Carpel Tunnel Syndrom anybody have it?

Don Baer

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Staff member
I have had a few of the symptoms for some time now but recentlyt the left hand has gotten worse. surgery is one option but I have been doing some research on web and finding that there are less envasive treatments. has anyone else had the problem and if so what have you done to relieve the symptoms.
 
I think I might be going down this road at some time as well.

I did a LOT of damage to my hands when I was younger, played offensive and defensive line from the time I was about 12 until I finished high school at 18. I broke all of my fingers, some of them more than once and both of my thumbs, plus I dislocated both thumbs........ at the same time :eek:

Now some mornings I wake up and my hands are numb, and hurt a bit, and in the last year, or less, I've noticed I have a reoccurring case of what I call the "Dropsy" meaning I drop stuff all the time, stuff I "Had" in my hands, but then I just drop it :doh:I've also noticed that my grip strength is not what it used to be :( I really noticed it earlier moving them 1" thick sheets of subfloor plywood around.

Cheers!
 
its part of age i think don:( the dropsy has happened here to. as for the surgery option i have seen both sides of it from a distance.. and i am not gonna jump on it just pay more attention and visit the motrin bottle occasionally. the wife works a highly reppetive job and has had the surgery and it wasnt worth it..therapy and better habits are better fixes i think.
 
I get the symptoms once in a while. I've found that I have to watch what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. Keep the wrists arched at the keyboard and such and in a week or so I'm feeling better. I know someone that had the microscopic surgery recently and they were using their hand the next day, but may be a case by case basis, haven't really researched it myself.
 
I have had a few of the symptoms for some time now but recentlyt the left hand has gotten worse. surgery is one option but I have been doing some research on web and finding that there are less envasive treatments. has anyone else had the problem and if so what have you done to relieve the symptoms.

Don,.
I've been having a few symptoms myself... for the past 8-10 years whenever I drive my left hand would get numb. Finally talked with the doctor about it and he suggested using a wrist band when I drive and sleep?.. it seems to help some. I don't think mine has reached anywhere near surgery level yet... it gets a little sore now and then, but mostly it just get numb.

My sister had surgery for hers in both hands... seemed like it worked fine for her... just don't like the idea of someone cutting around on the ligaments of my hands.
 
I got it pretty bad in my right hand. The hand keeps going numb all the time. The Dr. gave me a wrist brace which I use at night but it doesnt really help much. Dont know whats next. I dont want to have surgery.
 
I had the surgery back in the late 80s.... Would look for other alternative this time. Still have a problem when I work hard, lost some nimbleness in the surgery. Can't Do Boy scout salute (three fingers up small folded down) was difficult being a scout master after that.
 
I have it in BOTH wrists, (pretty bad). It was so bad in the RIGHT wrist about eight years ago, I snapped the tendon that pulls the thumb open from the hand and had to have that surgically reconnected. Now, have no feeling in my first and second fingers of the LEFT hand, and not Much feeling in that thumb and am continually dropping things from that hand without even knowing I've dropped it. I have the wrist braces for Both wrists, but since I'm not driving a truck anymore, I don't use them much, (but they did help during that time).

I know quite a few folks that have had the surgery, and the results range from "Absolutely fantastic", to "Not worth it". It seems that some Surgeons have a lot better and More Consistent results than others, BUT even with the Best Surgeons, the results seem to vary somewhat from patient to patient.

I, like you Don, have put off doing the surgery as long as I can, and now it will have to wait til after I do the knee replacement thing before I even think about that surgery.

Vibration, hammering, and a few other activities seem to irritate the problems and only resting the wrists from activity seems to help, AND I sometimes wear the wrist braces for a few days to get things back to where they were. You might want to get one for each of your wrists and try them to see if they help, specially when you are doing activities that really irritate the situation. Seems like they only cost about $17 each, (the last time I bought one) and are available at most medical supply stores.

If you do find any alternate method that helps, please post it, because being diabetic, I really don't want to do ANY Surgery that is not Absolutely necessary.
 
I have it on both hands since about a year, after a rather severe start with both hands going numb and feeling swollen at wake up.

Gone to a hand physiotherapist after visiting a doctor who was really eager to take me under surgery which I refused.

I'm using wrist braces at night and they help a lot. Wrist stretching exercises at any time of the day, or at any work stop and before starting woodworking have brought me almost back to my original condition.

