has anybody ever had a bout of carpal tunnel or numbness????

[jgest]

I have always taken care of my self and been very astute to posture and lifestyle, but the past few weeks a general numbness has taken effect on my right hand, almost like it's asleep.

I am wondering if this is the beginning stages of carpal tunnel and if there has been anybody who has had similar bouts who can reflect, or share any sentiments.

[Spikey Horse]

I am wondering if this is the beginning stages of carpal tunnel and if there has been anybody who has had similar bouts .....

I had to take a few years off from playing .... it was pretty bad .... it wasn't computer related though - I was very fit too (and no drugs, alchohol or even caffiene.. well hardly any!) but just over did the playing and everything else!

Dr Spikey Horse can't really make a proper diagnosis over the internet - but I do remember getting some numbness myself ..... and pins and needles, but for me it was mainly a sudden (almost overnight) complete loss of strength in hands.

I would keep a close eye on it and ask myself questions like:

What were you actually doing before the numbness sets in ? or what times of the day does it happen? Also where in hand? And what's changed in your life (activities/diet/ stress levels/workload etc) over the last few weeks?

If it continues go and see someone... in fact several people if you can, preferably specializing in different areas of health ie physio, doctor, chiropractor etc just to get as many opinions as you can.

Peronally on a general level I think everyone, espcially musicians and especially musicians who use computers should do pilates to keep nerves/ muscles everything else nice and stretched (especially in neck/shoulders, arms, through to hands). Also it builds core strength which takes all the load off your spine and stops any slouching - and it feels just great! Also meditation, breathing exercises, visualization, yoga, tai chi ...whatever works to get into some inner silence and calm and centered-ness. Stress - often extremely well hidden or just unnoticed stress can be a big contributory factor in RSI. Lastly, I'd say it's a good idea to go easy on the sugar/caffiene, use apples bannanas, herbal teas, a quick wander in the fresh air, instead of coffee and fags to keep alert during a session! ...... just some top tips!

[npatton]

That certainly sounds like carpal tunnel to me, especially considering your work with computers and whatever instrument(s) you play.

I suffer from cronic tendonitis in my right wrist ever since I overworked myself in college piano studies. (Spent three months in physical therapy while studying pieces for left hand alone.) Tendonitis is essentially the same injury but in a different part of the hand. Carpal tunnel is particularly aggravating, as the swolen tendons are pinching off the nerves in the tunnel they share that passes through your wrist bones (the carpal bones). Thus your numbness.

There are as many treatments for it as there are sufferers of the condition. Everyone has an opinion. I've learned to treat bad bouts of it with gentle stretching and exercises, ice, and running hot water (as hot as I can stand) over the injured area before any piano work.

I would also talk to a doctor about some kind of prescription dose of ibuprofen. This was a major part of my college treatment, and was very helpful. I refer you to a doctor for this one because too much of the stuff for too long can really screw up your kidneys.

The most helpful person for me was a sports injury specialist who knew what to do and got me on the right track back to playing again. My regular doctor poo-pooed my condition and merely stuck me in a brace which promptly made everything worse. Don't let anyone tell you you don't have a problem. This sounds like a serious thing to be delt with now. Not to scare you, but you can't afford to ignore your symptoms!

Good luck and keep us posted on how you're doing!

Yours,
n

P.S. Spikey speaks truth. I posted mine to find that he beat me! All good advice.

[Frodo]

Yeah man, don't screw around with this. Have a specialist check it out.

Carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis are serious enough-- but numbness could also be related to cardio-vascular functions. If you're over 30 and haven't had a physical in a while, don't hesitate!!

Info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendonitis

[twistedtom]

It sounds like it could be carpal tunnel. The symptoms can also be from your shoulder being out of alignment and you get a pinched nerve. Carpal tunnel is often painful and your grip gets weak, I know people that had their hands feel like they went to sleep. I have read that there is a new method of stretching the wrist and hand that dose not need an operation

[buddhabelly]

I have always taken care of my self and been very astute to posture and lifestyle, but the past few weeks a general numbness has taken effect on my right hand, almost like it's asleep.

I am wondering if this is the beginning stages of carpal tunnel and if there has been anybody who has had similar bouts who can reflect, or share any sentiments.

How old are you ? How many hours on a keyboard (qwerty or otherwise) and a mouse? What are you active in? Anything that involves throwing a ball, like softball or baseball? What is your main employment if not music?

All these and many more questions need answering and you should really go see a doctor. I'd go see an actual MD first and if it really is that bad push for a CT scan or MRI because X-rays show squat for tendons/ligaments. If there are no immediate diagnosis, go see a therapist, chiropractor whatever. Hope that it's just a pinched nerve, truthfully. If it's not you'll probably have chronic pain for the rest of your life, even if you stop the activity that is the most aggravating to your injury.

