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Carpal tunnel syndrome is a nerve compression that affects patients in predictable ways. The nerve involved in carpal tunnel syndrome is called the median nerve. It’s one of the three main nerves in the upper extremity. It provides feeling to the thumb index, middle and ring finger or this side of the hand, and it also provides motor input to the thumb, which makes it a very important nerve. Patients with carpal tunnel syndrome experience symptoms because that nerve becomes compressed in the wrist as it travels through a very tight space called the carpal tunnel. Initially, patients begin to experience numbness as the sensory portion of that nerve is affected. As the condition progresses, which is its natural history, eventually they began to experience pain and then weakness as the motor portion of the nerve becomes affected. At that point, it starts to affect people functionally and they start to seek medical attention.
