Archive for the ‘Safe and Effective:’ Category
Spine Surgeon Fort Worth Texas, Spine Surgeon Tarrant County, Texas Back Institute, TBI, Shawn Henry DO
Become Pain Free | Pain Specialist in Texas
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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, CTS
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common problem that affects the use of your hand, and is caused by compression of the median nerve at the wrist. It most often occurs when the median nerve in the wrist becomes inflamed after being aggravated by repetitive movements such as typing on a computer keyboard or playing the piano. It also seems to affect professional artists fairly commonly – in particular, sculptors and printmakers.
The “carpal tunnel” is formed by the bones, tendons and ligaments that surround the median nerve. Since the median nerve supplies sensation to the thumb, index and middle finger, and part of the ring finger, and provides motion to the muscles of the thumb and hand, you might notice numbness and weakness in these areas.
Common Symptoms
- Hand and wrist pain
- A burning sensation in the middle and index fingers
- Thumb and finger numbness
- An electric-like shock through the wrist and hand
Thesesymptoms are often exaggerated when the wrist is bent forward. This numbness or pain may be worse at night, and may actually keep you awake. During the day, it may occur more often when you are participating in activities that involve bending of your wrist.
Common Causes of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Diseases or conditions that may increase your chances of developing carpal tunnel syndrome include pregnancy, diabetes, menopause, broken or dislocated bones in the wrist, and obesity. Additional causes include repetitive and forceful grasping with the hands, bending of the wrist, and arthritis.
Any repetitive motions that cause significant swelling, thickening or irritation of membranes around the tendons in the carpal tunnel can result in pressure on the median nerve, disrupting transmission of sensations from the hand up to the arm and to the central nervous system.
Diagnosing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
It is important to seek medical assistance when you first notice persistent symptoms. Do not wait for the pain to become intolerable.
Before your doctor can recommend a course of treatment, he or she will perform a thorough evaluation of your condition, including a medical history, physical examination and diagnostic tests. Your doctor will document your symptoms and ask about the extent to which these symptoms affect your daily living. The physical examination will include an assessment of sensation, strength and reflexes in your hand.
If conservative treatment such as medication or physical therapy does not provide sufficient relief, your doctor may perform diagnostic studies to determine if surgery is an effective option. These diagnostic studies may include:
- X-ray: An x-ray will show the bones of the wrist and determine if any abnormalities may be contributing to carpal tunnel syndrome or another disorder.
- Electromyogram and Nerve Conduction Studies (EMG/NCS): These tests primarily study how the nerves and muscles are working together. They measure the electrical impulse along nerve roots, peripheral nerves and muscle tissue.
Conservative (Nonsurgical) Treatments
The main purpose of conservative treatment is to reduce or eliminate repetitive injury to the median nerve. In some cases, carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated by immobilizing the wrist in a splint to minimize or stop pressure on the nerves. If that does not work, patients are sometimes prescribed anti-inflammatory medications or cortisone injections in the wrist to reduce swelling. Your doctor may suggest specific types of hand and wrist exercises, which may be helpful. Treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome may include rest, the use of a wrist splint during sleep, or physical therapy. Conservative treatment methods may continue for up to eight weeks.
Only a small percentage of patients require surgery. Factors leading to surgery include the presence of persistent neurological symptoms and lack of response to conservative treatment.
If you experience severe pain that cannot be relieved through rest, rehabilitation or nonsurgical treatment, you may be a candidate for one of several surgical procedures that can be performed to relieve pressure on the median nerve. The most common procedure is called carpal tunnel release, which can be performed using an open incision or endoscopic techniques.
The open incision procedure or carpal tunnel release, involves the doctor opening your wrist and cutting the ligament at the bottom of the wrist to relieve pressure. The endoscopic carpal tunnel release procedure involves making a smaller incision and using a miniaturized camera to assist the neurosurgeon in viewing the carpal tunnel. The possibility of nerve injury is slightly higher with endoscopic surgery, but the patient’s recovery and return to work is quicker.
