The median nerve begins at the neck and receives contributions from many nerve roots (C5-T1). The nerve then courses down the arm, giving sensation to the palm side of the hand, the thumb, index, middle and half of the ring finger. It also provides motor input to most of the muscles that move our wrist and fingers into flexion (imagine making a fist).
In terms of pathology, most of us would think of carpal tunnel syndrome when discussing the median nerve. The median nerve is the only nerve that passes through the carpal tunnel, which is the most common site for developing a compression neuropathy in the human body.
Besides carpal tunnel syndrome, some people with general neck pain and nerve pain farther up the arm find this mobilization to be helpful.
1. The first exercise shown here is a relatively new median nerve mobilization technique (see research citation at bottom) that was found to create 13.8mm of nerve slide in the carpal tunnel.
2. The second exercise is a more common median nerve mobilization, but was only found to cause 6.6mm of movement at the carpal tunnel.
Even though the first technique created more movement at the carpal tunnel, both techniques were fairly equal in terms of how much they moved the median nerve more proximally. So, experiment with both and figure out what works best for you and your symptoms.
Reference: Meng S, et al. Longitudinal gliding of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel: Ultrasound cadaveric evaluation of conventional and novel concepts of nerve mobilization. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation. 2015.
