How Massage Cured my Carpal Tunnel

I’ve had carpal tunnel syndrome three times in my life. Three times. That’s a lot. To boot, I’m a massage therapist. You’d think that a recurring injury like this would make me give up on my career. Who wants to be constantly in danger of injuring their hands and arms when we need them to do mostly everything?

Number one, I think massage therapy is awesome. I drank the kool-aide in nineteen ninety-six when I witnessed my soon-to-be instructor give a full-hour massage demo in front of me. Dimmed lighting in a room full of massage students and Enya music blasting in the background, I was hooked. 

But nothing makes you a convert more than experiencing the healing yourself. I was cured of carpal tunnel syndrome, all three painfully grueling times, by manual therapy aka massage. 

Also, not every time was the fault of my profession. When I moved to a new city, massage positions were hard to come by. I made do with a call center job where I typed forty hours a week and was yelled at continuously by unhappy customers. The constant typing and funky keyboard developed a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Soon after, many of my fellow employees were also suffering from it. In a dingy worker’s compensation clinic, I encountered a highly talented and severely underpaid physical therapist. She proceeded to treat me with a neuromuscular massage. 

I sat in that plastic chair opposite her with my arm propped on a small plastic table, she then proceeded. I saw stars, cried, and whimpered. She stopped for a moment out of compassion, I’m sure, and kept going. Her thumbs slowly glided the flexor and extensor muscles on my forearms. Her fingers felt like palpable steel hooked into the small crevices of my wrist. She stretched my hand, bending it back, then forward, and continued to massage my swollen arm. At night, I slept with a brace and returned to work the following day. Re-injuring myself with another long day of continuous typing. 

I had studied neuromuscular massage therapy years before but had not received it. That’s the lightbulb moment for a bodyworker when the material learned, saves you from surgery. After some weeks of rest, massage and stretching, I was completely healed. 

Since then, I’ve worked for enough medical offices to know that giving massage is the most physically demanding work a bodyworker, physician or therapist is willing to do. 

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome 

Carpal Tunnel is a condition that is extremely painful and it comes in stages. I liken everything to cavities because they begin itty bitty and can grow into monsters that lead to unwanted root canals. I’m projecting my dental trauma, so forgive me. 

When you use your hands all day long in say typing, the chances of you getting carpal tunnel is very high. As I mentioned before, your forearms have muscles. Most of these begin or connect around your elbow. You have a lot of these muscles that can do cool things like help you hold your phone up and watching endless hours of Tik Tok. Text your best friend the details of the latest argument with your mom and the family drama that ensued. You can even get carpal tunnel syndrome after having a baby and the act of picking baby up and down all day and breastfeeding is constant use of your arms and hands. 

We don’t think about it but it sneaks upon us. You begin to feel weakness in your hands. You can’t twist open a bottle cap of your favorite soda and ask your honey for help. A burning or tingling sensation starts to creep in at night as your hands fall asleep. You forget it the next morning because everyone’s hands fall asleep at night, right? Wrong. 

The symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include numbness, tingling, loss of strength in your hands and wrists, and burning. Not all together but sprinkled here and there until they become more and more frequent. Let’s do a test. Stick your arm out, lock that elbow. Got it? Now take your hand and bend it down at the wrist, your fingers pointed towards the floor. Does that hurt your wrist or forearm? Do you feel a sharp pain that makes you pull back? I can’t diagnose you but these are common symptoms of carpal tunnel. 

They can happen to anyone that uses their hands in the same motion over again. That’s called repetitive motion syndrome. Let the doctor know that phrase on your next visit and impress him or her. When you use your muscles again and again, they need a break to recover. But you, being the cruel taskmaster you are say “no! I have to get this work done!” and you proceed. Then the nerves in your arms and hands deliver a message to your brain with a speed that would put an Amazon Prime delivery time to shame. Your nerves say, “Hey, this dude won’t listen to us”. Your brain responds by creating inflammation, certain that this will stop you in your tracks. It doesn’t and you and your body continue in the I don’t have time to get sick battle until you succumb. 

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome surgery can be prevented if it’s caught early on. I know this is a big claim but it’s true. There’s a window where you can lasso this arm to wrist nightmare in if you’re proactive. It’s going to take resting (I know, I know) you don’t want to hear it. But the muscles need time to recover. Reducing inflammation can be done aggressively through an injection or with ice and you got it, rest. Then (and this is my favorite part) if your hand, wrist, and forearms muscles are next-level tight from all that crazy ongoing movement, then massage steps in. Get ready, you may see stars but man, are the results glorious. You get your life and your body back, potentially. The political texting wars on Facebook are just within your reach again! But, I’m going to ask you to examine what brought you to this condition in the first place. You have to Sherlock Holmes your repetitive movement and make some changes. If not, you’ll be back and your hands may not recover. 

Disclaimer: This article is meant to shed light on the condition of carpal tunnel syndrome. As annoying as the process is in our health care system, it’s best to have it diagnosed properly and not take my word for it here. Don’t wait, call your doctor and get an appointment. Use fancy medical terms like repetitive motion and carpal tunnel and see what they have to say. Be an advocate for your health but partner with a professional that studied the human body and sees ailments all day long. 

Happy typing!