After surgery, a dressing will be applied to your hand. You should leave this secured in place until your first office visit following surgery. You may need bandages on one or both wrists depending on your surgery. If this is the case, you may require extra assistance at home with everyday activities. Your stitches can be removed about 10-14 days after surgery. Make sure you avoid repetitive use of the hand for four weeks after surgery and avoid getting the stitches wet. You will notice that the pain and numbness begins to improve after surgery, but you may have tenderness in the area of the incision for several months.
Recurrence of symptoms after surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome is rare, occurring in less than 5 percent of patients. A majority of patients recover completely. To avoid injuring yourself again, it may help to change the way you perform repetitive movements, the frequency with which you perform the movements, and the amount of time you rest between periods when you must perform these movements.
Become Pain Free | Pain Specialist in Texas
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Adult Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cell Spine Surgery, Stem Cell Injections, Stem Cell Injection
Contrary to what most people believe, there are two types of stem cells used in the advancement of modern medicine. At Minimally Invasive BecomePainFree.com, we are helping pave the way for the advancement of medicine using the most viable, and ethical method of stem cell healing called Adult Stem Cell Therapy. In living organisms, an adult stem cell is an undifferentiated cell that can produce other cells that eventually make up specialized tissues and organs that they inhabit. Adult stem cells are found in some tissues in the adult body, such as the epidermis of the skin, the lining of the small intestine, and the bone marrow, where they act as natural healers in the regeneration of old or worn tissue.
Adult Stem Cell Therapy
Adult stem cells move throughout our bodies and have vast potential and limitless capabilities. Although recent advancements in modern medicine have made adult stem cell therapy more widely known, it has been used to successfully treat cancer patients for over 40 years. At Minimally Invasive BecomePainFree.com, we strive to be on the forefront of the advancement of medicine for the sake of our patients. We fully understand the importance of the discovery, and practice, of unlocking the body’s secrets to heal itself, and using the adult stem cell treatment approach allows us to do so.
In this process, called adult (mesenchymal, multipotent) stem cell therapy, we use the patients’ own stem cells to allow for the healing and regenerating process for both minimally invasive surgical and non-invasive procedures for treating the injured, damaged, or painful areas due to aging or degeneration in the spine, knees, hips, shoulders, feet and ankles. Once injected, they function as the building blocks for tissue re-growth and increased blood flow to the ailing areas. The goal of the treatment is to replace damaged cells and to promote the growth of new blood vessels and tissues in order to help the target organ function at a largely improved capacity. The risk of rejection by the patient’s body is virtually non-existent, since the Adult Stem Cells received are directly from the patient. We use a highly advanced method of extracting the adult stem cells from the patient, and recycling them in their own bodies without manipulation during the procedure. This process makes our stem cell treatment safe, ethical, and effective in fulfilling positive medical outcomes. It is important to note that adult stem cell therapy is not controversial because it involves the use of a patient’s own blood and NOT derived from embryos.
General Advantages of Adult Stem Cell Therapy:
- Natural and Ethical: Regenerative solutions replace damaged cells and tissue by making the most of the body’s natural regenerative potential, not just implant a temporary or artificial fix, and does so using the patient’s own stem cells, not taken from an embryo.
- Safe and Effective: Because the Adult Stem Cells are derived directly from the patient’s own blood, there is virtually no possibility for rejection, as compared to donor replacement organs and blood transfusions.
- Positive Side Effects: Stem cells also behave like beacons that alert the body to send its own regenerative resources to the site and reactivate the healing process in situations where the body would not have done so voluntarily.
- Proven Results: Clinical results thus far have proven positive. Remarkably, no patient has responded negatively to the cells and the small percentage of patients who did not respond to treatment showed no negative side effects.
- Another Chance at Life: With no side effects, when conventional methods fail, the risk is considered low, compared to possibilities.
- The Sooner, the Better: Treatment now, is better than treatment later. Just as with other medical treatments, time can make symptoms and complications more advanced and even harder to recover from.
Call Us: (214) 396-3647 | (888) 373-3720 Fax #: (888 )238-9155 | E-mail Us https://www.becomepainfree.com/