KATELYN QUIAMBAO

Carpal Tunnel is numbness and tingling in the hand and arm caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist.

Katelyn Quiambao is a sophomore who got diagnosed with it when she was only 11. Before the diagnosis, Quiambao has had pain in all the upper le side of her body starting at only age 6.

“I went to about 20 di erent doctors, and no one could tell me what I had,” Quiambao said.

As most diagnosed with this syndrome tend to be around the age of 40-60, no one would’ve suspected a young girl of 11 to have Carpal Tunnel.

“Some doctors even advised me to go see a psychologist since they believed I was making up that I was in pain”

A er being diagnosed, Katelyn, at age 12 had to go through Carpal Tunnel surgery to release her lower arm. Along with wearing a cast for about a month, meaning no movement of the arm at all, it took about a year for her full recovery to go back to doing sports.

A er recovery, she joined the Hillsborough High School’s swim and dive team, which, is not a ected by her Carpal Tunnel. Although it is not as painful anymore, Quiambao still attends physical therapy about three times a week, ranging from 30 minutes to an hour, to bring strength to her arm and hands.

Since she was diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel on her le dominant hand, Quiambao had to learn to adapt using her right hand to do tasks such as writing.

“Because I was diagnosed at a young age, I am probably going to have to get the surgery again later in life”

Quiambao was one of the rst patients with Carpal Tunnel that was younger than the age of 40 at the Florida Orthopedic. Carpal Tunnel is usually caused by typing and developed later in life. No one is certain of what caused Quiambao to develop it, but some doctors suspect that it was due to her arms and hands not forming properly before birth.