Test Yourself For Carpal Tunnel Syndrome In Just 30 Seconds
⌚️ read time: 4 minutes
Today I’d like to teach you a super simple yet highly effective way to tell if you have carpal tunnel syndrome. It only takes 30 seconds, and it’s called the Phalen’s Test.
While there are numerous tests I would conduct on you if you were in my office for carpal tunnel symptoms, I put the most weight on the Phalen’s.
The data correlates with this proposal as well. If you only had one test you were allowed to perform for carpal tunnel syndrome, this would be the one.
In fact, this test is 90% specific (if the test is positive, carpal tunnel is ruled in) and 85% sensitive (if the test is negative, carpal tunnel is ruled out) when conducted for a full 60 seconds. For those keeping track at home, those numbers make this a highly valuable test!
So you might think a test this good requires fancy equipment or an expert technique honed over years of experience.
Not at all. You can do it right now.
How to perform the Phalen’s Test for carpal tunnel syndrome — on yourself
Take the backs of your hands and place them together (see picture below).
Now hold this for 30 seconds — 60 seconds if you’re a perfectionist. This position increases the pressure in your wrist within the carpal tunnel.
If you remember from my previous carpal tunnel syndrome articles, increased pressure in the carpal tunnel -> decreased blood flow to the median nerve -> symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Phalen’s Test results
If this causes numbness, burning, or tingling in your thumb, index, middle finger, or ring finger, it is highly likely that you have carpal tunnel syndrome.
While no test can make a diagnosis alone, or guarantee a diagnosis in any case, this is a valuable tool in assessing carpal tunnel syndrome.
What should I do now?
If you find that this test causes carpal tunnel symptoms in one or both hands, it’s worth your time and effort to get in to see a hand specialist as soon as possible to learn more.
If you’d like to try to treat it at home on your own, remember my no-excuses rule. DO NOT ignore carpal tunnel syndrome for longer than a few months. If you try at-home treatment, it’s not ok to ignore symptoms if they’re not resolving. Carpal tunnel syndrome is often a progressive nerve compression that worsens over time and can eventually result in permanent nerve damage.
If you would like to try to treat it at home, the most evidence-based treatment is to wear a wrist brace at night. Any wrist brace that prevents the wrist from bending will work.
You need to wear this all night, every night for a minimum of six weeks. Do not skip a night or it won’t work. This will hold your wrist in a neutral position, allowing your nerve to receive adequate blood supply all night. In this way, the nerve can heal itself over the course of about 4 weeks.
If your symptoms disappear, you win! Go ahead and see if you can ease out of the braces at night over time.
If your symptoms remain, it’s time to consult with a hand surgeon for further testing (to prevent permanent hand weakness!).
For a more in-depth treatment guide, visit my previous article here.
Takeaways:
Perhaps the best available clinical test for carpal tunnel syndrome is easily repeatable and something you can perform on yourself.
Both the specificity and sensitivity of this test are extremely high, making this a go-to maneuver for determining the likelihood you have carpal tunnel syndrome.
If the test is positive, consider seeing a hand surgeon before permanent nerve damage accumulates — something not even surgery can fix.
Who knew that testing yourself for one of the most common orthopedic conditions was so easy? Maybe all that time in medical school wasn’t necessary after all…😀.
