Carpal Tunnel

[thankyou]

Has anyone here been tested for it? Yesterday, I underwent the electrical tests, not a fun activity at all. My left hand has been going numb after playing guitar or bass, especially acoustic guitar. I also occasionaly would feel a "pop" in my left wrist when I'd lift heavy objects and my arm would immmediatly feel weak.

 

Sucks.

 

I'm fifty-seven years old and am seeing why my parents would occasionaly comment that getting old was no fun. I tried playing a little last night at the open mic and today my hand is really sore. I don't know if it's because I have laid off for a while or it's a result of the testing. We have a private party gig this weekend and I may have to create some quick keyboard parts for songs where I usually play guitar or bass. I'll be OK, as it's our drummers Halloween party at his house, so I'm not putting anybody's income at risk.

 

Anybody here had the surgery? The doc that did the testing said it might be a decision I need to make soon. He said I have it in both hands, but the left was much worse.

[Mark T]

You might try taking vitamin B6, chiropractic, and acupuncture.

Surgery would be my last resort .

[philbo]

I have chronic carpal AND cubital syndromes (carpal = wrist, cubital = elbow).

 

I had surgery 2 years ago on my left elbow for it, with great results. They opened 'er up, took a hammer and chisel and knocked off that bump of bone on the inside of my elbow. That allows the nerve to slide freely around the notch it used to get stuck in. Surgery should be reserved as a last resort, though.

 

The cause is a systemic inflammation. It attacks a nerve sheath (along with your tendons), causing it to swell. The narrow channels in your elbow (cubital tunnel) and wrist (carpal tunnel) end up squeezing the nerve, and ultimately damaging or killing it.

 

I found there are numerous exercises out on the web for alleviating the symptoms. It would be well worth your time (and suffering and money) to look into it and to motivate yourself to do them regularly. What they do is to pull the nerve through the notch or tunnel, moving the inflamed area in and out and increasing the flexibility of the nerve.

 

One that works very well for me is to stretch my hands backwards, so the fingernails are moving toward the top of my forearm. The more I do it, the better it feels... in a 'hurty' sort of way, sort of like cracking your knuckles. When I get it bent from straight (180 degrees) to about 25 or 30 degrees, and the tendons & stuff in my arm loosen to the extent that the bend is fairly easy, the numbness vanishes.

 

At least, till the next stretch of time on a PC keyboard...

 

Another one that really helps is to do pushups with your fingers pointing downward toward your toes. This does the same type of stretch.

 

Use care! If something in there feels like it's going to rip, that's a good time to let up for a while.

[thankyou]

Thanks, Philbo, for your suggestions. Last night was band practice and I was able to play bass, but not for an extensive period of time. We've decided to do the two sets with me on keys and bass. Our "fifth Beatle", the brother of one of the band members, has had it in both hands and showed me some acupressure type stuff along with similar exercises to what you describe.

 

And Mark, I'm taking the vitamins.

 

I was really bummed yesterday when I posted. My hand truly hurt, but it got better as the day progressed, and today it feels lots better. I think the tests may have aggrevated things.

[dizzyg]

 

Originally posted by thankyou Has anyone here been tested for it? Yesterday, I underwent the electrical tests, not a fun activity at all. My left hand has been going numb after playing guitar or bass, especially acoustic guitar. I also occasionaly would feel a "pop" in my left wrist when I'd lift heavy objects and my arm would immmediatly feel weak. Sucks. I'm fifty-seven years old and am seeing why my parents would occasionaly comment that getting old was no fun. I tried playing a little last night at the open mic and today my hand is really sore. I don't know if it's because I have laid off for a while or it's a result of the testing. We have a private party gig this weekend and I may have to create some quick keyboard parts for songs where I usually play guitar or bass. I'll be OK, as it's our drummers Halloween party at his house, so I'm not putting anybody's income at risk. Anybody here had the surgery? The doc that did the testing said it might be a decision I need to make soon. He said I have it in both hands, but the left was much worse.

 

 

Numbness usually means nerve problems. I had pain in my right hand from doing data entry and it turned out to just be tendonitis. WHEW

 

Numb is bad.

 

The FIRST step you HAVE to do is STOP playing. I hate saying that but rest is the beginning on any hand and nerve problems.

 

Next, if you do have full blown carpal tunnel syndrome, the only successful treatment is surgery. I've never heard of anything else that works for CTS. For tendonitis, it is possible to reverse the course with vitamins and rest and heat and acupuncture. But CTS is a different ailment!

 

Please be careful. You need you hands!

[6942]

I have numbness in BOTH hands.

Went to the doctor......not carpal tunnel.

He said nerve damage.....not a total surprize.

I've been an aircraft & rail mechanic for 35+ years.

Started playing guitar in 1967.....an old acoustic.

I STILL play...but my hot rod, shreddings days...are so over!

Am I going to stop playing?

NO!!!

I do not know how much playing time I have left?

So I'm going to continue playing and ENJOY EVERY NOTE!!

Warren Zevon kept playing with terminal lung cancer.

He once said, when questioned about his upcoming death: "Enjoy every sandwedge".

Steve

[dizzyg]

 

Originally posted by 6942 I have numbness in BOTH hands. Went to the doctor......not carpal tunnel. He said nerve damage.....not a total surprize. I've been an aircraft & rail mechanic for 35+ years. Started playing guitar in 1967.....an old acoustic. I STILL play...but my hot rod, shreddings days...are so over! Am I going to stop playing? NO!!! I do not know how much playing time I have left? So I'm going to continue playing and ENJOY EVERY NOTE!! Warren Zevon kept playing with terminal lung cancer. He once said, when questioned about his upcoming death: "Enjoy every sandwedge". Steve

 

 

Yeah but playing didn't give Warren lung cancer. When did he stop smoking?

 

If I were you, Steve, I'd go see a different doctor. CTS *is* nerve damage.

[AfroKen]

This is a Rolfing site on carpal tunnel that I came across that may be helpful.

 

My girlfriend has fingers that are literally stuck together. Her forearm aches, and there are specific spots where it not only hurts there, but also seems to affect her hand. Does this sound like anything else that anyone else is experiencing?

 

(I can no longer log in as UstadKhanAli for whatever reason, so like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I am now AfroKen, with no avatar and almost no history).

[philbo]

 

Originally posted by AfroKen This is a Rolfing site on carpal tunnel that I came across that may be helpful. My girlfriend has fingers that are literally stuck together. Her forearm aches, and there are specific spots where it not only hurts there, but also seems to affect her hand. Does this sound like anything else that anyone else is experiencing? (I can no longer log in as UstadKhanAli for whatever reason, so like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I am now AfroKen, with no avatar and almost no history).

 

 

It's possible that it's CTS, but she should get a doctors opinion... (try to avoid the doctors that slid through school on a D+ and an athletic scholarship). A lot of other ailments might cause symptoms like you describe.

[Ani]

(I can no longer log in as UstadKhanAli for whatever reason, so like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I am now AfroKen, with no avatar and almost no history).

 

Ken,

 

I couldn't log in with my old password when I tried to log in at first. Below the login task boxes there is a prompt to reset your password. If you click on that promt, it will ask you to enter your email address. If your email address is still the same as it was when you initially registered to these forums (HC), then you will receive an email providing your user name with a link embedded. When you click on the link in the email, a second email will be sent to you with your new password.

 

There was a sticky post regarding the forum upgrades that mentioned that many users will have to reset their passwords, otherwise I probably would not have realized I needed to do so when the system wouldn't allow me to login with my old password. It looks like the sticky post has been removed...

 

You should be able to get your old username activated again... along with your avatar.

[UstadKhanAli]

Thanks. Problem was that I no longer had access to the old email. I had changed the email, but evidently, that hadn't been kept. But all is good now, Phil fixed it. Thanks.

[tulk1]

Hi. Just wanted to chime in here, since I have relative experience with the OP's problems. Last year my "carpal" syndrome was to the point that not only could I not play, I couldn't type, my arms were always tired - my hands and arms just plain hurt all the time. It was so bad that I even played one night with totally numb fingers - played by sight. Think that is fun? I did a web search for musicians+carpal. I ended up at http://www.activerelease.com/. ART saved my hands and my playing. This is no joke!

 

I had done the tests, both manual and electric. It always came out that I had CTS. Did the creams, the excercises, wore the braces .... nothing worked. It got so bad that I was just about over the reluctance to do surgery. That's when I found the ART site and did some research. I was lucky enough to have two well respected (by the ART web site) Nerve Entrapment Specialists in the KCMO area. One of them is the Sports Injury therapist for the KC Chiefs.

 

After 6 sessions with my ART Therapist, I got my hands back. With no appreciable loss of dexterity or ability. Not that either was all that great to start out with. But I mean ..... what an improvement. In all seriousness, before any musician ---- or anyone for that matter --- considers CTS surgery, you owe it to yourself to at least check out the ART site, and see if there is a therapist in your area. I even have members of my Fencing Team going for ART treatments. Beats the heck out of getting cut.

[blue2blue]

Originally posted by thankyou Has anyone here been tested for it? Yesterday, I underwent the electrical tests, not a fun activity at all. My left hand has been going numb after playing guitar or bass, especially acoustic guitar. I also occasionaly would feel a "pop" in my left wrist when I'd lift heavy objects and my arm would immmediatly feel weak. Sucks. [snip]...

 

At one point, I started working feverishly on a novel (three chapters -- why do I ALWAYS stall out after three chapters?!?)... along about day three or four I started having insane, burning, tendonitis type pain in my wrists. It turned out I had to go to Staples for some printer ink, and when I passed the silly-looking Microsoft Natural Keyboards I absent-mindedly put my hands on one... it was weird... it actually seemed for a moment to diminish the residual pain I'd been feeling. I bought it and loved it. (I also stopped working on the novel. I DON'T think the keyboard would have been a cure-all.) Later, when the cable (!) connector gave out, I bought another (this time the "deluxe" versions, since the new version of the basic model had -- inexplicably -- had a change in the key layout from the original! So typical of those bozos in Redmond... they have something good and they "improve" it by making a bunch of arbitrary changes...

 

Anyhow, as long as I watch my wrists -- mousing can be problematic if I "lay" my wrist down flat on the table in front of the mouse -- I've been able to avoid further problems.

 

 

Everyone is different, of course, and I never went from acute to chronic... but it definitely scared me.

 

 

(Now, about the tendonitis that has pulled my right middle finger forward about 30 degrees at the first joint... it's possible a combination of fingerpicking stress and some old "minor" injury [i have a transom window I was pulling down with that finger until I noticed some recurring pain, so I started using a different technique. But a month or two later, I noticed my finger leaning "forward"... You're folks were right -- and I'm two years younger than you -- getting old is hell. )

[groovetube66]

I have to vouch for high doses of Vitamin C - in the neighborhood of 10 grams per day. I tried it for plantar fasciitis and lo and behold it worked. Then I noticed my elbow tendonitis went away too as long as I kept up the C. Vitamin C is a pretty remarkable anti inflammatory when taken at a high enough dose, spread out through the day. I pop 2 1000mg tabs every three hours or so. Cheap and better than getting cut.

 

One caveat: you have to build up to a high dose over a few days to a week othewise you will get a serious case of the runs while the body adjusts. But try it, it really helps.