Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: There is an area in the wrist from where the median nerve enters the hand. It is known as carpal tunnel. It is usually a narrow tunnel. The median nerve provides movement and feeling to the parts of the hand including the thumb, the palm, the thumb side of the ring finger, the middle finger, and the index finger. When there is an excess pressure on this nerve or swelling that pinches the nerve – it may lead to pain, weakness, tingling sensation, numbness, or muscle damage in the hand and fingers. Doctors call this condition carpal tunnel syndrome. It is a painful and progressive condition.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Symptoms

• Numbness in the palm of the hand
• Pain and weakness in the hand
• Tingling sensation
• Numbness in the fingers especially the index finger and thumb
• Itching, burning or tingling sensation

Symptoms manifest slowly and progress gradually. They often occur during the night or after waking up in the morning. People who have this condition shake their hands out when they wake up. In severe cases, sleep problems can repeatedly disturb you during the night.

Initially, the symptoms develop in the thumb and the two fingers next to the thumb. Gradually the symptoms may extend to the palm, hand, and forearm.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Causes

Many people worry that numbness, tingling, and wrist problems always result from repetitive movements during sports, playing musical instruments, typing, using a computer or mouse, or performing repetitive hand movements at work. However, there is a possibility of developing Carpal tunnel syndrome by making use of the same hand and wrist motion over and over. Studies have mixed findings that these activities can cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. But the narrowing of the carpal tunnel due to bursitis or tendinitis in the hand can lead to the symptoms owing to these activities.

There is also a possibility of developing this syndrome if people use hand tools that vibrate. In some cases, people who are born with a small carpal tunnel may develop this condition.

Women are more prone to this condition compared to men. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome commonly affects people between 30 and 60 years of age.

The prevalence of this condition increases with age. The following factors may also lead to carpal tunnel syndrome:

• Obesity
• Infections
• Alcohol Use
• Arthritis of the wrist and bone fractures
• Tumour or cyst that grows in the wrist
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Women during pregnancy or after menopause are prone to this condition. This happens when their body keep extra fluid.
• Amyloidosis – This is the condition in which body deposits abnormal protein.

What happens when Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is left untreated?

If carpal tunnel is left untreated, muscles at the base of the thumb become sore and do not work properly. The person having this issue gradually loses sensitivity to cold and hot while using thumb and finger. Pain, burning, and tingling sensation become worse when the person uses the affected hand or when the hand or arm is held in the same position for long. Progression of the condition leads to loss of grasping and gripping strength and persistence of symptoms throughout the day. The affected individual at first finds it hard to fist or grasp small objects. And also, typing, working with a laptop, doing up buttons, and opening lids of cans or bottles become a challenge.

Self-Care Tips

Mild symptoms can improve with lifestyle changes. For instance, by managing the triggers. Taking rest during repetitive hand movements gives time for the wrist and hand to rest and recover. If symptoms flare up intermittently, then resting the hand and wrist help in relieving symptoms. Taking the help from an occupational therapist works – they teach how to do repetitive work. Using wrist sprints can also help – but one should talk to their doctor about their apt usage.

The above tips may help when the symptoms are mild

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment in Hyderabad

To address the underlying inflammatory conditions, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen or aspirin are useful. They help in relieving short-term pain. Botox injections and exercise are the other options. In some cases, mixed therapies involving, drugs, exercise, yoga, and occupational therapy may be beneficial.

Medication and other therapies – doctors may prescribe corticosteroid injections. However, they are not advisable in the long run or when symptoms return – owing to the adverse effects of using steroids.

If symptoms last for more than six months and become chronic, surgery is recommended.

How to keep your joints healthy

When your joints are healthy and strong you can move freely and enjoy your life. You can turn, twist, jump, move and walk without having any sort of trouble. This is all because your joints are healthy. However, when you age, it is quite natural that your body goes through wear and tear – there is no exception to your joints unless you don’t proactively keep them healthy. As long as you move smoothly, your joints are healthy. Therefore, to keep your joints healthy you should set a goal to reduce wear and tear as much as possible.

Healthy Joints Avert Joint Replacements

Remember! If you keep your joints healthy, you can minimize the early onset of degenerative joint conditions – such as arthritis – and the pain and inflammation associated with it. You can even prevent joint replacement surgeries – such as Kee replacement and Hip replacement.

