Carpal tunnel syndrome affects between 1% and 5% of the general population, making it one of the most common nerve conditions. In the United States alone, roughly 577,000 surgical releases are performed each year, and that number has been climbing steadily for two decades.
Who Gets Carpal Tunnel Most Often
Women are diagnosed with carpal tunnel about three times more often than men overall. But that ratio is misleading. Much of the gap appears to come from the types of work women are concentrated in rather than from biological differences alone. When researchers compared men and women doing identical tasks, like data entry, the rates were nearly equal. In jobs where men and women perform different physical tasks under the same job title, women’s rates looked disproportionately high, but the real driver was the repetitive hand work itself, not gender.
The condition peaks between ages 50 and 59 for both sexes. In women, incidence climbs gradually with age, hits that peak, then declines. Men show a slightly different pattern, with a second, smaller spike between ages 70 and 79. Carpal tunnel is uncommon in people under 30 unless a specific risk factor is present.
Pregnancy Is a Major but Temporary Trigger
Carpal tunnel is one of the most common complications of pregnancy, with prevalence reported as high as 62%. Fluid retention during pregnancy increases pressure inside the narrow carpal tunnel in the wrist, compressing the nerve. Most women improve after delivery, but a significant percentage still have lingering symptoms, including enough discomfort to need wrist splints, up to three years postpartum.
Diabetes, Obesity, and Other Risk Factors
People with diabetes have about 90% higher odds of developing carpal tunnel compared to those without. The connection likely involves nerve damage and swelling of the tendons that share space with the median nerve in the wrist. Bilateral carpal tunnel, meaning both hands are affected, is more common in people with diabetes, and risk increases further with higher body weight and advancing age.
Other conditions that raise your risk include thyroid disorders (particularly an underactive thyroid), rheumatoid arthritis, and kidney failure requiring dialysis. Wrist fractures or injuries that change the anatomy of the carpal tunnel also increase the likelihood.
High-Risk Jobs and Industries
Certain occupations carry dramatically elevated risk. In manufacturing, construction, and personal services, a large share of carpal tunnel cases can be directly attributed to the work itself. The jobs with the highest work-attributable risk include:
- Assembly line workers: mechanical machinery assemblers had over 90% of their carpal tunnel risk attributable to job tasks
- Construction laborers: particularly building and finishing work, with similarly high attributable risk
- Packers and material handlers: repetitive gripping and lifting pushes risk above 88%
- Cashiers: repetitive scanning and handling, with about 82% of risk tied to the job
- Hairdressers: sustained gripping of tools, with roughly 87% work-attributable risk
- Cooks: repetitive chopping, stirring, and lifting, at about 88%
- Agricultural workers: vineyard and orchard laborers face some of the highest rates
The common thread is forceful or repetitive hand and wrist movements, sustained gripping, and vibrating tools. Office keyboard work gets a lot of attention, but the data consistently shows that manual and industrial jobs carry far greater risk.
Both Hands Are Often Involved
Many people assume carpal tunnel only affects their dominant hand, but bilateral involvement is surprisingly common. In one study of patients who came in reporting symptoms in just one hand, over 71% turned out to have nerve compression in both wrists when tested with electrodiagnostic studies. Among patients who reported bilateral symptoms from the start, 93% had confirmed bilateral carpal tunnel. Overall, about 44% of patients reported symptoms in both hands at their first visit.
This matters because mild compression in your “good” hand may not produce noticeable symptoms yet. If you’re diagnosed on one side, there’s a reasonable chance the other wrist is affected too.
Work Days Lost and Economic Impact
Carpal tunnel causes more missed work than nearly any other non-fracture injury. The median time away from work for a work-related case is 27 days, which is longer than for back injuries, sprains, or any other repetitive strain condition. Only fractures result in more lost time. For workers in manual occupations, this can mean weeks without income and a difficult transition back to the same tasks that caused the problem.
Rates Are Rising, Not Falling
Despite greater awareness of ergonomics and workplace safety, carpal tunnel treatment volumes have climbed substantially. Between 2000 and 2022, the number of open carpal tunnel release surgeries performed on Medicare patients increased by 180%. Endoscopic releases, a less invasive approach, grew by 959% over the same period. The only notable dip came in 2020, when elective surgeries dropped about 13% during the pandemic before rebounding. The aging population and rising rates of diabetes and obesity are likely contributors to the upward trend.