Patients always ask about carpal tunnel gloves and how good they really are. This article reviews the advantages and disadvantages of wearing gloves when you have carpal tunnel syndrome. You'll also read about certain cautions to look out for when choosing gloves for your condition.

Before deep-diving into the details, keep the following in mind about "compression gloves" for carpal tunnel syndrome. Specifically, you should never use compression gloves if you have this disorder. The reason is explained below.

Contents of this article:

• What gloves can do for carpal tunnel syndrome
• Why some patients are helped by carpal tunnel gloves
• Which carpal tunnel gloves help
• Which carpal tunnel gloves to avoid
• The dangers of compression gloves
• Using wrist braces
  

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a type of peripheral neuropathy. That means the nerve inside your wrist joint is damaged. The damage to the nerve produces unusual sensations (symptoms) like:



• Pain
• Numbness
• Tingling (pins-and-needles)
• Burning
• Itching
• Shooting electric shocks
• Weakness
• Clumsiness

Nobody knows for sure why that nerve, the median nerve, gets damaged in the first place. But we know that people in certain occupations are prone to getting this disorder.

Carpal tunnel gloves are among the most popular products available to patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. There are 4 reasons for their popularity:

Most gloves keep your hands warm - and this is good! Warmth helps the body heal itself. And since the median nerve is damaged inside the wrist joint, keeping your hand and wrist warm will speed up the nerve's natural healing abilities.

Any glove you put on you painful hand has a tremendous placebo effect. The placebo effect reduces pain temporarily. But within hours, the pain returns as the effect wears off. The placebo effect is especially strong with "compression gloves" (which are harmful; see below). The constant compression "reminds" you that you're wearing something that's supposed to help ease the pain. And therefore it does so - if only temporarily.

Gloves that are advertised as "carpal tunnel gloves" usually cost $25 to $40. But considering the fact that they're merely ordinary hand gloves, the cost is actually high. The higher price tag is justified because it's marketed as a "therapy product". Adding this false credibility helps feed the placebo effect. Sadly, most companies will say anything (including lying about a product's effectiveness) to grab a piece of the $60 billion pain market.

Gloves advertised to "treat carpal tunnel" are greatly hyped. Most companies even resort to false advertising to pump up the hype. In reality, any glove that advertises "helps carpal tunnel syndrome" is false advertising. That's because NO research to date has tested the clinical effects of gloves on this disorder. Therefore, such a claim is a lie - and illegal. (Companies promoting "copper infused" gloves are telling the biggest lies - see below.)

Once again, gloves don't provide much therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome. The most powerful result of wearing gloves is the warmth they provide and the powerful placebo effect.

But the small benefit of keeping your hand warm and a placebo effect can be gained by wearing just about ANY hand glove, and not necessarily a "carpal tunnel glove". So why spend the extra money?

Therefore, if you insist on wearing a glove for your carpal tunnel syndrome, buy an inexpensive thermal glove from your local clothing store or online. Remember, it doesn't matter if it's not a "carpal tunnel glove".

However, avoid compression gloves at all costs (see below).

The manufacturers who advertise the "carpal tunnel gloves" listed below make outrageous claims. It's false advertising, and also illegal. Eventually, the Federal Trade Commission will catch up, and force them stop making the false claims.

Also, remember to avoid using compression gloves. They will worsen carpal tunnel syndrome, as explained directly below. Therefore, specifically avoid products sold as:

• Copper Fit
• Imak
• Kapmore
• Mediven
• Ironclad
• Vive
• Dr. Frederick’s
  

Nerve compression causes carpal tunnel syndrome

Many carpal tunnel patients first try treating their symptoms by buying a wrist brace from Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, etc. But like gloves, such braces are not designed to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.

In fact, like compression gloves, they can actually worsen your condition. This especially happens when you wear the wrong brace or wear one all the time.

Here's when and how to use wrist braces properly if you have carpal tunnel syndrome:

Never wear a wrist brace when you're working with your hands. This is contrary to what many doctors tell their patients. But wearing a wrist brace while your hand is active during the day only makes the problem worse. Why?

With carpal tunnel syndrome, your wrist joint is already damaged. Restricting it's movement with a brace only causes you to fight the brace (subconsciously) while working. This causes double-stress (and double-damage) to the wrist.

Instead, it's much better to allow your wrist to be free, even though it may be a bit painful. At least you're not causing more damage to your wrist and making your condition worse.

If you have carpal tunnel syndrome you should NEVER wear a wrist brace during the day. However, you should ALWAYS wear a wrist brace while sleeping. The reason?

When we sleep, we all unconsciously bend our hands backward. That "hyper-extension" is very bad if you have carpal tunnel syndrome. That's because hand hyper-extension causes compression of the median nerve inside your wrist joint.

However, a wrist brace prevents such over-bending. Essentially, it allows your hand to rest while you sleep. But be sure you only wear a "certified carpal tunnel brace" at night (see below for explanation).

Do you wear a night brace but still have nighttime or morning symptoms? Chances are you're not wearing the proper brace.

Most ordinary wrist braces (found in CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, etc.) contain a metal spine on the palmar surface of the brace. This is called a "palmar spine" (see picture). The spine acts as s stiffener to keep your hand in a straightened ("neutral") position as you sleep.

However, if you unconsciously bend your hand backward with a brace containing a palmar spine, the spine will push into your wrist joint. That increases the compression on the median nerve. And we already know that the median nerve is highly sensitive to such pressure.

But a "certified carpal tunnel brace" contains a spine on the lateral or dorsal side of the hand, not on the palmar surface (see picture). That way, any hand movement does not cause compression on the median nerve.

So look for a "certified carpal tunnel brace" which does not contain a palmar spine. The most popular of such braces are listed below (priced highest to lowest at publication):

1. AliMed Dorsal Resting Splint (approx. $138)
2. BSOS Dorsal Splint (approx. $100)
3. Comfy Dorsal Hand Orthosis (approx. $98)
4. LEEDer Dorsal Orthosis (approx. $85)
5. CarpalRx Night Brace (approx. $50)
6. RCIA Dorsal Splint (approx. $48)
   

Carpal tunnel gloves are only slightly useful for fighting carpal tunnel syndrome. They don't do much except keep your hand warm and provide a placebo effect. These alone are not going to eliminate symptoms.

Carpal tunnel syndrome isn't just an annoyance. It's a very common yet serious disorder of the hand. And unfortunately, there's no cheap or quick way out of it.

The answer to stopping carpal tunnel syndrome before it gets worse is to use real medical therapy that's approved by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. The therapy must be applied every day for several weeks until symptoms resolve. The therapy is composed of 3 separate treatments applied simultaneously:

• Routine finger and hand stretching exercises.
  
• Night bracing using a certified carpal tunnel brace.
  
• Myofascial release massage of the forearm and wrist.

Only daily persistence with these 3 treatments will eventually resolve symptoms permanently. The alternative is to allow the condition to worsen week by week. And the longer it goes untreated, the more intense your symptoms will become -- and more difficult to treat. This is when surgery must be considered.