Carpal tunnel progression
Hey Doc how have you been? It has been a while since I have posted on here. My carpal tunnel seemed to be at bay for a considerable amount of time. My physical exercise as a bodybuilder did not seem to affect it and still does not. However I am starting to have tingling at night time in the past few days. My grip strength has actually seemed to improve so I am not experiencing any atrophy or strength loss. However I am experiencing pain and slight tingling in the selected fingers and base of the thumb. I believe I have a mild form of carpal tunnel in both hands. The pain seemed to come and go at times, so I usually just brushed it off. But this time it is lingering. I am considering getting Cortizone shots first before considering going into surgery. I actually have a question, I read a study done on the web MD website, and it stated that younger people with mild forms of carpal tunnel do you have a chance of getting the shot and it going away and definitely for for a considerable amount of time. Is there truth to the statement?
Age doesn't seem to have a lot to do with it. In our practice about half the patients we inject relapse in the first year after injection, so about half are still OK at one year. Of that half who are still OK at one year, half of them relapse in the next year, so by the end of two yearsm roughly a quarter of the original group are still OK. This pattern seems to continue more or less so that after three years one either of the original group are still OK, four years one sixteenth etc. It probably doesn't follow this pattern indefinitely however because I encounter occasional patients with very long remissions - 48 years in one case. There are very few downsides to trying injection as a first line treatment as it is much safer and more convenient than surgery as long as it is done by someone competent. JB