Gone back to mountain biking and it is also hard on the wrists but after a few days of getting numb hands for some time while riding it seems that it is good for them, I've regained strengh and and they feel better than ever:dunno:

I've been told that if symptoms are strong and don't recede surgery is compulsory and should not wait long or the nerves get atrhrophia and then surgery is useless.
 
i had tendonitis which is the same thing just a different tendon. for me it was the tendon that controls the thumb and the pain was in my wrist on the side below my thumb. i went to physical therapy for about 2 months but it didnt help i ended up having the surgery. its much better but it sometimes acts up but i can live with it as is compared to how it was

ive got a cool 1-1/2" scar on my wrist for all to see lol

not sure what caused my injury but ive narrowed it down to either improper posture while surfing the net at work :rofl: or possibly i may have hurt it lifting weights at the gym as the pain started around the same time i was going
 
This is a self diagnosis but I believe I have it in both wrists, my right one being the worst. Any time my wrist is bent back past an even plane within roughly 60 seconds I start to feel discomfort. Leave it that way for a few minutes and I get what I call a "painful numbness". It's hard to describe.

Anyways, a few years ago I was having some shoulder pain and I went to an acupuncturist. After a few treatments the pain started getting better. A few weeks after the treatments stopped the pain was gone. After about a year they came back again. I'd be willing to bet that if I'd kept up the treatments but at a lower frequency, I'd be pain free today.
 
I've been avoiding going to the ortho doc because I don't want to know the answer :eek: . I'm certain that I have tendonitis in my right elbow and wrist from 25 years of swinging a hammer and troweling mortar. I have switched over to nail guns and have reduced the hammer work but there is no substitue for the trowel :( .
 
For those of you (in the US) that have numb little and ring fingers on your left hand, but are not left handed, it may not be carpel tunnel. Last summer I took an 11 day 5,500 mile drive, resting my left elbow on the window sill of the truck. It put pressure on the area between the tip of the elbow and the bonny knob on the inside of the elbow (where the ulna and humerus join) and compressed the nerve. In 11 days, my little finger went completely dead of feeling and my ring finger probably lost 80% of feeling. I no longer drive resting my arm on the sill and, after a year, all of the feeling has slowly returned to my ring finger and about 95% has returned to my little finger. Just a thought.
 
Don, can you give us a make and model number?

I've been having a heck of a time in the last week or two, I think it is the death grip on the drywall trowel that has done it :doh:
 
Stu, I don't have the boxes they came in anymore, and mine are black instead of Blue like Don's, but the little tag on both the right and left hand ones say the same.

F.L.A. PRO-LITE,
FLA Orthopedics, Inc
Medium
made in USA

I don't know how to tell you to guess at the size, because I probably have slightly small hands for a fellow my size, AND my hands and arms aren't nearly as muscular and large as they used to be.:rolleyes: (did I say I HATE the aging process).:rolleyes::D

Measuring around my wrist/arm joint, I get 7 1/4", and measuring around my hand at the thumb/hand knuckle joint (with my hand flat on the table), I get 10 1/8", and around the knuckle/hand joint of the 4 fingers, I get 8 1/2", so maybe that will give you some idea as to what size you might need. Maybe you can get the size and Don's measurements also for a comparison.

The specialist I saw also said that wearing them at night while sleeping would hold them immobile in the correct position and would be very helpful, especially when I couldn't wear them during some or all of my activities during the daytime.

Hope this helps.
 
Don, can you give us a make and model number?

I've been having a heck of a time in the last week or two, I think it is the death grip on the drywall trowel that has done it :doh:

Stu,
Most drug stores in US and I would think Japan, carry some sort of joint support apparatuses... I bought my wrist supporter at Wal-Mart, because they were less costly than at the local CVS... they come in 3 sizes small, med and large... and the wrist sizes are on the cartons.

Chuck Rohdekor may have a point in his post... I drive with the left elbow on the rest inside the door a lot, but also with my arm extended and holding the steering wheel at the 10-11 o'clock position. That's actually when I get more of a problem with the numbness... I'm thinking I have more of a problem in the shoulders because they stay sore. The wrist support does help though.

My last boss had problems with his left hand also when he drove... his doctor put him in an elbow support that had padding at the elbow... specifically for driving.
 
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