Yoga for wrist problems

TUNNEL VISION

Wrist problems are often caused by carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). To understand how to heal them, it helps to know a bit about the area’s anatomy. The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway in the wrist formed by ligaments and the eight small carpal bones. These bones are arranged in two rows of four, and lie on either side of the crease between hand and forearm. CTS is caused when the median nerve to the hand gets compressed in this tunnel. It’s become near-epidemic among computer users in recent years.

The problem, however, is not always caused by repetitive motion. Anything that decreases the space in the wrist joint and compresses the median nerve can lead to CTS. Fluid retention due to pregnancy or thyroid disease, for example, can narrow the carpal tunnel, as can cysts, old fractures, or arthritic changes in the bones.

The symptoms of CTS include intermittent numbness and tingling in the hands, which often wake people at night. The sensations typically occur in the area of the palm served by the median nerve, though some people get arm or shoulder pain. Left unchecked, compression in the wrist can progress to permanent nerve damage and muscle weakness in the hands.

HOW YOGA FITS IN

During my medical training, the entire conversation about carpal tunnel syndrome focused on about one inch of anatomy, the canal in the wrist through which tendons and the median nerve pass . There is some validity to this perspective. The compression of the carpal tunnel often happens when people engage in activities like typing which require that they rotate the forearms so that the palm faces down. This can cause flattening of the normal arch made by the carpal bones. Cocking the wrists up, as many people do at the keyboard, can intensify this flattening of the carpal tunnel arch, putting further pressure on the tendons and the median nerve.

But from a yogic point of view, the failure to consider other factors beyond compression in the carpal tunnel is simply shortsighted. It is precisely this myopic approach that results in surgeries to open up that space before other options have been thoroughly explored.