Carpal Tunnel, self treatment?

[Peter Möller Voss]

About a month ago I started waking up in the middle of the night due to numbness and then pain in my hands and wrists, at first I thought it originated from my back as I was especially tight at that time and felt like something was constricting the blood flow from there down in to my arms...

After seeing numerous physical therapists and chiropractors it seems fairly safe to say that I´m suffering from Carpal tunnel syndrome.

At daytime it can mostly be felt as my right middle finger is numb in the fingertip and sometimes lying ono my back the numbness spreads in my hands.,

Although seeing alot of different professionals,all the help I got so far was the advice to stretch and massage which I have. If that doesn´t help then operation is the only alternative.

However I ask on this board as I know there are alot of experienced people and maybe someone has experience in dealing with Carpal tunnel themselves and might offer som advice or exercises?

I started training my extensors more as well from tips i got from my own research via google and youtube. But again, any help or advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated as I haven´t slept more that 3 hours straight before waking up the last month or so....

Thanks....

[Alessandro Mainente]

probably see a physio is the best solution. self treatment sometime lets to increase the problems.

i've experienced the same thing is the past due to very long period in front of pc for genetic e biology computing, i was putting the same pressure on the forearm and i solved the problem by maintaining the entire forearms of the table when i was using the mourse or the keyboard.

mu uncle suffered by that injury due to overuse in his work and got a surgery.

the way and the intensity is very personal and variable. the causes can be, to much pressure, extra tight flexors muscles, poor blood circulation, repetitive strain due to repetitive movements and so on.

btw is very difficult to say something more accurate without have some feedback over the degree of the lesion. for sure if you have experienced sleep problem the SCT is now more advanced and rest probably will not solve the problems at 100%. some therapy like the "friction therapy" can solve the 75-76% of the cases in 8-14 days, the surgery increases this percentage to 84-85%.

but of course everything must valued with your current degree of the problem.

[Coach Sommer]

I have found wall handstands, heavy forearm work and extensor work to be the most beneficial.  It is also very important to take action immediately upon noticing symptoms.  Waiting ony increases the severity of the problem.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Joseph Blazuk]

If you're waking up in the middle of the night trying to shake out your hand, then it's a decent sign you have carpal tunnel.  If it were from your 'back' it would be from your neck.

 

The diagnostic standard is NCS/EMG.

 

Avoidance of activities that stretch or compress the nerve (ie handstands) to the best extent possible together with neutral wrist splinting at night ('carpal tunnel splint or neutral wrist splint' - available at most run of the mill pharmacies) every night for 4-6 weeks is the best way to start.  If that doesn't help, I'd see an actual doctor.  You can inject the carpal tunnel, which works pretty well.  Last step is surgery.  The progression of treatment options is rest/splints, injection, surgery.  Each is pretty good and if you do eventually need surgery the surgery is fairly simple, fast, and effective (so long as you actually have carpal tunnel).

[Peter Möller Voss]

Thanks for the input. Contrary t what the professionals i´ve seen have told me so far, I´m starting to suspect other than carpal tunnel. The thing that strikes me as odd is that I somehow feel it originates from the shoulder blade area and neck. Add to this that I almost only get symptoms when I´m lying on my back or leaning on my shoulder blades like on the back of a chair.

Does anyone know if sme nerve impingement or other back issue might cause numbness and pain in the wrists?

[Joshua Naterman]

If you're waking up in the middle of the night trying to shake out your hand, then it's a decent sign you have carpal tunnel.  If it were from your 'back' it would be from your neck.

 

The diagnostic standard is NCS/EMG.

 

Avoidance of activities that stretch or compress the nerve (ie handstands) to the best extent possible together with neutral wrist splinting at night ('carpal tunnel splint or neutral wrist splint' - available at most run of the mill pharmacies) every night for 4-6 weeks is the best way to start.  If that doesn't help, I'd see an actual doctor.  You can inject the carpal tunnel, which works pretty well.  Last step is surgery.  The progression of treatment options is rest/splints, injection, surgery.  Each is pretty good and if you do eventually need surgery the surgery is fairly simple, fast, and effective (so long as you actually have carpal tunnel).

This is true if it is an actual carpal tunnel issue, but there are a lot of neurological issues that are rooted in bad posture.

