Carpal Tunnel

I had a very odd experience on the phone last night to my mum. She said she'd been to the doctor and been told that she had a textbook case of carpal tunnel syndrome. I expressed surprise as she doesn't do work which is particularly repetitive. I've always thought of it as a programmers thing ever since there were Dilbert strips about it. So, I asked, what does it actually entail? Apparently, Mum has been waking up at night occasionally to find that her thumb and first two fingers are completely numb. On movement, she can feel the blood gradually flowing back into the fingers. She wouldn't have gone to the doctor about it at all except that she was hassled about it by a friend she mentioned it too (out of concern about her blood pressure). The thing is I've been having that exact same problem myself. As you do, I'd dismissed it as just sleeping funny - folding my elbow over or something - and trapping the blood away from my fingers. But it was so exactly what Mum was describing that I have to assume I might have a problem as well. The good news is that the doctor told Mum that you don't have to take action about it unless it's happening every night or if it starts happening during the day, neither of which is happening to me yet, but still, it's quite unnerving. I've decided to dig out the spare ergonomic keyboard from the stationary cupboard and try it out. Just in case.