Carpal tunnel syndrome

For a lay person:

Carpal tunnel syndrome is pressure on the median nerve as it passes through the wrist. It causes numbness, tingling and pain in the thumb, index and middle fingers, often worse at night, and can weaken the grip.

For a trained medical person:

Median nerve entrapment at the carpal tunnel, associated with repetitive use, pregnancy, diabetes, hypothyroidism and rheumatoid arthritis. Diagnosis is clinical, with nerve conduction studies where needed. Treatment: splinting, activity modification, corticosteroid injection and surgical release for persistent or severe cases.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Blood deficiency not nourishing the sinews and vessels; Qi and Blood Stagnation; Wind damp bi. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: See a doctor for constant numbness or weakness or wasting of the thumb muscles.