 

To take this into account, alongside what Nail has told you, I would use the following approach:

 

1) check hips for rotation, both lateral and anterior/posterior, and record the results for each hip. Using the ASIS and PSIS as landmarks, and a position where the feet are neutral and you FEEL like you are standing straight, do the following: 

• Have someone use their fingertips to locate these two bony landmarks, and use Google and/or an anatomy textbook (perhaps Trail Guide to the Human Body) to teach this partner (or teach yourself how to teach the partner) how to find them with your hands. Any decent Chiro or PT, etc should be able to do this.
• Record what is higher, and by how much, if at all, on each side.
• Use a camera from the side to take a picture in line with the center of the feet, with the camera at hip height. This will let you see if there is rotation at the hips and/or shoulders.
• You can also have the Chiro check for this.

2) I will be back later with more details. You will notice a common theme: We need to rule out postural dysfunctions that can lead to compression and/or stretching of these nerves. These abnormalities can be caused by AND/OR lead to tight muscles, trigger points, and/or bone misalignment due to dysfunctional muscular tension and/or recruitment of muscles that either directly OR indirectly affect the nerves.

 

3) Get Claire Davies' book "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" as this is a good one step guide to learning WHERE to treat trigger points for particular symptoms. You may want a Body Back Buddy or similar tool for hitting trigger points on your back.

 

4) Also learn a little about using a lacrosse ball for Self Myofascial Release. Use what you learn on the forearms, quadrilateral space (look this up on Google, you'll want to hit the long head of the triceps for sure), biceps, and brachialis. You will want to learn how to find the coracobrachialis (the Trail Guide book is excellent for finding every muscle and bony landmark), and use your fingers to GENTLY release tension in that.

 

Pro-tip: Always release muscles in a shortened, relaxed position. This prevents you from sending a signal to the nervous system that says "OH CRAP, I am getting stretched too far, please tighten me up!" You will feel a huge difference in how easily you can manually alter muscle tension. This is one of the basic tenets of Positional Release Technique.

 

You may also want to use the Static Back stretch, as per the Egoscue Method, to help begin to correct kyphosis and forward head posture. You can also do this one leg at a time.

[Joshua Naterman]

Also work on the scalenes. Make sure you have them in a shortened position, and work slowly and carefully. 

 

I cannot suggest strongly enough that you get the Trail Guide and the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook if you are trying to avoid some nasty issues.

 

Most "carpal tunnel" issues are not actually an issue with the carpal tunnel itself , which (in my opinion) is why there are such terrible statistical results from surgery... it was not the actual source of the problem.

 

If your issue IS a structural problem with the carpal tunnel (even after correcting everything that can be corrected in terms of muscles and so on), this stuff will still be a massively useful, and inexpensive,set of tools that you can use on yourself for many other issues, and surgery will help you.

 

(In my opinion) That's why surgery is the absolute last resort, and why wrist/hand doctors aren't 100% sure what's going on... the problem isn't always in the wrist, hand, lower arm, or even the upper body at times.

[Peter Möller Voss]

Wow, I really have to say thanks for taking the time and effort to write all that down! Also, I have to say, amazing how much knowledge one person can contain speaking from all the other posts I´ve read so far.... =)

I´ll have to wait with the hip measuring as I´m currently in a horizontal state after bone fracture surgery.... I´m really in a top state right now... =)

Anyway... I tried alot f foam rolling for my upper back and neck stretching the last 2 nights and this night I actually could feel a remarcable difference. I slept through the whole night, and although I could feel tingling in my hands in the morning my sleep was unbroken and no pain was present at any time.

I think I´ll try the foam rolling and neck stretching along with what I´m already doing for the wrists to see if improvements continue. But I´ll definitely check out the resources and books mentioned in your posts in any case!

I´ll check back with how the progress is going.

Thank´s alot for the help!

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

You must urgently speak to your hip surgeon about this tingling in your fingers!

I don't know how you broke your hip (and I really don't need to know), but it is a high probability that the two are linked! It may really not be carpal tunnel after all!

 

[Aaro Helander]

Also work on the scalenes. Make sure you have them in a shortened position, and work slowly and carefully. 

 

I cannot suggest strongly enough that you get the Trail Guide and the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook if you are trying to avoid some nasty issues.

 

I got this book and it has been one of the most useful things I've don this year. Highly recommended. It took only two days with this book for me to get rid of my semi-chronic lower back pain and inability to do squats without dying in a horrible manner.

