Treating carpal tunnel syndrome, week 1

For my last quarter of school, I am required to do a case study on treating a condition with massage. I am working on a client with carpal tunnel syndrome. Very briefly put, CTS is when a major nerve in the wrist is being compressed by surrounding tissue. This results in varying degrees of pain, loss of function/movement, numbness, & tingling - typically in the first three digits: thumb, index, and middle finger.

Can massage be a replacement for surgery in relief of carpal tunnel symptoms? This is my research question. I find this client invaluable because they've had carpal tunnel surgery in the other wrist, years ago, making for an accurate comparison. As someone geared toward treatment massage, I am excited.

Two days ago, I began treatment with the focus being relieving tension in the forearm, especially the wrist flexors (the inside forearm). Before we started, she had been intermittent numbness, over ten separate times this particular day. This was brought on by various actions like typing on a keyboard, and holding a phone up to her ear. I traced her hand on a piece of paper, and mapped out sensation loss using an unfolded paper clip. There was very little sensation in the first three fingers.

Post-massage, the numbness was gone and she could feel all the way to the finger tips in all three fingers. Very cool. This is day two after the massage and her hand is still functioning better than normal. This bodes well for my cause!

"Tendinitis?" More than likely tendinosis.

I am currently reading my orthopedic assessment book for my injury treatment class. To be more specific, it's talking about tendons and how they can be damaged.



The suffix -itis is equal to "inflammation of." While tendonitis is a real thing, it is far more likely that the problem going on is actually tendinosis. This is a relatively generic term for tendon dysfunction, and it does not specify what is causing it. Why does this matter? It may seem like semantics but it is an important distinction. I frequently hear of people complaining of tendonitis - sometimes diagnosed by doctors, other times by word of mouth. The truth of their pain and dysfunction is not to be dismissed, but it's important to understand what is really going on in the tissue in order to address it.



Say a doctor, ill-informed, (more likely than you'd think for this sort of thing) diagnoses you with tendonitis, when really what you have is tendinosis. With this diagnosis of an inflammatory condition, he prescribes you anti-inflammatory medication. In the likely event that your tendinosis is due to a breakdown of the collagen (the protein fibers your tendons consist of), these anti-flammatory medications are quite possibly going to inhibit the rebuilding of your collagen and ultimately your healing process. There are so many problems we wrongly dismiss with medications... it's bad enough if it's not what you need, but when it's actually worsening the condition, that's just awful. If you or anyone you know suffers from any tendon dysfunction, let it be known that you should do your research on what may actually be going on!

The Beginning

I am currently a student in massage school. I am in my fourth quarter of a 1000 hour training program. Many of my classmates have moved on (the minimum is 750 hour/3 quarters long) and there are only 8 of us left in this last optional term. I am reaching a turning point in my life, and have finally found a passion that can sustain me. I intend to document the journey.

I am a budding bodyworker and this is my blog.

I aspire to keep the content related to:

- my experience of school

- the transition from student to licensed massage therapist (LMP)

- bodywork/massage, health, wellbeing, and the body/mind/spirit & their connection.



I hope you enjoy. Cheers. - Elias Darling