skothing

I went to the doctor today and he says I have carpal tunnel in both hands and need to wear these black things at night. They keep you from bending my hands at the wrist. I can't type with them on and they are uncomfortable. Do they really help?

MisDixie

Yes they do. Take some getting use to. I also did exersises give to me by physio and those really helped.

emerald46

Yes, I've been wearing one for 2 months. You'll get where you can do just about anything with them on.

milp04

Yes they do! At first I wore mine all the time. Then I just wore them at night until my pain got better. I now use them at night when I start having difficulty during the day. Good luck.

Pam M
Ohio

Tartan

I have recently heard two people who had tunnel carpal surgery that did not get a great result. One is in as much pain, if not more since her surgery and the other has numb hands. Her hands are so numb that she had to quit work. I think if the alternative to braces is surgery...I'd embrace the braces!

amyjo

I wear them all the time, as I had surgery on one and then broke the wrist and got cp back. not going thru that again as it did not do what they said it would. charged an arm and a leg too. I find that using the wrist braces helps with not having as much pain.

Prism99

I was diagnosed with severe carpal tunnel in one hand, moderate carpal tunnel in the other. A hand specialist told me that I needed surgery, but I wanted to try to correct the condition myself.

The brace my doctor's office gave me was worthless; the nurse didn't even know which way it went on! I got braces from Walmart that have a metal strip running up the palm. These were great, and I still have them. I wore the braces every night, and most of every day. I was able to type with them on. Pretty much the only time I didn't wear them was when I had to get my hands wet.

There were other things I did. For one, I changed my computer setup to be more ergonomically correct. I'm sure that a major cause of my carpal tunnel was the amount of time I spent typing at an ergonomically incorrect computer station.

I cut the amount of typing I did in half.

I also started taking citrus bioflavanoids twice a day.

It took about 6 months to get rid of the inflammation. At that point I switched to wearing the braces only at night. After another 6 months or so, I quit the braces entirely. Now I wear them at night only if I suspect some inflammation might be coming back. I never did have the surgery, and I'm fine now.

The braces are really important if you want to reverse the inflammation. They keep your wrist in a neutral position so the nerve is not being aggravated.

Sadiemae

I tried, but I would take them off in my sleep.

NancyG

Yes, they work.

sgardner

I wore my braces all the time. I had surgery- both hands, but the braces helped a world before the surgery. I could type and do a lot of other things- I had mine for several months and you do get good at using your hands with them on.

After surgery, it took a year before I really felt my hands weren't clumsy- I think they need to do Physical Therapy to get the strength and dexterity back rather than just assuming it will come back on it's own. It won't. It wasn't until I really started weight lifting with the hand and forcing myself that I got full control back, ie, finding exercises on my own to do.