| Muscle
Spasms Mimic Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
& Cause Repetitive Strain Injury
by Zev M. Cohen MD and Julie Donnelly, LMT |
Do
you suffer from chronic low back pain? Do your
knees hurt when you go up
the stairs, and your hands hurt when you try
to open a jar? Do you
experience headaches that feel like a bomb
going off in your head? Do you
get ringing in your ears? Have you been
diagnosed as having carpal tunnel
syndrome?
These conditions can all be the end result of
muscle spasms! While it seems
incredible that a simple thing like a spasm
can cause so much trouble, itıs
easy to understand when you take a close look
at the body. There are 600
muscles in the body and 206 bones. The only
reason that bones move is
because muscles pull on them (unless you have
a traumatic accident), and
therein lies the problem. The muscle
originates at a stationary point in
the body, it then crosses over a joint and
inserts onto another bone. When
a muscle contracts it pulls the insertion
point toward the origination
point, and the joint bends. For example, the
biceps and triceps are
responsible for bending the elbow. If your arm
is straight out and you
contract the biceps muscle the elbow begins to
bend. At the same time, in
order for the arm to completely bend, the
triceps muscle must fully stretch.
If you then want to straighten your arm again
the triceps must contract and
the biceps must fully stretch. If you try
this, slowly, with your own arm
you will understand the concept easily.
If, for example, the triceps muscle is
contracted and shortened by a spasm,
you will only be able to bend your arm as far
as the triceps will stretch.
Many people then think that they have a
problem with the elbow, while the
problem is actually less serious than it
appears.
We teach our clients an analogy that is very
helpful in understanding the
root of the muscle spasm situation. Imagine a
young child standing between
a deep well filled with water, and a big rain
barrel. The child has an
eyedropper and is going from the well to the
rain barrel putting tiny
amounts on water into the barrel, many times
back and forth for hours
every day. Then, about 40 years later, the
rain barrel overflows. The
child (who is now an adult) says "I donıt
understand, Iıve been doing this
for years and itıs never done this
before!" Likewise, people say to us:
"Iıve been doing this (exercise, etc.)
for years and it never hurt before, I
must be getting old" No youıre not
getting old, you just never emptied
your "rain barrel" and now its
overflowed!
The body is amazing. We have mechanisms for
healing that are so incredible
that science still hasnıt been able to fully
understand how they work. Our
bodies mutate very slowly, but life is now
changing rapidly. It wasnıt such
a long time ago, before electricity was
discovered, that people would work
very hard all day and then rest when the sun
went down, going to bed
early. In the past, when people would rest at
the end of the day, the body
would begin its process of removing the lactic
acid that is the natural
by-product of muscle action. This is the bodyıs
method of emptying the rain
barrel. But, when electricity increased the
hours in our days, we began to
stretch ourselves by working out in gyms,
staying on the computer until late
at night, and even doing fun things like
dancing until the wee hours. Our
bodies werenıt able to keep up with the
increased lactic acid production,
and we began to pile up spasms one on top of
the other. This continued day
after day, and our muscles started getting
tighter and tighter.
This situation leads to the next analogy that
we share with our patients.
Remember that muscles originate in one place,
cross over the joint and then
insert in another place. Muscles always pull
on the insertion point. Now,
visualize pulling your hair at the end. You
donıt feel it at the end where
you are pulling, but you do feel it on the
scalp where it inserts.
Likewise, you rarely feel the pain in the part
of the muscle that is being
pulled, but you do feel it at the insertion.
With so many people working for hours on the
computer, we are seeing more
and more people with wrist and hand pain.
Using the information just
mentioned above, examine the muscles that move
the hand. The muscles of the
forearm originate at, or near, the elbow. They
then insert in the hand and
wrist. The muscles on the top of the arm are
called the "extensors", and the
muscles on the underside of the arm are called
"flexors". When the flexors
contract the hand is pulled into a fist,
&/or the hand moves down. When the
extensors contract the hand &/or finger
are pulled up. If you grip your
forearm with your opposite hand, then wiggle
your fingers, and open & close
your hand, you will feel the flexors &
extensors contracting. Also, if you
move your hand side to side you will also feel
the muscles that are
responsible for that motion.
These are very powerful muscles, and they are
being used repetitively for
many hours daily. After work if you go home
and play tennis, or the piano,
crochet or play computer games, you are again
contracting these muscles over
and over. Eventually you have pain at your
wrist, and you are told you have
carpal tunnel syndrome. In reality you have
repetitive strain injury (RSI)
of the forearm muscles.
At the Carpal Tunnel Treatment Center we use
an analogy that helps our
patients understand why the pain is felt so
far from the spasm. If you
pulled your hair at the end you wouldnıt feel
it there, you would feel it at
the scalp where it inserts. If you pulled it
for a very long time you would
eventually get an inflammation, swelling, and
pain would radiate away from
the point of insertion. Exactly the same thing
is happening in your wrist.
When the muscles of the forearm contract, and
stay in the contracted
position due to spasms, the strain is put on
the insertion point at the
wrist. Eventually you end up with an
inflammation and swelling. Since all
the flexor tendons travel through the carpal
tunnel, they cause pain and
swelling in that area. You are diagnosed with
carpal tunnel syndrome, but
the quickest and easiest therapy is to release
the muscle. Surgery will
open the bridge to the carpal tunnel, but the
muscles will still be putting
strain on the insertion points.
Another muscle that has a serious impact on
the carpal tunnel is the muscle
of the thumb. This is the meaty muscle that is
felt at the base of the
thumb, called the Opponens Pollicis. The
Opponens Pollicis originates at
the ligament that forms the bridge of the
carpal tunnel, and it inserts at
the base of your thumb. When this muscle
contracts you draw your thumb in
toward your palm. You use this muscle many
thousands of times a day and
you never stretch it. It is extremely common
for this muscle to contract,
and stay in the shortened position. When that
happens it is pulling hard on
the bridge to the carpal tunnel and is
pressing down on the median nerve.
You now experience numbness in your thumb and
first two fingers. Releasing
the tension in this muscle will also release
the pressure on the median
nerve.
It is vital to work on the muscles of the
forearm. Each individual muscle
spasms needs to be worked out. These are deep
muscles, a light massage
wonıt be as effective as deep muscle therapy.
Proper therapy, and
stretching all of the muscles, has proven to
completely heal this condition
without surgery.
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| About
the Author |
Zev
M. Cohen MD, is Medical Director of the Carpal
Tunnel Treatment
Center. Dr. Cohen,an expert on carpal tunnel
syndrome may be reached at www.aboutcts.com
Julie Donnelly LMT is the Principal Therapist
Carpal Tunnel Treatment Center.She has
authored "How To Be Pain-less
A
Beginner's Guide to the Self Treatment of
Muscle Spasms". She may be contacted at
julie@aboutcts.com |
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