Carpal tunnel syndrome results from compression and irritation of the median nerve where it passes through the wrist. In the end, the median nerve is responsible for both sensation and movement. When the median nerve is compressed, an individual's hand will feel as if it has "gone to sleep." The individual will experience numbness, tingling, and a prickly pin like sensation over the palm surface of the hand, and the individual may begin to experience muscle weakness, making it difficult to open jars and hold objects with the affected hand. Eventually, the muscles of the hand served by the median nerve may begin to atrophy, or grow noticeably smaller.

Compression of the median nerve in the wrist can occur during a number of different conditions, particularly conditions that lead to changes in fluid accumulation throughout the body. Because the area of the wrist through...