“I started waking up in the middle of night with pain in my hand,” says Moon-Moon Majumdar, a medical doctor in the U.K. who has suffered from carpal tunnel for the past four years. “It’s a kind of tingling and burning sensation.”
Majumdar sought medical advice and was told to wear a wrist brace at night to prevent her arm and hand from getting into positions that could aggravate the problem.
Even though we haven’t seen carpal tunnel appear in the news as much lately, somewhere between 1 and 5 percent of the general population are thought to have the syndrome.
What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
The carpal tunnel is a narrow conduit in the wrist made up of small bones and soft tissues. The median nerve lies within this tunnel, and it acts as a kind of pulley for the tendons that control finger movement. Carpal tunnel syndrome happens when pressure on the median nerve builds up.