Is it possible to rebuild muscle?

Question

If a person has carpal tunnel and loses muscle mass, is it permanently gone? Also is surgery the only solution if this happens?

Answer 1

I am a Neuromuscular Therapist.

There is no connection between CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome) and loss of muscle mass. Loss of muscle mass can result from inadequate nutrition, lack of physical exercise or disease. Ever hear of bodybuilding? Progressive weight training builds muscle tissue. So, to answer your question: yes, you can re-build lost muscle tissue with proper nutrition and exercise, especially resistance training.

Typically the symptoms that doctors diagnose as CTS have nothing to do with dysfunction of the wrist/hand or compression of the median nerve, the pain merely shows up there. The symptoms are usually a result from overly tight pectoral (chest) muscles and misalignment of the shoulder (glenohumeral) joint. Many people who get surgery for CTS have the pain return in a few weeks or months because the real source of the problem was never addressed, namely, releasing the tight muscles in the neck, shoulder and chest causing restriction of the nerves and blood vessels supplying the arm. Surgery is not the answer to this problem! Slouching or sitting at a desk or computer for many hours a day, among other things, will cause the chest muscles to become short and tight and compress the nerves and vessels which supply your arm and hand. This results in tingling, numbness, weakness/difficulty with grip and pain in the wrist.

Find a Neuromuscular Therapist, Rolfer, or experienced deep tissue/corrective massage therapist in your area. They are trained to release the overly tight muscles that cause symptoms that mimic CTS. Once those tight muscles are relaxed the pain will go away almost immediately.

Answer 2

Atrophied muscles hypertrophy after timely surgery.

Answer 3

No surgery is not the only solution get one of those flex hand balls and sqeeze it rotate your hands it will help.