You've been trying to ignore the tingling and numbness in your hand and wrist for weeks now and all of a sudden you feel this sharp shooting pain through your wrist up to your arm.
Just a one-off thing? Or more likely you have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a compression neuropathy that occurs when the median nerve is compressed or squeezed as it crosses the wrist.
While a number of activities has a connection to the development of this condition, the exact cause of it has not been established.
It usually starts with 'pins and needles', impaired or diminished sensation in the hand.
The thumb, index, middle and half of the ring fingers are affected.
The skin of the palm is usually unaffected.
Intermittent numbness and tingling sensations are felt in the hand.
These are often more pronounced at night.
The carpal tunnel pain is primarily numbness that is so intense that it wakes one from sleep at night.
The symptoms are worst are night and it may be because of people's tendency to sleep with their wrist bent.
The person afflicted with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can also feel darting pain from the wrist, sharp shooting pains that can be felt in the forearm occasionally and radiated or referred pain into the arm and shoulder.
The little finger and half of the ring finger are unaffected.
The symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome usually gradually increase overtime and the condition causes the afflicted person to cope with poor hand function and significant pain.
The thenar muscles (muscles of the thumb) serviced by the median nerve also become affected.
Often there is progressive loss of coordination and strength in the thumb, and difficulty performing fine movements of the thumb as well as fine movements of the index, middle, and ring fingers with more persistent (chronic) and severe squeezing or compression of the nerve.
A person with an advanced condition may not be able to properly use or move their thumb anymore leading to difficulties when trying to grasp objects.
Frequent dropping of objects from the hand and a feeling of in-coordination result from the weakness in the hand grip.
There may be wasting (atrophy) of some muscles of the hand, particularly those near the base of the thumb in the palm of the hand.
Patients can also develop a burning sensation, cramping and weakness of the hand as the disease progresses.
Long standing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome leads to permanent muscle and nerve damage.