Carpal Tunnel - Case Profile

Profile
Female tennis pro, diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) by a hand specialist. Symptoms were pain and weakness in the hand, and she also had tingling in the wrist with weight bearing activities. CTS diagnosis is often misapplied to patients that have activity-related forearm pain. Surgery was recommended to alleviate symptoms. She was referred to 360 NMT by her physical trainer for alternative treatment options.

Treatment
NMT was utilized to remove any trigger point driven symptoms and reduce entrapment of the median nerve as it runs deep to the transverse carpal ligament. Postural analysis revealed weakness in scapular stabilizing muscles and posterior cervical muscles.

Forearm flexors were treated, including hand muscles (flexor pollicis brevis, adductor pollicis, abductor pollicis brevis and opponens pollicis). Next, proximal muscles in the upper extremity were treated – biceps brachii, brachialis, pectoralis minor and scalenes – all to remove trigger point referral pain that could contribute to symptoms.

Result
Over the course of four months, NMT, combined with corrective postural exercises, prevented a carpal tunnel surgery. In this case, many symptoms in her wrist and forearm were sourced from trigger points in scalenes (anterior neck muscles), thus demonstrating the importance of treating muscles prior to surgical decision.