Pregnant women who have some generalized swelling in their pregnancy feel numbness and tingling in their hands and fingers, especially during the night. Some of the nerves leading to the hands pass under the carpal tunnel, a dense, fibrous band of tissue that encircles your wrist. Compression of the nerves running through this tunnel is called carpal tunnel syndrome. As long as you have not lost strength in your hands, this is not a serious problem, just an uncomfortable one. What can you do? In severe cases, splints can be worn on your wrists to maintain them in a neutral position (that is, not bent forwards or backwards) to minimize the amount of pressure on these nerves; most people just wear them at night. It will get better after you deliver the baby.
~ Excerpted with permission from “Canada’s Pregnancy Care Book” by Dr. Michèle Farrugia, Dr. Jacqueline Thomas and Dr. Paul Bernstein (Robert Rose Inc, 2009)
