What are natural treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome?

Fortunately, unless people are continuing to stress the wrist with repetitive stress injuries (e.g., handling heavy equipment or doing very large amounts of typing), carpal tunnel syndrome can almost always be relieved without surgery. In almost all of my patients, carpal tunnel syndrome has resolved by simply using the advice here.

Unfortunately, your doctor may be totally unfamiliar with these conservative therapies — in today's medicine only expensive treatments tend to get attention. If surgery is recommended, ask your physician if you can try the following conservative measures instead for 6 to 12 weeks.

Nutritional supplements:

-  Vitamin B6 250 mg daily.
-  Armour thyroid hormone (use even if your blood tests are normal).

Use a wrist splint. When your hand gets into funny positions while you are sleeping, it stretches and strains the nerve as it goes through your wrist. This is why you wake up in the night with numbness or tingling. The type of wrist splint to use is called a "cock up" wrist splint. It keeps your hand in the neutral position (the position your hand is in while holding a glass of water), which takes the stress off the nerve. Be sure to wear the splint while sleeping and take the vitamin B6 and thyroid for at least 6 weeks to give the treatment time to work. During that period, also wear the wrist splint during the day whenever you conveniently can.

Other conservative measures can also be effective, including acupuncture, osteopathic manipulation, chiropractic manipulation, and myofascial release.

Yoga: Yoga therapy has been studied for carpal tunnel syndrome, but it is not clear if there are beneficial effects. Further research is needed before a conclusion can be made.

Yoga is generally considered to be safe in healthy individuals when practiced appropriately. Avoid some inverted poses with disc disease of the spine, fragile or atherosclerotic neck arteries, risk for blood clots, extremely high or low blood pressure, glaucoma, detachment of the retina, ear problems, severe osteoporosis, or cervical spondylitis. Certain yoga breathing techniques should be avoided in people with heart or lung disease. Use cautiously with a history of psychotic disorders. Yoga techniques are believed to be safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding when practiced under the guidance of expert instruction (the popular Lamaze techniques are based on yogic breathing). However, poses that put pressure on the uterus, such as abdominal twists, should be avoided in pregnancy.

You should read product labels, and discuss all therapies with a qualified healthcare provider. Natural Standard information does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.