AARP Hearing Center
Repetitive tasks. Vibrating machinery. Holding tools in a certain position for long periods.
These tasks can lead to an increased risk of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), which can make it difficult to type, hold a pen or even sleep. CTS is the most Googled injury, with nearly 223,000 searches in the U.S. each month.
For many veterans, these types of tasks were part of a typical day during military service. Of course, a host of civilian occupations put people at risk too.
One study indicates that proportionally more veterans suffer from CTS than civilians. Officers and those who serve the longest — and therefore end up doing a lot of office work — are at greatest risk.
CTS has a 70 percent VA disability rating for complete paralysis, dropping to 10 percent for mild paralysis, according to Veterans Guide.
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Luckily, treatment is fairly straightforward, for veterans and others.
Whether or not you served in the military, here’s what to know:
How to recognize carpal tunnel symptoms
It might start as numbness in the fingers, especially the thumb, index or middle finger. It might wake you up in the night.
Dr. William Dzwierzynski, a hand and wrist surgeon who is chief of plastic surgery at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, told AARP Experience Counts: “Pain is rare, but sometimes people associate tingling nerves with pain.”
His patients often complain about hand weakness, clumsiness and difficulty with fine motor tasks, like buttoning a shirt. Pinching activities become especially tough.
These symptoms happen because inside the arm and wrist, a nerve is compressed, and that cuts off the blood supply — and our nerves need that blood supply.
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