03 / Understand the area
Palm side of the wrist
A sore wrist and a tingling hand are different symptoms. Which one bothers you most tells us where to focus.
An educational guide that covers the left and right sides alike. Where it hurts is a useful clue, but only a clue.
A useful starting point
What this area can tell you.
Carpal tunnel syndrome involves the median nerve at the wrist and can cause symptoms in the thumb, index and middle fingers and part of the ring finger. Pain on the palm side isn't enough to identify it, because tendons, joints and other nerves can produce their own patterns. The details that help most: which fingers are affected, if the symptoms wake you up, and if you've started dropping things. That's why sensation and strength matter at the exam as much as where it's tender.
Notice the pattern
Three questions to bring with you.
You don't need to know what it is before you come in. These are details that help when you tell us what you're feeling.
- Which fingers tingle, and is your little finger involved or left out?
- Does it wake you at night, or come on with certain hand positions?
- Have opening jars, buttoning a shirt or holding small things gotten harder?
When to get help sooner
New persistent numbness or increasing hand weakness needs prompt assessment. A cold, pale or blue hand, or severe pain and swelling after injury, needs urgent medical care.
Follow the connection
Possible explanations. Better questions.
These guides cover conditions and patterns that may overlap with this area. Think of them as a place to start our conversation: no body map can tell you which one, if any, you have.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Hand tingling, median nerve compression, and why new weakness in the hand matters.
Read the guide Condition guideArm & leg pain
The difference between pain from a joint or muscle and pain traveling along a nerve.
Read the guide Condition guideNeck pain
Stiffness, referred pain and nerve symptoms, and the questions our exam sets out to answer.
Read the guideWhat the studies found, and where they stop
How the research fits this area.
The trial compared night splints with a steroid injection for mild-to-moderate carpal tunnel syndrome, and outcomes were similar at 12 and 24 months. It didn't study severe nerve compression, and it didn't study chiropractic treatment.
How we select and explain sources ↗Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
The effectiveness of corticosteroid injection versus night splints for carpal tunnel syndrome: 24-month follow-up of a randomized trial
Follow-up of 234 adults randomized to injection or night splinting for mild-to-moderate carpal tunnel syndrome.
What it foundSymptom, function and pain scores did not significantly differ between the groups at 12 or 24 months.
What it can't tell usAbout 71% to 73% responded at 24 months. Severe carpal tunnel syndrome was outside this comparison, and the trial didn't test chiropractic care.
Publication details & citation
Burton et al. The effectiveness of corticosteroid injection versus night splints for carpal tunnel syndrome: 24-month follow-up of a randomized trial. Rheumatology. 2023. DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac219.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.
Your next step
Bring your questions.
We’ll start there.
Your answers to those three questions are where we start. We go over your history and symptoms, examine you, and explain what we found before we recommend anything. If it turns out to be something another doctor should look at, we'll tell you.
Anatomy: BodyParts3D, © DBCLS, CC BY 4.0. Model & rendering credits. Return to the full body explorer.