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Google Health:
"Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is compression of the median nerve at the wrist, which may result in numbness, tingling, weakness, or muscle damage in the hand and fingers."
For the past week or so I have been dealing with progressively more severe symptoms of CTS. Earlier today when I used my hand to push off against my chair to get up, a sharp, shooting pain occured in my wrist and I could not get up. Periodically, I experience a tingling, tickling sensation in my fingers, making them feel somewhat weak. On and off, I experience tightness in my forearm or my thumb muscle area. When I wake up in the morning, my grip feels weak and I must shake out my hand or stretch my fingers before I am able to form a tight fist.
I am greatly starting to limit my activities in an effort to prevent further development of my symptoms. Working out, reading, and obviously computer usage are what I believe are the causes of my development of CTS.
I think I really started to put a lot of pressure on my wrist when I did dumbbell curls using my wrist only. I was trying to strengthen my wrist flexors, but I guess that it backfired on me. Besides that, I do pullups and pushups which I also believe have added pressure to my median nerve.
I think this is a serious condition that many people at my age can contract and people should have a better awareness of it.
Feel free to discuss.
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I've had those symptoms before, but they went away.
I think your just sore. I've strained my bicepts before and I couldn't bend my arms straight for a week (well I could, but you know, it hurts).
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I had a similar nerve pinching problem in my wrist(I forget the exact name, but it similar to cts), due to using crutches for 2 months. It really sucked, and I had a fear in the back of my mind that I would lose my motor capability in my fingers and have to stop playing music. Luckily it went away once I recovered and could walk again.
Hope you get better!
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On December 29 2009 11:12 keepITup wrote:
I've had those symptoms before, but they went away.
I think your just sore. I've strained my bicepts before and I couldn't bend my arms straight for a week (well I could, but you know, it hurts).
I've had both the symptoms listed in the OP and the bicep one in the post above. They both just went away on their own eventually.
I even played Starcraft during the wrist-pain and whatnot. I am not a very intelligent person.
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ive gone through periods of shooting wrist pains, but they would always go away within a week with no change in my activities. though i don't strain my wrists when i work out, it was all from typing and playing sf4 on my arcade stick... i bought a reusable heat pack and that helped relieve some of the pain temporarily.
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i hope you get well soon too, i play as gk in football and i play ultimate too, so i use my hands frequently, but havent developed those yet =o i hope not... well get well soon again
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just stop playing or something or consult a doctor
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How old are you? and how many hours a day u spend in front of your pc?
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On December 29 2009 11:05 Crisis_ wrote:
For the past week or so I have been dealing with progressively more severe symptoms of CTS. Earlier today when I used my hand to push off against my chair to get up, a sharp, shooting pain occured in my wrist and I could not get up. Periodically, I experience a tingling, tickling sensation in my fingers, making them feel somewhat weak. On and off, I experience tightness in my forearm or my thumb muscle area. When I wake up in the morning, my grip feels weak and I must shake out my hand or stretch my fingers before I am able to form a tight fist.
I am greatly starting to limit my activities in an effort to prevent further development of my symptoms. Working out, reading, and obviously computer usage are what I believe are the causes of my development of CTS.
I think I really started to put a lot of pressure on my wrist when I did dumbbell curls using my wrist only. I was trying to strengthen my wrist flexors, but I guess that it backfired on me. Besides that, I do pullups and pushups which I also believe have added pressure to my median nerve.
I think this is a serious condition that many people at my age can contract and people should have a better awareness of it.
Feel free to discuss.
-Reading won't contribute to CTS
-Working out SHOULDN'T contribute to CTS. What your workout did was expose the weakness that was already created inside your carpal tunnel. Pullups and pushups, again, should NOT contribute to your CTS. If you want to work out your wrist flexors then do something that requires grip; pullups, as you have been doing, deadlifts, rock climbing, etc. I'm going to advise you NOT to create your own exercises, because they'll either have already been created, or have already been created and be ineffective. Not to sound too preachy, but "educate yourself carefully before starting any workout plan."
-Obviously, you're going to have to be careful with your computer use and other repetitive tasks from now on. If you're susceptible to CTS you have to change your lifestyle to make sure that it never gets another chance to 'grow'. Changes could include time you spend on your computer, getting a new computer desk, and possibly even the way you grip your mouse. Experiment until you find what's best for you -- whatever you do, don't just keep playing through it.
Hope this helps a little.
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I know you mentioned dumbbell curls, but If you're ever doing barbell curls, use an EZ-bar. It's much easier on your wrists than a regular straight barbell. I'm at the point now where I simply won't do any bicep/tricep barbell exercise unless it's with an EZ-bar.
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On December 29 2009 12:29 chongu wrote:
How old are you? and how many hours a day u spend in front of your pc?
I'm 18 years old, and since it's winter break, some days I have been spending about 10+ hours on the computer.
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lol. That is a bit much. I suggest going outside. Also how can reading produce CTS?
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Luckily for you, there's surgery to COMPLETELY remove the cause of carpal tunnel. So that means that if it really gets bad, you can get surgery to become completely restored. Otherwise, I'm sure there are other ways of coping. Best of luck to you! I hope you will still be able to use the computer and do daily activities without suffering too much pain =(
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ive had your symptoms a few years ago, they are reversible. You are most likely playing sc with bad posture, make sure your wrist is not bent uncomfortably around your mouse or table, and that the weight of your hand rests on the wrist bone on the side of your hand opposite your thumb, removing pressure from your wrist. During your workouts, make sure you keep your wrist straight as well unless u are specifically working out your wrists.
That aside, you need to recover from the damage you have done already, aka strengthening the muscles that are weak and stretching the muscles that are overused in your forearm/wrist. This http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/pain/pain3r.jpg kind of handgrip thing worked for me, to build up wrist strength and stamina (make sure u have a strong one not a cheap shitty one). I used it several times a day, and made sure to stretch (very important) your wrist after every exercise. After a few weeks my symptoms pretty much disappeared, and i was able to continue playing the best game in the world without problem. The dumbbell wrist curls you did are good, but perhaps too much at the time given your injury, and you probably did not stretch enough afterward.
Hope this helped, carpal tunnel can b pretty scary if u dont know what to do O.o
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned Dvorak keyboard layout.
It helped me TONS with my carpal tunnel. Try it. It sucks for the first month or so while you relearn how to type, but I can touchtype both dvorak and qwerty now and I greatly prefer dvorak just because it's so much easier on my hands.
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EPT