How to keep your joints healthy

Dr. Praharsha Mulpur recommends, the following 3-way approach to taking care of your joints:

1. No matter what continue moving (don’t remain sedentary) or confined to your desk for hours together without moving. Take intermittent breaks and move around. It doesn’t matter even if you are working from home.
2. Do the right exercise the one that reducing the load on the joints and helps in stretching your core muscles.
3. Don’t forget to correct your posture while sitting, standing, working, exercising and moving. This helps in reducing pressure on your joints. For instance, not wearing proper footwear can lead to hip and knee pain.

If you follow this three-point or three-step plan of taking care of your joint, then you can ensure long-lasting joint function and reduce the potential risk of arthritis and joint injuries. Your bone health will improve, too.

What Else You Can Do?

The next important aspect is the following – You should keep your exercise regimen in balance with a set of flexibility (stretching), muscle strengthening, and aerobic exercises along with maintaining healthy body weight. This is what you should do to ensure excellent joint health for a lifetime.

Flexibility is important

To remain flexible and maintain your flexibility for long, indulge in activities that help in maintaining a full range of motion. The best bet is to start with tai chi or Yoga. These exercises are handy if you do them before and after strength training or aerobic exercises. They will help in improving your performance.

Cardiovascular or Aerobic exercises

Start these exercises gradually with relatively low intensity and then gear up. Young people can do high-impact aerobics, but aging people should avoid high-impact rope jumping, running on hard surfaces, and also step aerobics.

Walking, Swimming and Bicycling

These exercises are simple but beneficial as they can be performed with minimal equipment. Even paddleboarding is also an ideal low-impact exercise.

You can train your leg muscles without subjecting them to heavy loads by using your gym equipment with low-impact loads. Even a stationary cycle is also best.

Bottom Line

Simple measures but dramatic outcomes – if you keep your joints moving with minimal load and effort, you can ensure long-term joint flexibility, agility, and stability. However, if you want to strengthen your muscles further then you should talk to your orthopedic doctor about whether weight training suits you – and to what sort of limit you can do if you are planning to start weight training. It is always better to take the advice of a professional trainer or a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist to develop an optimal exercise program. An orthopedic doctor who is trained in sports medicine will also help you.

If you still want to learn more about how to keep your joints healthy – then comment below

Back pain specialist in Hyderabad – Dr. Praharsha

Back pain is among the most frequent medical issues. It can be a gradual, continuous discomfort or a quick, sudden agony. It might occur quickly as a result of an accident, a fall, or carrying something large, or slowly as a result of age-related progressive degeneration in the spine. Back discomfort can be caused by inflammatory illnesses or other medical issues.

Symptoms – Back pain can be anything from a dull ache in the muscles to a shooting, searing, or stabbing pain. Furthermore, pain may travel down your leg or worsen when you twist, bend, lift, rise, or walk. There are different types of back pain.

All possible causes of back pain

Herniated or slipped discs: If your doctor cites herniated or slid discs, the soft tissue in the discs between your joints has protruded. Wear and tear are the most common causes. Since the nerves in your lower back and hip are squeezed, herniated discs can lead to pain.

Degenerative disc disease

Degenerative disc disease occurs when the discs between your vertebrae, sometimes known as “shock absorbers,” weaken or tear. The bones begin to rub together as a result of this. This is something that can happen as you become older. Therefore, if you are experiencing back issues due to advancing age, you must regularly visit a back pain specialist in Hyderabad. If doctors detect the cause at an early stage, you may avoid surgery.

Bulging discs: These discs protrude, or “bulge,” although not nearly as much as a herniated disc. Generally, there aren’t any symptoms associated with this. If it presses against a nerve root, however, you’ll notice it.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis of the spine develops when the cartilage between the vertebrae gradually breaks down.

You may have a dull, painful, or throbbing discomfort that increases with movement as the cartilage wears away. Crepitus, a popping feeling, joint problems, and a limited range of motion are all common symptoms. Bony growths might form as the condition advances. These bone spurs can put pressure on adjacent nerve roots, triggering pain and numbness similar to a bulging disc.

Spinal Stenosis

The spinal canal, which houses the spinal cord, can shrink as you get older. Spinal stenosis is the medical term for this condition. Overgrowth of bone within the canal can potentially be a symptom of spinal arthritis. You may have shooting sensations in your lower back and buttocks, muscle spasms, numbness, and stinging if your spinal canal gets too stiff and compresses nerves.

If you think that your lower back pain could be due to this condition, book an appointment with Dr. Praharsha for the best back pain treatment in Hyderabad.

Sciatica

Scoliosis: This is something that most people are born with. If there is discomfort, it usually begins in middle age.

