Carpal Tunnel and repetitive stress, talk about a bread and butter issue for massage therapists. Hey we live in the era of keyboards and tools of many trades doing the same thing over and over again until the pain disallows us to hold anything and we are at a loss of where to go for help. Voila, enter the master of the brachial plexus. I have heard that the carpal tunnel surgery is successful 50% of the time. Not a bad statistic, and I have had clients in my practice who have had success with the surgery, but the cause often times in not addressed and the pain may return. 

The patients that I have treated find relief from working the “top down”. Most of the syndrome begins in the cervicals and creates a cascading effect all the way down to the distal phalanges. The simplest metaphor I share with my patients, is the idea of someone standing on a hose. The constant  repetitive usage of their arms creates compression in their muscles. Eventually that contraction creates a diminished nerve signal which creates inflammation, swelling, numbness and tingling. I have found that creating space in the brachial plexus by softening the muscles above and just below the clavicle will often do the trick. Then by opening up the extensors and flexors below the elbow, you create space around the median nerve… and people are almost always free of the symptoms that caused them to come through my practice door in the first place. Its quite simple really, and If I had to choose one muscle group to blame (which I never would) I would “have a few words” with the scalene boys!