Click here for details on common causes of hand pain or tell me:
are there any symptoms of numbness or pins and needles in your fingers? 

This is likely to be Carpal tunnel Syndrome, a benign condition where the median nerve gets compressed as it passes through the wrist into the hand. If you are pregnant or have recently given birth this may well be what is causing your symptoms. There is also an association with diabetes, hypothyroidism and rheumatoid arthritis. Those who’s work involves a lot of manual labour are also known to develop this condition.

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Patients describe an unpleasant sensation of numbness and sometimes pain in the hand. This is most often felt in the thumb, index and middle fingers but can sometimes seem to spread to all of them. You may get woken up at night and feel you need to shake the life back into your hand.

 

If the feeling is just in your little or ring fingers it may be that a different nerve, your ulna nerve, is becoming compressed at your elbow. This is called Cubital Tunnel Syndrome.

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Most of the time I will be able to diagnose this Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by listening to how you describe your symptoms and with a detailed clinical examination. Sometimes we may need to investigate further.

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I may offer you an injection to help settle the symptoms but the definitive solution is a Carpal Tunnel Decompression. This is a small, day case procedure carried out under local anaesthetic in the operating theatre. I will administer a numbing injection to your hand and you will not need to go to sleep under a general anaesthetic. I will make a small incision at the base of your hand and release the tight ligament compressing the nerve. The operation takes about 10 minutes. The hand needs to stay dry for 2 weeks while the wound heals.

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Most people notice a significant improvement in their symptoms within 24 hours of the procedure but, depending on how squashed the nerve is and your body’s own innate ability to heal itself, residual symptoms may continue for a few weeks or months.

 

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