Essential Health Clinic

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Suffering from numb hands?

Do you find that your hands ever periodically fall asleep or go numb? Have you ever woken up from a night of sleep because your hand/arm fell asleep/is numb? Then this post is for you.

Why Is This Happening?

The feeling is often associated with a pins and needles sensation. Sometimes, in more severe cases, it can even happen during the day. Many of our patients come in thinking they have carpal tunnel syndrome, but usually, this isn’t the case.

More often than not, if the whole hand is being affected, compression is happening further up your arm, not at your wrist.

Let’s Break This Down

“Carpal tunnel” carpal = wrist tunnel = area where the nerve travels through, in this case, the median nerve. The median nerve innervates (supplies “power” to your thumb, pointer finger and half of your middle finger.) Therefore, if more than those fingers are involved, there needs to be more investigation.

We find that either a patient’s scalene muscles (located on the front side of the neck) or the pectoral (chest) muscles can cause this tightness. There are even cases where tight muscles in your upper back and around the back of your shoulder blade can give the arm a heavy and odd sensation. This shortlist is by no means exhaustive, but these are the most common compression sites that we see.

It is also possible to have more than one compression site (i.e. carpal tunnel and biceps tendon), so surgery at the wrist will not alleviate symptoms and lead to unnecessary pain and frustration.

How Do I Resolve This?

Not sure who to see? Our chiropractors can assess your needs to decide whether you would need chiropractic, massage therapy, or osteopathy or a combination of any or all of those therapies. Anytime there are symptoms in the arm, it’s crucial to accurately assess where the pain is coming from to ensure that your treatment is appropriate! If you have this, don’t wait to book an appointment! It is much easier to treat this when it’s not constant!

Our online booking portal is efficient and easy to use, and we offer direct billing for most insurance providers. We are conveniently located in the Woodbridge (Vaughan) area, on Weston Road, and happily service all surrounding areas. Book your appointment today!

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