I recently switched to a trackball and trackpad and that has helped some. I have other problems worse than tendonitus in my hands and fingers let alone injuries to other parts of my body. I could write for days. Playing guitar or being intimate with my wife can be the most excruciating and pleasurable activity I do in a day.

Also, if your unsure get a second opinion, preferably blind. I have an extra bone/joint in my feet that is like a second ankle. My doctor told me for almost 2 years it was tendonitus. (I was i high school). finally went to see an orthopedic surgeon. I had 5 bone fragments from a sports injury years earlier when I broke my ankle that were basically shifting in my foot slowly fraying and slicking my tendons.

Anyways, that's a short story. Get it checked out and then get some good drugs. I'll be up for my first knee replacement in 7 years because of the lifespan of a replacement vs. my age. Until then, it hurts like a bitch. And surgical remedies for carpal tunnel have a low success rate last I checked. So one more Vicodin and Heineken and I'll be ready for bed, now that's it's 4AM and I work at 9AM. Actually I working with an alphatrack so I gotta finish that for a review. So probably no sleep.

Good luck.

[twistedtom]

buddhabelly I am a mutant also I have 3 extra bones in my feet, I have no arch. I know a number of people that have had good results with the operation. One thing we all are saying is give the doc a call.

[buddhabelly]

Know a good doc in Oregon?

[jgest]

I would keep a close eye on it and ask myself questions like:

What were you actually doing before the numbness sets in ? or what times of the day does it happen? Also where in hand? And what's changed in your life (activities/diet/ stress levels/workload etc) over the last few weeks?

Peronally on a general level I think everyone, espcially musicians and especially musicians who use computers should do pilates to keep nerves/ muscles everything else nice and stretched (especially in neck/shoulders, arms, through to hands). Also it builds core strength which takes all the load off your spine and stops any slouching - and it feels just great! Also meditation, breathing exercises, visualization, yoga, tai chi ...whatever works to get into some inner silence and calm and centered-ness. Stress - often extremely well hidden or just unnoticed stress can be a big contributory factor in RSI. Lastly, I'd say it's a good idea to go easy on the sugar/caffiene, use apples bannanas, herbal teas, a quick wander in the fresh air, instead of coffee and fags to keep alert during a session! ...... just some top tips!

All extremely impoortant tips and suggestions. I know there is a caffine link with aggravating carpal tunnel. I must admit I am a coffee addict, a 3-4 cupper a day with a pinch of cardimon (french press only, none of the diner drip crap)

The stress thing is out of control. I am trying to feed two little kids on $60,000 a year in northern california. Basically I am the WORKING POOR.

I agree 146.3% about the pillates/yoga. The irony is I'm doing down face dog every day, 5 times a day for 10 years now, to keep lower back and hamstrings loose, but to no avial I guess.....

In a metaphoric way this could be an important event in my life as I subscribe to the notion that there are no "coincidences" in out lives. I guess some how in my life I fell out of balance and this could be a wake up call????

Thanks for your thoughts and insight on the matter.

[jgest]

It sounds like it could be carpal tunnel. The symptoms can also be from your shoulder being out of alignment and you get a pinched nerve. Carpal tunnel is often painful and your grip gets weak, I know people that had their hands feel like they went to sleep. I have read that there is a new method of stretching the wrist and hand that dose not need an operation

I think you are right about the shoulder connection. I dislocated my shoulder about 5 years ago. My hand does feel like it is asleep.

[monkey man]

WARNING: Hippy-allergic, run and hide; I'll come get you when it's over.

Josh, can you guess?
How is it that whenever we yak, we yak?
Yup, the sychronous orbit continues...

I completely lost the use of both hands due to RSI in my first job.
I put it down to lack of rest and overdoing it.
3-4 AM bedtimes after gigs and 6:30 AM starts in a factory stacking 140 tonnes of fruit juice a day seemed to do the trick.
For three years I was opening doors with my elbows, etc.

I've fought tendonitis since age 13, when I had to give up my swimming career.
After having won 12 solo golds in 12 state champ events, 6 in South Africa and 6 in Australia after only 18 months' training, in my mind I was on course towards becoming the "greatest" swimmer of all time.
The top (now TV) sports doctor in the country, Dr. Peter Larkin, couldn't help other than to offer Cortisone injections directly into the tendons.
Voltaren was new on the market back then, but it didn't enable me to get back in the pool.
You can imagine how it hurt to have my dreams swept out from under me.
If only the doc had asked about rest/sleep.
I'd just moved to Melbourne, and straight away the cold kept me awake.
We're talking 2-3 in the morning bedtime, getting up at 4:15 for the first of 2x2.5 hour sessions totalling 17+kms a day in which, according to all my coaches, I trained harder than anyone they'd ever seen. (We're talking olympic coaches).
Couple this with the pressures of early high shool and you had one stressed out dude.

