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The Tingling Stopped in Days. So Why Does the Palm Still Hurt at Week 6?
Most problems after carpal tunnel surgery are part of normal healing: palm pain either side of the scar, a weak grip for 3 to 6 months, bruising, and numbness that takes weeks to months to lift. Serious complications, like nerve injury, are rare.
What needs a call TODAY: spreading redness or fever, numbness worse than before surgery, or a hand getting more painful, swollen and shiny instead of less.
Find your symptom below. Each one has its own page with the full timeline.
Key takeaways
- Night tingling usually stops within days of carpal tunnel surgery. Grip strength and scar comfort take about 3 to 6 months.
- Pain in the fleshy mounds either side of the scar, called pillar pain, is very common and usually fades over 3 to 6 months.
- If numbness was constant before surgery, feeling can take up to 18 months to return, and some may not come back.
- Symptoms that never improved after surgery, symptoms that came back after a good spell, and a new problem elsewhere are three different situations.
- Numbness worse than before surgery, or signs of infection, needs a same-day call to your surgeon.
Where are you right now?
- First 2 weeks, wound or bruising: see bruising after carpal tunnel surgery and wound healing or infection.
- Did too much and it flared: see overdid it after carpal tunnel surgery.
- Fingers still numb: see still numb after carpal tunnel surgery.
- It got better, then came back: see can carpal tunnel come back after surgery?
- Want the normal timeline first: see carpal tunnel surgery recovery week by week.
Sort it by symptom
Typical patterns. Your surgeon’s advice comes first.
| What you notice | Usually | Read |
|---|---|---|
| Palm pain either side of the scar, worse leaning on the hand | Pillar pain. Common and fades over 3 to 6 months | Recovery week by week |
| Bruising into the palm or wrist | Normal in the first 2 to 3 weeks | Bruising after carpal tunnel surgery |
| Fingers still numb | The nerve recovers slowly, over weeks to months | Still numb after surgery |
| A flare after a busy day | Usually settles in 2 to 5 days | Overdid it after surgery |
| Symptoms back after months of relief | Needs an assessment to sort out why | Can carpal tunnel come back? |
| A hard lump under the scar | Usually scar tissue that softens with time | Lump in the scar |
| Fingers that won’t close fully | Stiffness, easier to fix early | Stiff hand after surgery |
| A finger that starts catching or locking | Can be trigger finger, a separate problem | Trigger finger |
Problems by week
- Weeks 0 to 2 (OPEN, unless it’s infected): a sore, swollen palm, some bruising, tingling that comes and goes. Spreading redness, heat, pus or fever is a same-day call.
- Weeks 2 to 6 (CLOSING for the fingers): pillar pain shows up as you start using the hand. Fingers that can’t make a full fist by week 3 need attention now, cos stiffness caught at week 3 is cheap to fix and stiffness at month 4 isn’t.
- Weeks 6 to 12 (OPEN): grip is still weak and the scar still tender. Expected. Strength builds with gradual load.
- Months 3 to 18 (OPEN for the nerve): feeling keeps returning slowly, fingertips last. If numbness was constant before surgery, some may not come back.
The nerve gets its room on the day. The palm takes months to stop complaining about how.
Is this normal?
Usually part of a normal recovery:
- Palm pain when you push up from a chair or carry a tray, for 3 to 6 months.
- A weak grip that can’t open a jar at week 6.
- Zings or tingling in the fingers as the nerve wakes up.
- A firm, tender scar for a few months.
- Aching after a busy day that’s gone by the next morning.
Not part of it: numbness worse than before the operation, numbness in a new part of the hand, or pain that climbs week after week.
If it isn’t going to plan
Week 10. The night tingling stopped ages ago, but you still can’t lean on the heel of your hand to get out of the bath, and the car key needs two goes.
You’ve been told it settles. Usually it does. But the problems that need help look a lot like the ones that don’t…a grip that isn’t climbing, numbness that hasn’t moved in two months, fingers that never quite closed after the dressing came off.
The pain is better. Has anyone measured your grip, or tested where the numbness ends? Your review might not be until month 3.
Each of these runs on a different clock. Pillar pain has a long, open window. Stiff fingers have a short one. Numbness that was constant before surgery runs on the nerve’s own slow schedule. The Closing Window Chart maps 15 hand conditions to open, closing or shut, with the red flags for each, so you know which clock you’re on. It’s free.
Call your local emergency number or go to the emergency department if
- Your fingers turn white, blue or cold.
- The palm becomes tense, hard and rapidly swollen, with severe pain that raising the hand and pain relief don’t touch.
Call your surgeon or doctor today if
- Redness spreading from the wound, heat, pus or a fever.
- Numbness worse than before surgery, or in a new part of the hand.
- Pain escalating day after day, with a shiny, sweaty, color-changed hand. See CRPS.
Get it checked soon if
- You can’t make a full fist by week 3.
- Grip isn’t improving by week 8.
- Numbness hasn’t changed at all in 3 months.
- Symptoms came back after a good spell.
Most of what hurts after carpal tunnel surgery is healing. The trick is spotting the few things that aren’t.
Written by Nigel Chua, hand occupational therapist in practice since 2005. Thousands of hands, wrists and elbows assessed and treated. My credentials are here. This article explains; it doesn’t examine. If your numbness is worse than before surgery, call your surgeon today.
Part of: Recovery after hand, wrist and elbow surgery: every week-by-week guide
Every article on this site is written using the Closing Window Method: name the window your condition runs on, find where you are in it, and act while it’s still open.