What is the carpal tunnel?
The carpal tunnel is a tunnel in the wrist formed of the carpal bones on which the ligament across the carpal is stretched, a fibrous band which constitutes the roof of the tunnel, entering the scaphoid and trapezium bones on the one side and the piriformis and uncinate (the carpal bones of the hand) on the other. Nervous tissue (median nerve), vascular tissue and tendons (hand flexor muscle tendons) pass through this tunnel. The thenar is a projection of the thumb, formed mainly of adductor brevis and opponens pollicis. When the carpal tunnel syndrome reaches its maximum degree of severity, there is atrophy (disappearance) of the thenar.
