Glendale resident invents low-cost, disposable patch for carpal tunnel pain
BY Jeff Landa | SEPT. 26, 2017
Joseph pictured above holding his patent standing in front of his wall of plaques.
It was about five years ago when — at 2 a.m. — the carpal tunnel in Glendale resident Joseph Nazari’s left hand startled him out of his sleep.
His search for a solution resulted in CarpalAID, a small, disposable, adhesive patch designed to relieve hand fatigue and pain associated with carpal tunnel syndrome by releasing pressure from the hand’s median nerve.
Back then, Nazari had only recently completed having surgery on his right hand for the carpal tunnel and was advised by his doctor to repeat the procedure on his left hand, despite what Nazari said was a “messy” experience.
He said he abhorred the prospect of another surgery, but his career in industrial design and engineering left his hands — which are basically his tools — in rough shape.
Awakened by the pain five years ago, Nazari started to think like a designer.
“I wondered, how can I naturally release pressure from the median nerve in my hand — the source of my pain?” Nazari said. “I did a crazy thing. I used a small piece of wood and crazy glue to create negative pressure, pulling it out.”
Nazari said he remembers that the makeshift solution removed about 80% to 90% of his pain.
“I then started thinking about it seriously since my passion is making things,” he said.
Nazari found what he called a memory-type plastic, which he tried pairing with more than 100 kinds of adhesives, eventually settling for a medical-grade tape made by 3M. He used the invention for six months, dwindling its use from every night to once a week, then to not at all.
Driven by the idea that his discovery should not be kept to himself, Nazari said he sought a way to test and commercialize his device.
First, he visited a hand surgeon for an MRI. The surgeon told Nazari the pain relief was due to the adhesive lifting skin and soft tissue from the palm of the hand, above the median nerve.
Satisfied with what the surgeon told him, Nazari then submitted for a clinical test. After a two-year trial, the report came back showing that 70% of users reported a decrease in pain after using CarpalAID, according to Nazari.
A patent for the device, under CarpalAID, LLC, was filed in February 2013 and awarded in April 2016.
In June, Nazari was able to begin selling CarpalAID in Rite Aid stores nationwide and is currently in negotiations with Kaiser Permanente. He has also sold the product in China.
“My personal mission is to help people avoid surgery, because I know what a mess surgery can be,” Nazari said.