The median nerve is that nerve which controls sensations to the palm side of the thumb and fingers, as well as impulses to some small muscles in the hand that allow the fingers and thumb to move.
Sometimes, swelling from irritated tendons or other kinds of thickening narrows the carpal tunnel and causes the median nerve to get compressed. The effect may be weakness, soreness, or numbness in the hand and wrist that goes up the arm.
Even though painful sensations may indicate other disorders, carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common and widely known of the entrapment neuropathies in which the body's peripheral nerves are compressed or traumatized.
