Carpal tunnel syndrome is tingling, numbness and pain in your fingers and hand when pressure is on your nerve.
What are the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome?
- Tingling and numbness in the thumb, index and middle finger
- Occasional thumb muscle wasting
- Pain that is worse at night or wakes you from your sleep
Arthritis is pain and inflammation in the joint.
Osteoarthritis is generally a degenerative condition caused from wear and tear as we get older.
What are the symptoms of osteoarthritis?
- Pain in the finger, thumb or wrist joint
- Difficulty with small tasks such as doing up buttons
- Clicking and cracking in the joints (crepitus)
- Reduction in the strength grip
- Bumps near the finger joints
- Rheumatoid arthritis is when the boy's immune system attacks the joints, causing them to become inflamed and painful.
What are the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis?
- Pain in the joints
- Stiffness of the joints
- Pain can come and go
Are carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis related?
The two conditions are not related as such but as rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory condition, it can cause pressure on the ulnar nerve and cause compression which results in carpal tunnel syndrome.
What are the treatment options?
Rheumatoid arthritis is a condition that can flare up but be managed with the use of anti-inflammatories.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated with anti-inflammatories and steroid injections. If these haven't helped then carpal tunnel decompression surgery can be performed to free the nerve from the tunnel and release pressure.
