As a hand therapy specialist 50-75% of the people seen have varying forms of carpal tunnel. I can lead to permanent nerve damage so do not treat it lightly. Imagine your carpal bones, nerves, arteries, veins, etc.in the wrist canal as a can of Vienna sausages. The softest thing in that canal is the median nerve. It is very common before during and after pregnancy and is associated with overuse of your hands. It can even irritate the median nerve up the forearm so the wrist braces, and straight wrists although often helpful might not help. Anything pressing on the forearm may irriate it. Can she postion the baby without using the arms at all?Sometimes it even is caused by the elbow being bent. An ice compress placed on the carpal tunnel for 10 minutes 3-6X a day can help. Massage, ultrasound, and iontophoresis can also help. A lot of times once the pain is managed strenghtening is very helpful. A PT of OT who is a certified hand specialist (CHT) is someone who specializes in treating this very thing. A cortizone shot can be helpful but should only be used as a last resort before surgery. Jill Andrews OTR,CHT,LLLL *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html