How can you tell the difference between arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome?

Night time pain?: Many carpal tunnel patients have pain and night and have to "shake out their hand". This is not typically seen in arthritis. Cts patients may have numbness in thumb, ring finger and middle finger. Finally, by wearing a wrist splint at night, cts patients could get improvements. A simple nerve stimulation examination test (nerve conduction study) at the neurologist can prove the cts diagnosis.

Numbness: Typically carpal tunnel syndrome has numbness with it (not always).