I'm telling you this stuff so you can see the underlying environment responsible for both the tendonitis (swimming - shoulders) and RSI (140 tonnes of work - hands).
It seems to me the most critical factors are rest, water (hydration) and minerals.
Some will say rest cured 'em.
Others will say colloidal minerals did the trick (a classsic for tennis elbow).
Others still, although a minority, might say they dissolved acid crystals or mineral deposits by drinking lots of water or eating fruit.

When tissues are stressed and not given sufficient time to recover, the body sends toxins to the area concerned.
This is a strategy of the body in which infection and inflammation are used to increase the likelihood of a lesion occurring.
If you continue to facilitate the process, the inflammation and infection will work together until a crisis is achieved.
Think about it: What happens when you scratch?
The more you aggravate an area, the more toxins are sent there, the more inflamed, oxygen-starved, acid and infected it becomes, the more likely a lesion to the outside world is and instant detoxification possible.
Think pimples, rashes, boils, swellings, insect bites, user-induced stress-points and anything ending in "itis".
All these things provide a quick-release opportunity for the unloading of (unbeknowns to the owner (renter?) of the body) life-threatening (or at least shortening) toxins.
It pays to remember that the body takes a long-term view of our health, comfort being the least of its considerations!

Posture plays a role, as I think Spikey said. I'll bet something's changed here recently.
You may find the pain/numbness disappears as fast as it, well, appeared.
FWIW, due to heavy metal poisoning etc., my absorbtion of minerals has been compromised.
Due to insomnia, my rest has been too.
As you'd therefore expect, I'm still recovering from both injuries.
As you also might speculate, it doesn't take much to push me over the edge in any area of the body.
Lactic acid will build up quickly after only a few repetitions of a muscle action, anywhere in my body.
In this (tendon/carpel/joint) area as well as many others, I'm a walking bloody litmus test.

Lastly, as usual, I'm reluctant to panic or rush off to jump on the "professional health" conveyor belt.
If it's permanent solutions and strategies you want, you must start as one should with any health condition: Pinpoint where you're going wrong and correct it.
After all, that's the purpose of all health anomolies; they're messages from the body that we're not respecting its ways and imposing our own upon it, to its detriment.

Josh, I can't talk fast enough to convey all these priciples effectively, let alone type and make proper sense.
Central to it all though, is the assumption that you're designed perfectly, and only need feed your body the vibes, nutrition, rest and excercise it requires to get its job done.
Healing is part of that job! It wants to and attempts to daily.
We've just gotta get out of its way.
No "professional" solution I'm aware of for any ailment quite has this approach.
At best they may say,"We help the body to do such and such".
Er, the body doesn't want or need this help for its long term strategy; it simply needs the sufferer to get out of the way.
Another way of saying this is that it's not what you do, but what you don't do, that'll allow more of the intricate, little-understood processes to take place.

Man thinks he's so clever that he can somehow second-guess his own body's needs.
The more you discover about our design, the more absurd this approach and attitude reveals itself to be.

Remember: Don't panic. It achieves nothing, and isn't what your body's asking you to do!
Good luck and hang in there, man.
Nicky the hippy-hairy-howlin' monkey.

PS: PM me for more hippy-nonsense should you require it.
Will this synchronous, um, sync ever end?
Is it perma-sync?
PPS: For those who're alarmed at my apparent lack of faith in medicos and the like, consider that I've been through the ringer and the rounds to no avail.
Certain conditions prevent the addition of artificial chemicals to the body.
As this is basically the only means by which they can treat, not a single one has been able to help me through countless (many hundreds) illnesses, injuries and conditions, wildlife attacks(!) and deficiencies.
Bottom line: When you're really scraping the barrel, those folks will kill you.

Hippy-allergics, it's safe to come out now. Carry on.

[jgest]

How old are you ? How many hours on a keyboard (qwerty or otherwise) and a mouse? What are you active in? Anything that involves throwing a ball, like softball or baseball? What is your main employment if not music?