 

Other nice side effect was the healing of my right shoulder. With Foundation 1 and Handstand 1 work and this book, my strenght and skills have improved more in two months (while on a -500 kcal a day cut) than almost the last half year.

[Peter Möller Voss]

You must urgently speak to your hip surgeon about this tingling in your fingers!

I don't know how you broke your hip (and I really don't need to know), but it is a high probability that the two are linked! It may really not be carpal tunnel after all!

 

Things got a bit mixed up here i think. I broke my tibia and fibula at a point right above the ankle. I never did anything to my hip... =)

 

The numbness and pain however was present before this...

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

LOL, indeed, my bad.

I was thinking that whatever broke your hip (quite solid) might have done damage elsewhere...

 

How did you break tibia and fibula?

[Peter Möller Voss]

 

 

How did you break tibia and fibula?

 

Hummm, kind of an embarrassing story. In short, I jumped off a bridge in the water on a sunny summer day....... Without bothering to check actual water depth first...... 

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

That's good you did not dive!

[Joshua Naterman]

I have to say, that story makes your forum name kind of funny  

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

I have to say, that story makes your forum name kind of funny

I've been looking for a nice way to say that... thanks

[Peter Möller Voss]

No need to put it nicely, I quite frequently excel in the art of being a jackass........

Adding to a good story, it happened about a week before my 30th birthday. I have some issues with growing up I guess.....  

While I´m at it I might provide a little update. Since my last post on my "carpal tunnel problem" I´ve been keeping up with stretching my wrists and extensor work, but what seemed to do it was the additional neck stretching and foam rolling for my upper back. So in other words I´m thrilled about the progress to say the least.

The problems with waking up in the middle of the night with hands hurting are completely gone and I´m sleeping like a baby!

Having to deal with "just" a broken leg is a piece of cake in comparison, so life´s on easy street at the moment..... =)

Thanks alot for the help!

[Joshua Naterman]

Good! 

 

That means that whatever you do in your daily life causes you to build up immense tension in your upper back and neck. I would see about perhaps trying to modify or otherwise improve your posture. Sometimes you just have to do that extra maintenance work though, because it isn't always possible to fix your working posture... some jobs require a certain amount of bad posture... like mechanics, plumbers, indoor wiring, computer jobs without ergonomic work stations, etc.

[Scott Morris]

If you have legitimate CTS you could try Vitamin B6.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1949298/

[Joshua Naterman]

If you have legitimate CTS you could try Vitamin B6.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1949298/

God @(#$ it.

 

I know you meant well, but if you are going to recommend a vitamin that can cause permanent nerve damage at the wrong doses, you better freaking give that warning, and preferably a link to a good source as well as an explanation of (or at least a credible link to) what the side effects are. It isn't good enough that something is mentioned in that study, you have no idea whether someone will read your post and just run off to self-dose at a level that could be dangerous. You don't know what medications some random reader might be taking, and without warnings that post is an accident waiting to happen.

 

I am not saying to not post useful things, but try to have some respect for the health of everyone who will end up viewing this, and provide links to side effects, drug interactions, etc. That means that everyone who wants to post a recommendation for a vitamin, mineral, food, or supplement needs to perform a little basic research to learn about possible issues. Not only will you learn a bunch of useful stuff, you'll be providing real help.

 

Here's a one stop solution: Web MD. 

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-934-Vitamin%20B6%20(PYRIDOXINE%20(VITAMIN%20B6)).aspx?activeIngredientId=934&activeIngredientName=Vitamin%20B6%20(PYRIDOXINE%20(VITAMIN%20B6))

 

And a warning: Always have a doctor provide medical advice when you try to do something like use a supplement for a medical condition, as well as an RD. You do not always have access to the information (or experience) you really need to keep yourself safe.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6#Toxicity PLEASE read that, OP.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16320662

 

That is pretty serious. This is why nutritional recommendations are not supposed to be made by non-RD's!

[Peter Möller Voss]

Thanks again!

[Joshua Naterman]

You're welcome.

 

I know I probably came across a bit harshly, but to be honest sometimes it is good to be told the right thing bluntly. Shock value is under-rated, and being a big softy is a bit over-rated. In this case, I felt that bluntness was best.

[ASForum]

Thanks to Slizzard's former suggestions I was able to leverage some Egoscue (2 separate books) exercises and now am also looking at Esther Gokhale's book based on yoga principles to prevent & alleviate such issues.