Hands Deserve Healing: Recognizing Early Signs of Carpal Tunnel

You wake up in the middle of the night, and your hand feels numb. You shake it out, the tingling fades, and you go back to sleep. A few nights later, it happens again. Maybe you notice you are dropping things more often or struggling to grip your coffee cup in the morning.

These small moments might seem like nothing, but they could be your body’s way of telling you something important. You might have carpal tunnel syndrome, and catching it early could make all the difference. OU Health, the University of Oklahoma’s academic health system, is here to help.

What Is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Deep inside your wrist, your bones and ligaments form a tunnel. Inside that tunnel run the tendons that move your fingers and the median nerve that provides feeling to most of your hand. When anything causes swelling or increased pressure in that tight space, the nerve suffers.

“It’s primarily caused by pressure on the median nerve in the wrist,” said Dr. Thomas Lehman, M.D., PT, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in Hand and Microvascular Surgery at OU Health and professor and vice chair at University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. “Anything that causes swelling or takes up space in that tunnel causes increased pressure, and that pressure is a problem for the nerve.”

The Early Warning Signs You Should Not Ignore

The most common symptom is numbness in your thumb, index finger, middle finger, and sometimes the middle side of your ring finger. For many people, it starts waking them up at night.

“They wake up in the middle of the night because their hand is numb. They may shake their hands and feel it gradually gets better. Then they go back to sleep, but the numbness often returns,” Dr. Lehman said.

But nighttime numbness is not the only sign. You might notice you are having trouble gripping things or that items slip out of your hand without you realizing it. Maybe one hand just does not feel as good as the other. Any sensory disturbance in your hand deserves attention.

Some people experience pins and needles sensations or even pain, though numbness is the hallmark symptom. If your wrist hurts, that could be a sign too, though pain alone is not the primary indicator of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Why Early Matters

One of the challenges with carpal tunnel syndrome is that, for many individuals, its onset is so gradual that they scarcely notice its development.

“Many people will have a slow progression over time, and it can happen so slowly that it is almost something they barely recognize,” Dr. Lehman said. “We see some patients who say they don’t really remember a specific time when it began. They just realized that their hand doesn’t seem to work very well.”

By the time these patients seek help, the damage may be harder to reverse. That is why recognizing those early symptoms matters so much. When you catch carpal tunnel syndrome early, simple treatments can often eliminate the problem without surgery.

“Sometimes simple things like taking anti-inflammatories and wearing a brace at night can be enough to eliminate this, especially if you catch it early,” Dr. Lehman said.

Many patients worry that seeing a hand surgeon means they will need surgery. That fear keeps them from getting help when treatment would be simplest.

“Sometimes patients are afraid to see a surgeon because they don’t want to have surgery. They may not feel like this bothers them enough that they would even want to have a surgery - especially at the beginning” Dr. Lehman said. “But that’s the time you would want to attack it with the easy nonsurgical things. And the time when they are most likely to be successful and eliminate the symptoms without surgery.”

Treatment Options That Work

When you come to OU Health with early symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, treatment often starts with conservative approaches. A brace worn at night keeps your wrist in a neutral position and gives the nerve a break. Anti-inflammatory medications can reduce swelling in the tunnel. Some patients benefit from physical therapy.

If symptoms are more persistent, steroid injections can provide powerful relief, though the effect is usually temporary.

When nonsurgical treatments do not provide lasting relief, surgery becomes an option. The good news is that carpal tunnel release surgery is straightforward with quick recovery.

“Fortunately, surgery is a relatively quick and easy procedure, and patients typically recover from it quickly with very little time away from normal activities,” Dr. Lehman said. “The surgery can be done with a patient wide awake if need be, but many people do drift off to sleep with some sedation. If so, they wake up ten minutes later and it’s all done.”

Who Gets Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Anyone can develop carpal tunnel syndrome, but certain factors increase your risk. Diabetes is a significant contributor. Being overweight raises your chances. Women are more likely to develop it than men, and hormonal changes during pregnancy, nursing, or menopause can trigger symptoms.

Repetitive hand movements contribute, though the connection is not as straightforward as you might think. It is not just clerical work or typing. Activities that involve vibration, like using a jackhammer, seem to increase risk. But the honest answer is that doctors do not fully understand why some people develop carpal tunnel syndrome and others do not.

“Probably any activity you do repetitively in your hands is a contributor,” Dr. Lehman said. “Why several people in one family will get it and others won’t, or several people at one workplace will get it and others won’t, we just don’t understand that as well.”

A Similar Problem You Should Know About

If you have numbness and tingling primarily in your ring finger and pinky, you might have a related condition called cubital tunnel syndrome. This involves pressure on the ulnar nerve at your elbow rather than the median nerve at your wrist. The treatment approaches are similar, and OU Health treats both conditions.

Choose OU Health for Hand Care

OU Health has an experienced team of hand surgeons who understand that most patients prefer to avoid surgery if possible. As Oklahoma’s only comprehensive academic medical center and the state’s primary referral center, OU Health sees patients from every county across Oklahoma, including those with complications from previous treatments elsewhere.

“We do see patients referred to us who have more problems or complications. But most of the time when patients come to see us early, treatment is usually straightforward and successful,” Dr. Lehman said.

That depth of experience means your care team has seen it all and knows how to help, whether your case is simple or complex.

Listen to Your Hands

Your hands do so much for you every day. When they start sending signals that something is wrong, pay attention. That numbness at night, that dropped coffee cup, that tingling in your fingers might seem minor now. But early intervention can prevent permanent nerve damage and keep your hands working the way they should.

If you are experiencing numbness, tingling, or weakness in your hands, do not wait to see if it gets worse. The sooner you address carpal tunnel syndrome, the more treatment options you have and the better your outcomes will be.

Ready to get your hands feeling better? Call OU Health Physicians — Orthopedic Surgery Clinic at (405) 271-2663 to schedule an appointment.