped. This slows down the mobility of the tissue and increases the pressure on nerve receptors, resulting in movement problems and pain. Fascia treatment effectively loosens the thickening as the flow accelerates over large areas.
