One of the unofficial symptoms of Carpal Tunnel is waking up at
night due to increased pain and/or numbness in the hand....and from the
fingers and wrist clenching and curling forward into a claw.
This not only annoys people, it can scare them. It's not really supposed to do that! Why does it do that?
The answer is pretty simple, but like all simple things it takes a little bit of explaining.
There is a process that leads up to the hand curling while you sleep at night. It goes like this.
1. Lots of use of the hand.
2. Muscles get tighter and tighter.
3. The nervous system sets those tight muscles as the new normal. So muscles get tighter and stay tight, progressively.
4. A lot of other bad stuff happens under the skin that you don't notice. And continues to as time passes.
5. The body fights off these negative factors until it starts to lose.
6. You start to feel ache, then pain.
7. You ignore it and avoid thinking about it as long as possible.
8. It -really- starts to hurt, and doesn't go away like it used to.
9. By now, your muscles are REALLY tight. Constantly.
10. When
you sleep at night, you think your muscles relax but they don't because
tight is the new normal. It's kind of like you go to sleep at night
holding up a 30 pound barbell.
Because your muscles are so tight,
they are constantly pulling. Since you're asleep and not paying
attention, the natural laws of physics take control, and the muscles on
the palm side of your forearm (which are tighter than those on the
opposite side) pull, pull, pull.
The fingers and hand curl forward because the muscles are pulling them forward.
And
they constantly pull, for hours maybe. And they get tired. And then
they start to hurt. And the nervous system gets scared and does what it
does best to protect you...tighten up muscles to guard you. The
tightness becomes almost a spasm. Imagine holding up that 30 pound
barbell for hours. You would get fatigued, then hurt. The same thing
happens while you sleep.
And because the curl and muscle contraction can compress the median nerve, you get more numbness and pain.
The fingers and hand curling forward is not a neurological problem. It is not because of nerve damage.
This
is not something to be scared of. It is, however, a good clue that
there is something that you need to start dealing with. And you might as
well deal with it the RIGHT way.
If you are ready to Eliminate your Carpal Tunnel, get The Carpal Tunnel Treatment That Works.
By Joshua Tucker
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