Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by pressure on the median nerve. The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway surrounded by bones and ligaments on the palm side of your hand. When the median nerve is compressed, the symptoms can include numbness, tingling and weakness in the hand and arm.

Symptoms
Tingling or numbness – fingers or hand, might feel a sensation like an electric shock in thumb, index and middle fingers.
Weakness in your hand and drop objects. This may be due to the numbness in your hand or weakness of the thumb’s pinching muscles, which are also controlled by the median nerve.

Causes
Anything that squeezes or irritates the median nerve in the carpal tunnel space may lead to carpal tunnel syndrome.  Such as in wrist fracture can narrow the carpal tunnel and irritate the nerve, as can the swelling and inflammation have caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

Risk factors

• Wrist fracture or dislocation, or arthritis that deforms the small bones in the wrist, can alter the space within the carpal tunnel and put pressure on the median nerve.
• More common in women, may be because the carpal tunnel area is relatively smaller in women than in men.
• Nerve-damaging conditions such as diabetes, increase your risk of nerve damage, including damage to your median nerve.
• Inflammatory conditions such as Rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions that have an inflammatory component can affect the lining around the tendons in your wrist and put pressure on your median nerve.
• Obesity.
• Body fluid changes.
• Other medical conditions. Certain conditions, such as menopause, thyroid disorders, kidney failure and lymphedema, may increase chances of carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Workplace factors. Working with vibrating tools or on an assembly line that requires prolonged or repetitive flexing of the wrist may create harmful pressure on the median nerve or worsen existing nerve damage, especially if the work is done in a cold environment.

Prevention
There are no proven strategies to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, but you can minimize stress on your hands and wrists with these methods:

• Reduce your force and relax your grip, take short, frequent breaks, improve your posture, change your computer mouse, keep your hands warm.

On examination: Physiotherapist will test the feeling in your fingers and the strength of the muscles in your hand, bending the wrist, tapping on the nerve or simply pressing on the nerve can trigger symptoms in many people.

Physiotherapy treatment
1 Joint Mobilization
2. Soft tissue release
3. Wrist splinting
4. Ultrasound therapy / LASER / Electrotherapy