The resulting symptoms initially include tingling during the night. Clumsiness and difficulty in opening bottles and grasping objects are common. Pain may also be felt in the forearm, elbow, arm, shoulder, neck and upper back. C.T.S. seems to affect so many people today. The primary reason for the rise in cases of C.T.S. is due to the increased number of people working on computers.
Most computer tasks cause people to stay in fixed positions for long periods of time.
As a result, the spine and upper limbs become increasingly fatigued and strained. Tasks such as chopping, assembling, driving and hammering also lead to C.T.S. but computer related activities are the most common causes of C.T.S. today. The causes of C.T.S. include repetitive tasks, poor posture and the force required to perform a job. Constant overuse of the hand and wrist in specific, fixed tasks such as word-processing can lead to inflammation and swelling of the tendons in the wrist. Over time, repeated bouts of inflammation in these tendons leads to a tightening of the carpal tunnel structures that causes compression of the Median nerve in the carpal tunnel.