Sharp Pain In Forearm And Wrist. Due To Carpal Tunnel?

Posted on Tue, 26 Mar 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 Answered on

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I have a sharp pain that starts at the of my forearm but below my bicep and it runs straight down to my wrist and intensely consumes my entire hand in an immense and unbearable pain. this has gone on for years now and I have always been told carpal tunnel but its not the same symptoms and treatments for carpal do not work, so, what is it? and how can I treat it?

Answered by Dr. Sathyadharan Panneer (54 minutes later)

Hai,

Thanks for writing in,

It seems that you might be suffering from Pronator syndrome. Patients with Pronator syndrome can also experience such kind of pain. It occurs due to entrapment of Median nerve or its branches in the forearm. Usually pain is more while pronating the forearm or while doing repetitive stretching activities involving elbow. Patient's also find difficulty in pinching thumb and index finger.

An Xray of elbow/ forearm to rule-out any local pathologies and a nerve-conduction study will help us to diagnose the problem. site of compression of the nerve if any.

Avoid movements which aggravate your pain, avoid using tools like hammers and avoid stressful activities like cleaning items. Few cases might improve with local steroid infiltration at the site of compression. If the compression is severe leading to nerve palsy, then it might need surgical release.

If you have already undergone any such investigations, you can upload and send them to us to guide you better.

Get well soon,
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar