Need advice to cure my Carpal tunnel syndrome.

[Graham_A_M]

Hey guys, I developed a vicious case of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS for short); over the past two months, now its getting severe, and doing regular things are getting to be very painful.

I did a fair bit of research on google, and was only able to come up with these entirely useless exercises that do absolutely nothing. Being these hand stretches. http://www.carpaltunnelexercises.net/

^trust me... they dont work at all, I've been doing these everyday, mulitple times a day before I even developed it, and while it beginning to develop; they're completely useless, I dont think they even slowed down the progression of it.

But I was told that there are these two person stretches that (believe it or not) involve one person standing on the (fore)arm while the patient is lying down, and doing these series of movements with the wrist, as well as when the patient is standing up too. being alternative arm exercises and so forth.

I lost touch with the person that told me these, and was wondering if anybody knows of them, or has any kind of link to which I can find these again. I know they work as the guy was able to cure himself with them, in the timespan of a week even.

So any help, tips, or whatever info you can give me would really help me out.....
as this puts a serious hinderance on my sex life.
:thumbsdow

:cry:


(jokes)

[hash]

NSAIDs (aspirin, ibuprofen, etc) + rest the wrists.

If that doesn't work, surgery is definitive. It releases the sheath covering the tendons in the carpal tunnel.

[4wheeldrift]

The biggest thing that helped me out was adjusting my desk, at work and at home, to fix what was causing it in the first place. If the ergonomics of your workstation are lousy all the exercises in the world won't stop it from coming back again. After having our ergonomics guy at work fix things within a couple weeks the pain had largely gone away and things were getting better.

[97'Scort]

Get some nice keyboard and mouse pads (Fellowes makes some excellent gel ones) and go see a doctor. Wearing braces for a bit can help. Surgery is the only "cure" known right now. It is considered a workplace injury and you can frequently get it classified as a repetitive stress injury. Your health plan will then cover physical therapy.

[Mazstyle]

I don't know much about remedy's but you gotta stop whats causing it. I had it pretty bad a while back due to a shitty mouse + KB setup on a lazyboy recliner.

You never mentioned what the cause may be?

[Graham_A_M]

its work related. But I dont work in an office, instead I have to handle (sometimes) extremely heavy materials for a good portion of the day... sometimes doing very repetitive work :thumbsdow
Its my last week at the job (thank you sweet Jesus). I'm just doing this until this former workplace hires me back in early March. That would be it for this shit work... for good thankfully, as I'm going back to school.

It took a good (full) year to get rid of it last time I had something simular to this, as it started off as tendonitis, and developed rather quickly into CTS; at my first job right out of high school. Now with the activities I do being that I play bass and hit the wieghts at the gym as two main things; that they can really exasterbate the symptoms. Before when it took a year to reside: I didn't do either. So I have a bad feeling that unless I take the right steps to end this condition myself or do whatever I have to do; it may not go away for at least a year or two. :thumbsdow

[4wheeldrift]

You may want to go talk to a doctor about it, things like cortisone shots can help with the swelling and irritation inside your hand that are causing the pain. You may need to start wearing a wrist brace or something to help keep everything in alignment properly to minimize the kind of action that's causing the motion stress as well. Unfortunately once you've got it it's damnably hard to get rid of. Seeing the doctor and a physiotherapist is probably the best way to attack the problem.

[Graham_A_M]

^Thanks a lot for the help though thus far. Too bad nobody knows of those said exercises though. :(

[Kobe]

Hey Graham_A_M, I had carpel tunnel on my left hand, I just recently got surgery done on it, and now it is good!

I had a sever case of it, and I really had no other option
Have you had tests done yet on it? To see how bad it really is?

You can buy a CT splint for $30 bucks at superstore and use it, but i think you might need to get surgery if you are saying it is bad.

If you need any more info I can try and help you out, I had a thread here on beyond before I knew what the problem was, I was try and find it for you...

Good luck!
EDIT: HERE IS MY THREAD
http://forums.beyond.ca/st/167596/tingly-left-hand/

I also work stucco and I do use my hands alot, so i think part of the reason why I developed it is from work, but CTS is also very common with people that use computers a lot, and that could your case as well, since I do know you edit alot of images...

[Archea]

I did a hell of a lot of physio

I was playing the cello for about 5 hours a day...just overstressed my hands to the point where I could barely move them....

electromagnetic pulse and warmth is the best. I got a reusable warming massage heart and clutched it while I fell asleep everynight....helped a lot.....I work for a compay that sells them if you think its something you might be interested in...something like 30$ and similar to a hand warmer for skiing...but reusable. :)

[Graham_A_M]

^ I am, tell me where and I'll pick one up.

[khtm]

I have repetitive strain injury, and have had for a few years now. I found acupuncture to be the most helpful thing so far.

[Lex350]

Originally posted by 4wheeldrift
The biggest thing that helped me out was adjusting my desk, at work and at home, to fix what was causing it in the first place. If the ergonomics of your workstation are lousy all the exercises in the world won't stop it from coming back again. After having our ergonomics guy at work fix things within a couple weeks the pain had largely gone away and things were getting better.



More important than the desk is a good articulating keyboard tray with negative tilt and a proper desk chair.



This is one of the better brands of keyboard trays on the market.

http://www.humanscale.com/products/keyboard_systems.cfm

[finboy]

cut off your hands :)

[sputnik]

When using a keyboard and mouse place them deep enough onto your desk so that your elbows and forearms remain on the table.

Most people get CT from computer use because they always have their wrists bent and elbows not resting on anything. If your elbow are below your wrists when using a computer you should change your form so that they are level and supported properly.

[Mazstyle]

^^ werd, I got it super bad in my PC gaming heyday.

[Lex350]

Originally posted by sputnik
When using a keyboard and mouse place them deep enough onto your desk so that your elbows and forearms remain on the table.

Most people get CT from computer use because they always have their wrists bent and elbows not resting on anything. If your elbow are below your wrists when using a computer you should change your form so that they are level and supported properly.


as long as there is enough depth to the desk so you can keep your monitor at a proper distance. If you buy a proper chair with fully adjustable arms you can adjust the chair arm properly to support your arms without crowding the desk. Many manufacterer's have what they call 4D arms on even there lower priced chairs these days.

[jaylo]

Hi,

I would suggest going for a deep tissue massage therapy. Sure is expensive but it worked wonders for me.

They actually deep massage around your shoulder blade bone where all of the tissues and nerves are connected from the wrist area.

Hope that helps!

[JRSC00LUDE]

You may want to look into myofascial massage/release. I was skeptical about it but it worked wonders on my shoulder that was in constant pain due to my shitty workstation.

I had very bad carpal tunnel problems before (that oddly enough only affected me doing manual labor, not typing....weird) and I mentioned it to the lady treating my shoulder and she said their treatment can helpt with that as well.