After hours of working on your computer do you find that your wrists are sore and tired? If you are planning on entering a career in medical billing and coding, wrist fatigue could be a huge factor in preventing you from working efficiently. Medical Billing and Coding Blog has outlined the key medical problem associated with wrist fatigue, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

What is Carpal Tunnel Syndome?

According to WebMD, Carpal tunnel syndrome “occurs when the median nerve becomes pinched due to swelling of the nerve or tendons or both. The median nerve provides sensation to the palm side of the thumb, index, middle fingers, as well as the inside half of the ring finger and muscle power to the thumb. When this nerve becomes pinched, numbness, tingling and sometimes pain of the affected fingers and hand may occur and radiate into the forearm.”

What causes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and what are its symptoms?

While there are several possible causes of the disorder, normally it springs from repeated movement of the arms, wrists or hands, often times by typing at a computer for long hours. If you work long days on a computer and your hands and/or fingers feel tingly or numb at night, or if you experience a burning or shooting pain up your forearm, you could have a case of carpal tunnel syndrome.

How to Prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

According to WebMD, to prevent this wrist fatigue disorder you can:

• Sleep with your wrists straight or use a splint.
• Keep your wrists straight when using tools but try not to use splints.
• Avoid flexing and extending your wrists repeatedly.
• Perform conditioning and stretching exercises.

How Can I Cure Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

There are a few methods to resolve your issues with wrist fatigue, or carpal tunnel syndrome: anti-inflammatory drugs can be taken to bring the swelling down and relieve the stress in your wrist ligaments/tendons, or you can also try and immobilize your wrist at night in a splint or wrap. If these conservative measures don’t work, then there is a surgical option where a doctor can manually cut the affected ligament to relieve the stress. Surgery is very effective at relieving wrist fatigue, but being aware of the causes of the syndrome is crucial for long term relief.

It is very important for any aspiring or current biller and coder to be aware of the above information. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be incredibly harmful to anyone preparing for, or currently in, a billing and coding career. For more information on preventing and treating this type of wrist fatigue, visit WebMD for more details.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 11:06 am and is filed under Career Guidance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.