Can playing musical instruments cause carpal tunnel?

Very Possibly: Carpel tunnel syndrome is a compression of the median nerve via the flexor retinaculum. Any continued use of the wrist may cause compression of the median nerve. Piano, violin, and drumming are all examples how a musician could potentially experience carpel tunnel. It is characterized by numbness in the first two fingers and thumb along with wasting of the muscles on the palm side by the thumb.

Depends: The development of carpal tunnel symptoms include many factors. Genetics is one of them. However, certain activities that require the hand and wrist to be in the flexed position while the tendons are moving within the carpal tunnel can cause irritation of the median nerve (the nerve involved in carpal tunnel syndrome) both directly and indirectly through local swelling.