Carpal Tunnel

Do you have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

This picture shows the Median and Ulnar nerves and their paths of distribution from the spinal cord to the hand. Irritation along the path of either nerve may result in tingling, numbness, pain, muscle weakness, red itchy skin, or a feeling of coldness. The most common cause of irritation is at the neck. When spinal vertebra when become misaligned (subluxated) they can cause irritation to either nerve. Most often someone will feel tingling or numbness at the thumb and index finger (median nerve distribution) and will be diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Tingling at the little finger and one next to it (ulnar nerve distribution) are the second most common symptoms.
If you have these symptoms, your doctor will need to differentiate between the possibility of Raynaud's Syndrome, Bergur's Disease, Double crush Syndrome, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Low grade metabolic acidosis, a possible drug side effect, or a spinal subluxation. My personal clinical experience is most patients have a spinal vertebra out of place that causes the initial irritation. The second most common cause is metabolic acidosis.

I find most often that patients on drugs for high cholesterol (Lipitor, Mevacor, Crestor) will often have a side effect of numbness and/or tingling in the extremities (hands or feet). If I think this may be your problem I will ask you to discuss this with your M.D. I also recommend patients with high cholesterol to take the supplement Total LDL Balance and barley grass to reduce possible low grade metabolic acidosis. Generally I find most patients will get off the cholesterol drugs due to side effects. There is also a benefit for people with carpal tunnel who take Vitamin B-6. I recommend to take Vitamin B-6 with a complex of other B vitamins, as it is possible to have toxic effects from taking vitamin B-6 alone. I personally recommend B-Complex by Nutriwest.

Most patients with the above symptoms will get better with a few spinal adjustments and nutritional supplementation.

This Article was written by Dr. Watson