Carpal Tunnel

[Kathy02]

Ok, I was just diagnosed with carpal tunnel. I did Push Pull yesterday and it hurt my wrist just to put down my 15 pound dumbell. I am thinking that I need to get wrist splints for when I do weight work.
Do any of you have carpal tunnel and if so how do you deal with it?
My doc didn't give me a whole lot to go from other than circulate my hands every five mintues of typing. Oh and do my pushups on my knuckles.


Kathy

 

[skatie0569]

Hi Kathy,
I'm curious.. did the Doctor suggest a surgical option to relieve your problem?
I suffered from Carpal Tunnel also and one of the key points the Surgeon and specialists noted was that it can weaken the muscles in your hands after a while if the situation isn't aleviated.
In particular, the muscle before the thumb... I had a weakened muscle there.. lack of tone made it flatter.
It's been about 6 years since this occured and although I have never lifted heavy or often (I am a beginner to Cathe) I have never been bothered by it again.
In the meantime, anything that gives you support such as a wrist splint may be your best option, if it helps.. do it.
Hope this helps a little..
Kelly

 

[scm]

I also would like to hear more about this. I've have recently developed a tingling sensation mostly from my elbow to my wrist. It doesn’t really hurt now, but it did a bit last week. I'm so afraid it's CTS. I have totally laid off doing weights ~ focused more on legs hoping this would go away. So far it hasn’t.
Susan C.M.

 

[Kathy02]

Yeah, the doctor did mention surgery, and physical therapy. I am just to bull headed to do either of those things. I would rather do something at home to make it stop. Mainly because it doen't hurt all the time, just for a few weeks and then it stops for a month or so.
She also mentioned the loss of muscle in your hands and that would be when they would perform surgery if it got to that point. I have no intention of letting it get that far. Can I do that or will I eventually have no choice?
See I'm clueless about this. I hate not knowing either, help!

Kathy

 

[skatie0569]

Hi Kathy,
I'm no expert in this but from what I remember, the symptoms of Carpal Tunnel (in my case pain.. numbness.. tingling, general discomfort) are caused when the flow of nerve activity is obstructed in some way.
The obstruction is caused when the soft tissue in the wrist is inflamed (due to injury, over use or repetitive motion) and this is what causes the pain. When the "Median" nerve is pressed.
You can relieve the symptoms by resting the muscles and tendons but there are, of course, cases that are more extreme and can not be reversed. This is when surgery is required.

I guess you have to consider the stress that lifting will place on your wrists.
If your case is reversable then you may be able to resume your workouts in a more reasonable ammount of time by resting up instead of agrivating it further.
The surgery isn't too bad. When I had mine done it really did relieve the situation and I have never looked back.
But that said, if you can avoid the surgery all together, I'd do what the good Doctor said and you will be fine.
I do hope I have been of some help to you.
All the best,
Kelly