Carpal Doctors Medium C-TRAC Arthritis Relief Hand Traction Unit CTRAC

I have been using this product for about 8 years and it has worked great for me. I bought this one as a replacement because the plastic in my previous one gave out. I was looking for something that would help my carpal tunnel issue because my palm was becoming painful at night and I was concerned the only recourse was surgery which I had already had on my other hand which became much weaker. Although reviews online were mixed, I decided to try it. I have followed the instructions carefully and it has resulted in keeping my pain at bay and my carpal tunnel under control for all these years for which I am very grateful. I highly recommend CTRAC for anyone dealing with carpal tunnel. Also this one I got via Amazon is more heavy duty particularly the bulb.

The pain of carpal tunnel syndrome can be agonizing and the efforts of my physical therapist didn't really help, so I was ready to try almost anything. Apparently this device, called CTRAC, has, in fact, helped people, but there is something fundamentally wrong with its construction. On my fourth attempt to use it, the knurled knob on the left of the sphygmomanometer became stuck. When managed finally to loosen it, it fell off. I screwed it back on, but then it no longer worked. Very disappointing! If the theory behind it is really valid, I would hope that the CTRAC could be reissued in an upgraded version. As it is, it is quite difficult to use even without the problem I encountered.

This product saved me from surgery!! Within 2 weeks symptoms listen by 50%. Within two months symptoms less by 90%. . Except for the occasional flareup I no longer use the Ctrac. During CP flare up I use it for one to two days and all symptoms will be relieved. It is a true game changer.

I purchased this device even though my Medicare Part B and Part F mean that surgery would cost me no additional money. I just was hoping that maybe I could avoid surgery and $200 was not a lot to spend. I used it exactly as told to, three times each day for each hand (both are bad), pumping up to 180 or a bit above. It was working properly. I did not notice any improvement, but it was not even two weeks yet. Then, one time shortly after I said "Alexa, set timer for two minutes" (so that I would wear it for 2 min and then wait one minute, and do it again), the pressure released and I could not re-pump it up. I tried several times and clearly the bladder or the cord from the pump or something broke. I tried calling the company (says Florida but phone number is Puerto Rico), no one answered and no ability to leave message. Then I wrote them and explained and waited for almost a week but no response. So I hope I will get my money back. They have a warranty but I fear that they and Amazon will not honor it.

My carpal tunnel progressively got worse to the point of numbness and tingling both during the day and night and dropping items frequently, so I was considering surgery. I tried this as a last resort. Tried it on right hand only at first so I could compare with left and I've noticed a considerable improvement. So I started the left as well and both are doing much better. It is very tricky to get the sphygmomanometer to the prescribed pressure so that's why I only gave it 4 stars but overall I've had great relief of symptoms and would recommend.

I like how they are designed. They work. Kind of. The go over the hand and bend it to expand the carpel tunnel in the hand. Kind of. I have to complain that the design and final product are "kind of wimpy". I am sure not by choice but because they are afraid of medical lawsuits and have limited the design to be as "safe as possible" and "Guaranteed to not harm anyone"... Yada, Yada, Yada.... Blah Blah Blah. What is wrong with the design? I will explain. The bladder is designed to push only on the ligament feeding to the ring finger on each hand and in a long thin line, therby causing pain in that location. I believe this is to prevent you from using this too much or too long or too hard.. all in an effort to baby the user and prevent any mistakes.. thereby preventing any lawsuits. The open part of the unit that slips over the hand allows unit to bend and also prevent too much pressure in the desired direction. The split opens up and if the bladder would press any more, the split would allow the hand to pop right out.. thereby again preventing any damage and any lawsuits. IT's like a car that can go 100mphs, with a limiter to keep it at 3 mph.. and a computer to watch for pedestrians and slam on the brake if any motion is seen in front of the car. It works.. but the effectiveness is reduced to almost nil. Too bad. It did work for me. Kind of .. A little bit.. but soon it's not enough and I put it away. If I modified it? I would put a different bladder on it to push across the entire top of the hand instead of only one spot (therfore eliminating the pain and allowing much greater pressure) and I would "not" make a split in it. I actually went so far as to put it on backword, with the thumb hole down so my hand would be pushed much harder in the correct position. It works.. Kind of . Better then their "safety first" design.. but way less than this device could deliver if it wasn't stiffled with "safety feature" to prevent lawsuits. I will keep looking for a more effective (less crippled) device like this, but I still use this sometimes. It helps. Kind of

The C-trac machine appears to be one that is fragile with a high risk of being broken. The black tubing is connected to the portion where the hand goes into by another little clear tube. This clear tube was snapped in 2 when it arrived and could not be reattached. The main portion of the unit also appears to be made of plastic and is fragile so care with use is 100% necessary. The unit itself came in a navy zipper bag with the logo on it, with no other protection from the elements in terms of packaging. I'm unsure of how the unit is typically packaged but the one I have seen in the past had another layer of protection (a square plastic container). On top of that, the unit was placed in a bubble bag to be shipped. Obviously, it would arrive broken. It also took a while to be shipped. For the high cost of the item, I'm extemely disappointed and dissatisfied with the overall handling of the unit and with the unit's apparent durability.

The unit did not retain air in the bag. Air was escaping while pumping, this because air was leaking between the valve stem and the bag. To get some use out of the device a bycicle tyre patch had to be fitted in an attempt to seal the air leak. This allowed use with much effort. A much more user friendly interface between the pump hose and the bag valve stem. the present arrangement is not senior citizen friendly. We hope the supplier has replacement pressure bags available for sale. Based on another user recommendation, the item may work. However, at this price I would not reccommend purchasing it until the manufacturer comes up with a better valve stem/tube arrangement.