All these and many more questions need answering and you should really go see a doctor. I'd go see an actual MD first and if it really is that bad push for a CT scan or MRI because X-rays show squat for tendons/ligaments. If there are no immediate diagnosis, go see a therapist, chiropractor whatever. Hope that it's just a pinched nerve, truthfully. If it's not you'll probably have chronic pain for the rest of your life, even if you stop the activity that is the most aggravating to your injury.

38 years old and spend about 3 hours a day in a computer. I am in the building trades/contractor ( I seem to have gotten stuck in that field as the building boom of the 90's offered me 4 times the $ I could make in music, even though my lifes dreams and ambitions were/are to make a living in music)

I mri idea is a good one. I have an appiontment with my family MD next week as a starting place.

I don't do chiropractic, about 10 years ago I thought I wanted to become one and spent 1 year in chiro school. I saw things that were SO shocking and unscientific and not even holistic that i LOST faith and respect for that profession. There is just to much abiguity in that field to trust it.

You may say that you feel so good after the adjustment. Well there is an neuro embriolgical explination that the neuro ectoderm (stem cells) becomes both the skin and the nervous system which is why we feel good from tissue/body work. That does not mean that any actual changes are happening. Most long term chiro paitients end up with hyper mobile joint (not the smoking king) and other issues on the segment above and below the are where they sought intial treatment.

[jgest]

WARNING: Hippy-allergic, run and hide; I'll come get you when it's over.

Josh, can you guess?
How is it that whenever we yak, we yak?
Yup, the sychronous orbit continues...

Nick

I had no idea about your swimming career. Thanks for sharring that.
To be honest I was one of those DANZIG/ROLLINS (above average height not short like them) weight lifting metal dudes in high school/college. Doing STUPID stuff like pressing 225lbs overhead and benching 315lbs......
While I got the girls and NOBODY EVER messed with me I did some serious scar tissue in my shoulder area......

Fast forward 15 years and I dislocated my shoulder on a contracting job.

I think you are ABSOLUTLEY correct in your statement about the body wanting to heal itself and we are usually in the way.
I know I have a serious coffee (acidic) addiction, and have let my "holistic guard down" the past few years dealing with raising kids and the stress of being part of the WORKING POOR.

I have longed for a YOGA retreat for a few weeks where I can get back the inner silence I lost. But Just can't make that kind of time manifest these days.

[monkey man]

I don't do chiropractic, about 10 years ago I thought I wanted to become one and spent 1 year in chiro school. I saw things that were SO shocking and unscientific and not even holistic that i LOST faith and respect for that profession. There is just to much abiguity in that field to trust it.

Synchro/9-14 boy...
Incredibly, I did and experienced much the same thing in Naturopathy school.
Even more shocking to me was the fact that it was the most experienced (and longest practising) Naturopath in Melbourne, and that she came from a strict traditional German background.
Bless her heart.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.
How statistically plausible is the synchronicity between yours and my life, Josh?
A scary thought, perhaps, but I know there's a hell of a lot more too!

[Spikey Horse]

Wow what stories are coming out!

MM your story really makes me cringe, bringing back some memories of my injuries, too, having to hold onto cups with both hands etc!
- Interesting that I also was lifting a lot of (band) gear (...roadies? HA!) as well as playing live and commuting 30 miles a day by bike. A typical band practicing day for me was physically demanding - a typical gigging day was a full on triatholon! That and my job working in the coal mine of course....

-o0o-

Another thing about life in general that the whole episode taught me (or maybe just getting older) is that society kind of instills this idea of work hard now and then, when you've 'made it', you can relax. But that's bull!

I think in order to really work hard and be truly productive (job, familly, marriage whatever) you have to look after yourself! It's not luxury it's responsibility ... and in many situations that can mean actually being quite ruthless about it and in quite unconventional/ imaginative ways.. I think most people start to actually cripple themselves as soon as they get into their thirties just through simply 'going with the flow' ... copying how everyone else lives...

IOW the time to tune the guitar and clean the strings is during the heavey duty recording session ..... not afterwards when the album is recorded! LOL! .... That's how we should view our bodies I think - the harder you use them the more you have to retune them - straight away!

jgest: you mentioned some exercises you do ... there are also many exercises for the shoulders/ upper back / neck- head / arms / hands which might be also worth learning. In fact I think you can never do too much pilates because done correctly it is a intelligent conditioning not reckless exertion like the gym can be .... I know it can be very expensive to be taught such things by professionals but at least once you get to know the exercises you can do them everyday on your own .... for free. Worth every penny in the long run i'd say.

Two phrases I like:

'The truth will out'

'The body never lies'

One observation:

All animals* stretch before / after physical exertion/ rest ... except humans.

James S: how 'bout a health, fitness and general wellbeing forum?

*not sure about fish