How to Use Ice and Heat for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

There are a variety of simple ways to ease the pain of repetitive strain injuries. You can use ice and heat for carpal tunnel syndrome, although you need to take steps to prevent damage to your skin. Follow these tips to use ice and heat for carpal tunnel syndrome.

Things You'll Need

• Ice compress
• Hot compress
• Washcloths
• Pan of hot water

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Instructions

• 1

  Prepare both your hot and cold compresses to relieve your carpal tunnel at the end of the day. Reusable ice compresses can be stored in the freezer where they will stay ready to use. Warm compresses need to be put in a pan of warm water or left in the sink with hot water running over them.

• 2

  Take off any wrist braces that you wear for carpal tunnel. Wrap the cold compress in a washcloth and then hold it on the inside of your wrist for five minutes. You use ice for carpal tunnel syndrome to prevent swelling around the median nerve after a long day of working with your hands.

• 3

  Soak a reusable warm compress in mildly hot water. Apply the warm compress or cloth directly to your wrist, but be careful that it isn't so hot that it will burn your skin. Heat helps promote good circulation in your wrist and moist heat penetrates faster than heat from a electric pad or brace.

• 4

  Use heat to warm up your hands before doing any activity that might irritate your carpal tunnel syndrome. If you are in the office and don't have your warm compress, try soaking your hands under warm water in the sink before you sit down at the computer. Working in cold conditions dramatically increases the risk of developing a repetitive strain injury like carpal tunnel syndrome.

• 5

  Alternate the use of ice and heat for carpal tunnel syndrome pains. Try using one compress for five minutes and then switching to the other. This method works best if you are trying to relieve carpal tunnel pains when they keep you awake at night.