If you're looking for carpal tunnel prevention techniques, then there's a simple way to start. First try adjusting your everyday workplace. According to the National Institutes of Health, if you make certain, small changes to how you work then you can avoid ever having hand pain. 

More importantly, the proper ergonomic changes can avoid getting the dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome. Also called "carpal tunnel", it's the most common type of hand injury in the USA. Ironically, it's also one of the easiest hand disorders to treat in the mild stage. But it's one of the hardest to treat in the moderate or severe stages.

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

More and more of us work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means we tend to pay less attention to our posture while in our new "workspace". The problem with that is, having poor sitting posture is like inviting carpal tunnel syndrome to visit.

Therefore, if you type a lot or sit in an office chair most of the day, do yourself a favor. Make some changes now to prevent carpal tunnel. And if you already feel signs of carpal tunnel, it will probably worsen without intervention. So be sure to take charge immediately in order to prevent suffering.

Who gets carpal tunnel syndrome

Most hand pain is due to overworking the fingers, hand or wrist. Eliminating that pain is relatively simple. Just refrain from the stressful activity for a couple days to rest your hand. But chronic hand pain may be something else; specifically, carpal tunnel syndrome.

More and more people are getting carpal tunnel syndrome every year. Exactly why it's on the rise is unknown. But today it's one of the top musculoskeletal problems seen by doctors. Due to the high cost of this disorder, many employers and insurance carriers are focusing on less expensive carpal tunnel prevention policies instead of treatments.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (or just "carpal tunnel") is a painful and progressive disorder of the fingers and hand. Scientists believe it's primarily due to our modern workplace habits. For instance, patients say typing at a keyboard for long hours caused their carpal tunnel. And so have workers from varied occupations like assembly line work, hairdressing, hand tool users, guitar players and video gamers. These are only a few examples of high risk occupations.

Carpal tunnel prevention is used to avoid getting symptoms of this condition. In contrast, carpal tunnel treatment is used to eliminate symptoms if they've already started.

Those symptoms primarily affect the palm side of the hand and fingers. The classic signs of carpal tunnel are:

• Numbness
• Pain
• Tingling (also called pins & needles)
• Soreness
• Shooting electric shocks
• Weakness

Usually the thumb and forefinger are most affected. But it's important to note that symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome never appear on the little (pinky) finger. Nor do they occur on the "blade side" of the hand (see illustration below).

At first, symptoms are barely noticeable. They usually begin by waking you up at night to shake out numb fingers. You may also want to rub the pain out. As the disorder worsens, symptoms start showing up during the day.

It's important to note that symptoms of carpal tunnel don't usually appear while your hand is working. Instead, it occurs when your hand is resting. This distinguishes it from wrist tendonitis. You can tell the difference with some simple instructions.

Finally, when you reach the severe stage of carpal tunnel syndrome, symptoms never let up. Any one or more of the above symptoms become an ever-present problem. They greatly affect your quality of life.

None of the above occupations technically "cause" carpal tunnel. In fact, you’re either genetically prone to getting it or you’re not. Over-using your hands or repetitively straining them simply allows carpal tunnel syndrome to flourish.

In this way carpal tunnel is a lot like diabetes. Neither condition has a "cure". For example, you might have diabetes and may otherwise be perfectly normal. But becoming obese allows the diabetes to bloom.

Similarly, you might have carpal tunnel lurking deep down and unnoticed. But overworking your hands brings on the symptoms.

So if you're prone to getting carpal tunnel syndrome, you should strive to avoid straining your hands as much as you can.

This is a cornerstone of carpal tunnel prevention: making simple workplace changes to prevent long term hand problems. 

There’s no doubt that the workplace aggravates symptoms of hand pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. Therefore, to prevent even more pain or numbness, you have to take action now. 

Keep in mind that the more your wrist is bent or repetitively stressed, the greater the chances carpal tunnel will arise. Knowing this fact, you can redesign workstations and manual tasks to avoid such stresses. 

In effect, carpal tunnel prevention is all about making your hands work less.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommend you focus prevention on your upper body and wrists. For instance, make sure to maintain wrists in a neutral (or level) position during work (no matter the work you do). Also, try to minimize any repetitive movements of the hand and fingers. Watch your sitting posture, and don't slouch. These and other NIOSH tips are listed below.

NIOSH reports the effectiveness of taking regular rest breaks in carpal tunnel prevention. In particular, these are 1-3 minute rest periods when you're actively using your hands. They reduce strain and discomfort without decreasing productivity.

The rest breaks should include:

• Quick hand stretching exercises (see below)
• Shaking out your hands at your sides
• Stretching your upper limbs
  
• Leaning back in the chair
• Squeezing your shoulder blades together
• Taking deep breaths

Good posture is a key component of good hand health. As a matter of fact, the most important carpal tunnel prevention measures in your workplace focus on posture.

