Carpal tunnel syndrome can result from direct trauma to the median nerve, wrist fractures or be associated with some medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, swelling from a sprain or fracture and pregnancy.

It affects more women than men, perhaps because women generally have small wrists, and thus more narrow carpal tunnels.
But the main contributing factor to the syndrome, say area physicians, is excessive repetitive motion.

Robin Grant, a nurse who lives in Willard, says her acute carpal tunnel syndrome was probably the result of repetitive motions done during quilting and sewing, as well as some time spent on the computer at work.
Like Triplett, she ignored the tingling, numbness and pain in both of her hands at first — and did so for years.

"I just put up with it for about five years," says Grant, 46. "... I would say mine was super-painful. I had difficulty holding a pen to write, or a cup of coffee, a hairbrush, a blow dryer. I had difficulty riding a bicycle."

During the day, Grant felt "tingling from the tips of the fingers to the palms," but at night it was worse — an intense throbbing that she describes as a 10 on the pain scale from 1 to 10.