Stress and Inflammation
Carpal tunnel syndrome is the result of too much stress on the tendons in the wrist, and it's considered to be a repetitive stress injury. Tendons are made up of tough but flexible tissue and connect bones to muscles. Many of the muscles involved in moving our hands and fingers are actually located in the forearm, which means that tendons are required to travel through the wrist to connect to the bones in the hands and fingers. Because of the small space in the wrist, it's easy for these tendons to get slightly damaged from overuse and rubbing against other structures in the wrist. The tendons are able to heal with time, but if the strain and stress happens too frequently then the tendons can become inflamed, which can lead to pain and swelling.
Computer Use and Tendons
Computer use is one of the more common ways for the tendons in the wrist to get damaged. This can lead to repetitive stress injuries because it involves frequent finger movement, which causes movement of the tendons in the wrist. In addition most people type with their wrists flexed, because the keyboard is elevated. These factors cause strain on the tendons in the wrist, which can lead to chronic inflammation, pain and tendon swelling. Carpal tunnel syndrome can also be caused by other activities including sewing, painting, writing, using hand tools, certain sports (such as tennis or racquetball) and playing musical instruments that require a lot of finger movement.
Stress, Inflammation, and Carpal Tunnel
Because the wrist is a relatively small joint, there are many tendons that travel through it that are packed close together. In the middle of all of these tendons is the median nerve, which carries sensory signals throughout the hand as well as innervates the intrinsic hand muscles (the muscles that are actually in the hand). Swollen wrist tendons can cause compression of the nerve, which takes away some of its functionality, causing numbness or tingling to occur in parts of the hand as well as hand muscle weakness. As a result, carpal tunnel from computer use can be treated using cortisone injections (which reduce inflammation) or surgery to give the tendons more room and prevents compression of the median nerve.
