You've probably already learned that carpal tunnel & pregnancy are as common as bread and butter. You may even have carpal tunnel symptoms at this very moment.

So how do you get rid of those symptoms safely, without causing harm to your baby? 

You'd never risk having steroid shots or carpal tunnel surgery which can harm an unborn baby. But there are nonsurgical treatments that are both safe for your child and highly effective in relieving symptoms. These are outlined below.

First let's learn about this painful condition. We'll see why carpal tunnel & pregnancy are so closely tied together.

• FIND OUT: do you have carpal tunnel? No strings attached self-test.
  

A huge proportion of expectant mothers have symptoms of carpal tunnel. Pregnancy is definitely the cause - but why? What happens during pregnancy that can affect pain or numbness in the hand and fingers?

The reason begins with hormonal imbalance causing fluid retention.

During pregnancy, hormones are produced which result in various kinds of changes to your body. One of the greatest changes is how your body distributes and holds fluids, like water. 

The result is often inappropriate and excess fluid retention. This can cause other problems like changes in nerve sensitivity, urinary and bowel disturbances, erratic blood sugar concentration, and - of course - tissue swelling.

It's well known that pregnant women experience swelling in parts of their body that never swelled before. Swollen joints are most common, primarily in the lower limbs (like the ankles). 

The lower limbs are more prone to fluid retention and build up than other areas. However, swollen knees, arms, and wrists are also normal complaints during pregnancy. 

And therein lies the underlying problem: fluid retention inside the wrist joint causes swelling.

Deep inside the wrist joint, there's a narrow passageway through which many crucial structures of the hand travel. It's called the carpal tunnel (hence the name of the disorder).

The two most important structures passing through this passageway are the flexor tendons (responsible for curling your fingers) and the median nerve. Both are packed tightly together in this space. 

The median nerve is a main nerve of the hand. It's primarily responsible for carrying sensations from the palm and fingers to the brain. These sensations include pain, touch, temperature, and vibration.

The median nerve lies in a crowded field of flexor tendons (see above image) as they all pass through this carpal tunnel channel. If any swelling occurs in this channel at the wrist joint, the median nerve gets crushed.

This is why pregnant women get carpal tunnel: pregnancy hormones cause fluid retention and swelling inside the wrist joint which crushes the median nerve. That crushing is what causes all of the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Note that pregnant women are not the only people vulnerable to problems resulting from fluid retention. Those with other  metabolic disturbances can also retain fluid, and also get carpal tunnel syndrome. Examples are:

• menopausal women
• patients with kidney disease
• people with diabetes 

These people are at high risk for getting carpal tunnel syndrome. The difference is that carpal tunnel & pregnancy are usually temporary. In contrast, carpal tunnel with these other conditions tends to be chronic.

If you're already at high risk for developing of carpal tunnel, pregnancy will surely bring it out. Aside from pregnancy, the other most common risk factors for developing this disorder are:

• repetitively stressing your hand
• family history of the disorder
• rheumatoid arthritis
• obesity
• diabetes
• fibromyalgia
• hypothyroidism
• emotional stress
  

The most common symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome occur in the fingers and hand. The symptoms can appear in all of the fingers except the pinky finger. And symptoms only happen on the palm side of the hand. These are:

• numbness
• tingling or pins & needles
• pain
• burning
• itching
• soreness
• shooting electric shocks
• loss of grip strength
• finger clumsiness
• loss of temperature sensitivity

When symptoms start off, they may only bother you while you're trying to sleep. But as they advance, symptoms will begin to appear during the day. They will also increase in intensity.

It's hard to believe, but formal studies of carpal tunnel & pregnancy are still in their infancy (please excuse the pun). It only began being formally studied scientifically in 2013 Dr. A. Zyluk.

Since then, huge amounts of additional research have concluded that carpal tunnel & pregnancy are not only common, but practically the rule. 

The latest evidence indicates that at any given moment, approximately 1 million pregnant women have carpal tunnel syndrome. In fact, if pregnant, you're more likely to get carpal tunnel syndrome than not.

Other key facts about carpal tunnel & pregnancy are:

1. The prevalence of carpal tunnel & pregnancy is 11% (in the first trimester), 26% (in the second trimester), and 62% (in the third trimester).
2. Carpal tunnel is improperly diagnosed by doctors 48% of the time.
3. Symptoms may start slowly but usually worsen  in the third trimester. 
   
4. In 85% of women  the condition resolves within 6 weeks postpartum.
   
5. In another 15% of women  symptoms persist or worsen by 1 month postpartum .