Medical conditions that cause back pain

• Fibromyalgia is a disorder marked by widespread muscular pain and exhaustion.
• Stones in the kidneys or illnesses in the kidneys.
• UTIs (urinary tract infections) can also cause back pain.
• Infections affecting the spine’s bones or the discs between them, which can cause discomfort.
• Endometriosis is the accumulation of uterine tissue outside of the uterus.
• Tumors can form on the spine or other parts of the back, in rare situations.
• Maternity.

Bottom Line

Back discomfort can be caused by a variety of factors. While frequent reasons include strains, sprains, bulging discs, sciatica, and spinal arthritis, there are many others that do not include the back muscles or the spine at all. Since back pain is so widespread, several products claim to prevent or alleviate it. Special footwear, shoe insoles, back cushions, specifically designed furniture, or stress and coping techniques, on the other hand, haven’t been proven to help. However, you should never resort to any alternative techniques to get rid of your back pain without consulting a good back pain specialist in Hyderabad.

osteoarthritis of the joints

Surgery for joint pain: Millions of people in India and across the globe undergo joint replacement surgeries (knee replacement and hip replacement) owing to severe destructive damage caused to their joints. The number one reason for this is osteoarthritis of the joints which is a progressive, painful and destructive condition of the joints. If you are wondering whether your painful joint condition is due to osteoarthritis of the knee joint, let us try to understand when is surgery required for your joint pain and how effective are other treatment options.

Why You should not delay seeking an appointment with a joint specialist doctor if your joint hurts?

This is important because severe joint pain (knee or hip pain) can affect mobility. As a result, restricted movement may make it difficult to stay active and can eventually keep you confined to a couch, sofa, chair, or bed. Once your life becomes sedentary, your condition may worsen. In these circumstances, many people may gain weight which further augments the pain and increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

Why You Should Never Ignore Your Joint Pain?

In the beginning, the joint disease causes pain and stiffness and then progress slowly causing mild to moderate pain. The intensity of pain increases gradually with inflammation in the joint and pain becomes severe. The disease progresses to the point where getting out of chair and bed becomes difficult, walking upstairs and downstairs become painful, and getting dressed up becomes problematic. The life then becomes sedentary with an increased risk of falls and injuries.

Treatment options before surgery for joint pain

Physical therapy – Your orthopedic doctor may recommend physical therapy to strengthen and stretch the muscles around your knee.

Oral Medications – Anti-inflammatory medicines or supplements, whether over-the-counter or prescribed, maybe the initial step toward pain alleviation. However, they haven’t proven to be very useful in curing osteoarthritis. Anti-inflammatory medicines may have negative side effects such as stomach aches, heartburn, and liver problems.

Injections – Corticosteroid injections, which the doctor explains as particularly successful at decreasing pain and swelling, are often the second step. However, the advantage is only temporary. Corticosteroid injections, if given repeatedly, might cause damage. Another approach for treating knee osteoarthritis pain is to inject hyaluronic acid into the joint.

When Is It Time to Consider Surgery?

Osteoarthritis is a progressive condition as it gets worse over time. If you don’t treat it in time, the condition may progress to a stage where alternative treatments no longer work.

The progression of arthritis may cause the formation of bone spurs wherein small cartilage and bone pieces may break off and cause inflammation in the knee joint making the cartilage deteriorate further. This condition may lead to severe inflammation and joint pain.

If your X-ray shows a bone-on-bone condition (bones rub against each other) with substantial tissue damage, your joint replacement surgeon may recommend knee replacement surgery.

Your doctor keeps the following questions in mind when he considers surgery

• Is the pain progressive?
• Has the pain started getting worse day by day?
• Do you find the pain unbearable?
• Does the pain make it difficult for you to work or perform your job?
• Are your joint pain problems affecting your sleep?
• Do you find it difficult to walk, move, or bend your joints?

Has your knee become unstable?

Surgery for joint pain: Another factor your doctor may consider before recommending joint replacement surgery is your age. It is better to talk about the outcome of the replacement and your expectations if you are in your forties and fifties. Middle-aged and older people should also know the outcomes of the procedure especially if they want to remain more active after the recovery period.

Recovery

After you have chosen to have surgery, your doctor will discuss the surgical outcome and recovery period – which is usually set down to around 8 to 10 weeks. However, with Robotic Joint Replacement Surgery for joint pain, you can expect a shorter recovery period. Complete recovery most often depends on whether you follow all the instructions given by your joint replacement surgeon. However, you may get issues if you return to work even before you are fit or don’t take proper rest and don’t do the exercises recommended by your physiotherapist.