Below are specific postural recommendations from NIOSH. Note how they apply to your computer workstation in the illustration above.

• Spine: Sit with your spine against the back of the chair with shoulders relaxed.
• Elbows: Elbows should rest along the sides of the body, with wrists at a slight downward tilt on the keyboard.
• Feet: Your feet should be firmly on the floor or on a foot rest.
• Typing materials: Papers and other typing material (including the screen) must be at eye level. This avoids your neck bending over the work.
• Thighs: Ensure you sit with thighs relatively level.
• Neck: Keep your neck flexible and head upright. As a result, circulation and nerve function to the arms and hands are not hindered.
• Chin: Maintain a level chin. Instead of moving your neck, glide your head slowly and gently forward and backward in small movements. As a result, you avoid neck discomfort.
• Furniture: In general, good office furniture makes a big difference. Poorly designed furniture is a major contributor to bad posture. Chairs should be adjustable for height. They should also have a backrest and lumbar support. If necessary, advise your employer of the "economics of ergonomics". For example, the medical or absentee costs of an injured employee are far more than a custom designed chair to prevent carpal tunnel.
• Standing desks: These desks prevent you from slouching or hunching by forcing you to stand instead of sit. Standing will solve the postural problems associated with sitting for long periods. According to Money.com these desks range in price from $100 to over $700, and they recommend 6 of them. Before using one, consult your doctor. Also be sure to set up the desk properly. Then ease into a standing work position gradually, with plenty of walking and sitting breaks at the beginning to avoid back strain. 
  

Anyone sitting at a computer workstation all day should heed these tips about keyboards. They include mouse use and posture advice. In fact, these basic carpal tunnel prevention tips can protect your hands and wrists from ever seeing any hand pain whatsoever.

• Keys: The tension of the keyboard keys should be adjusted so they can be depressed without excessive force.
• Relax: Keep hands and wrists in a relaxed position to avoid excessive force on the keyboard.
• Mouse: Using a mouse poses a higher risk than keyboard use. Therefore, replace the mouse with a trackball if possible. A vertical mouse is also superior to a traditional one.
• Keyboard: Similarly, replace a standard keyboard with a jointed-type ("split") keyboard.
• Wrist pads: Use wrist rests or pads which fit under most keyboards. They keep wrists and fingers in a comfortable position. But NEVER rest your wrist on them. Rather, use them as a guide as to where to place your hands.
• Shoulder: Keep the mouse as close to the keyboard and your body as possible. This reduces shoulder muscle movement.
• Forearm: Hold the mouse lightly, with a relaxed forearm.
• Mouse pad: Cut your mouse pad in half to reduce movement.
• Over-stretching: Finally, do not over-stretch your fingers on the keyboard. For combination keystrokes use two hands to avoid finger stretching.
  

Regular stretching exercises are probably the most powerful techniques you can use for carpal tunnel prevention. In particular, finger, hand, and wrist stretching exercises help tendons glide more smoothly. This makes finger movement more efficient.

The best hand and finger stretching exercises are called core exercises. And they take no longer than 30 seconds to do. That way, you can do them every 30 minutes you work. You can do more involved stretching exercises if your symptoms are worse. But for the average person trying to avoid hand pain and carpal tunnel, the following are excellent exercises. 

Core Exercises

I promise you this: make these fast and easy core exercises part of your work routine. If you do, you'll NEVER suffer from hand pain or carpal tunnel syndrome.

Tip: Get a timer that chimes every 30 minutes. This reminds you to drop everything, stretch, and go back to working again.

• Interlock you fingers and invert your hand so that you're pushing your palms out in front of you. Straighten out your elbows. Feel the stretching in your forearms? Hold this position for 5 seconds. Then drop your hands and shake them out. If they feel warm it's because nutritive blood is flowing through them. Repeat this exercise again. This stretches the forearm tendons extremely well. Tendon adhesions are responsible for carpal tunnel syndrome. These stretches break us the adhesions and also prevent them from re-occurring.
  
  
• Don't forget you thumb! Use your other hand to grab your thumb. Pull it backward to stretch it for 5 seconds. Then rotate it like a helicopter blade a few times. Release and bend it a few times. Then repeat the stretch on that hand a second time. Then switch hands and repeat. The thumb is especially important because most carpal tunnel syndrome cases begin with pain or numbness in the thumb.

Carpal tunnel prevention starts by making simple workplace changes. In fact, most changes require no cost at all; just simple adjustments to how you work. Maintaining good posture is among the most important factor in prevention. It can also reverse symptoms if they already started.