1. Home
2. Patient Care
3. Services
4. Hand & Microsurgery
5. Overview
6. Hand Surgeons Missouri | Carpal tunnel & Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel Syndrome

Para Español

Feeling numb or tingly in your hands can happen to anyone. This often happens when a nerve is squeezed in your neck, hand, or arm. When a nerve is squeezed, it can make your hand feel weak, numb, tingly, or painful. It can also make it hard to do daily tasks.

Symptoms

People with a squeezed nerve may have:

• Pain, numbness or tingling in their hands or arms
• Worse symptoms when driving
• Weak hands that make it hard to hold things
• Dropping things often
• Trouble sleeping because of hand pain or numbness

Diagnosis

To find out what is causing the problem, doctors start with a physical exam. Sometimes, more tests are needed to find the exact cause of pain and numbness. These tests check how well the nerves in the hand and arm are working. Two common causes of nerve squeezing are:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome – This happens when a nerve is squeezed at the wrist.
• Cubital tunnel syndrome – This happens when a nerve is squeezed at the elbow.

Learn more about carpal tunnel in the video below:

Learn more about cubital tunnel:

Treatment

There are different ways to treat carpal and cubital tunnel syndromes. Most people start with treatments that do not need surgery, such as:

• Wearing wrist braces at night
• Changing the way they do tasks or setting up their workspace differently
• Getting steroid shots to help with pain and swelling

If these treatments do not work, surgery might help people who still have symptoms for a long time. The decision to have surgery depends on each person. Seeing an orthopedic doctor is the best way to find the right treatment and feel better.

More Information

• Manuscripts by our hand physicians