Cathe....Need help....carpel tunnel surgery coming up

K

KarenL

Cathlete
Hi Cathe and the Educated Crowd!

I'm hoping someone can help me. I am having carpel tunnel surgery next month and they told me that I would not be able to lift weights for over a month. I have worked very hard to get in the shape that I am in and I am worried about losing some hard earned muscle. I do not belong to a gym. I only use Cathe tapes and have all of them. How can I stay in shape (and keep the muscle tone) without lifting any weights?

Any and all suggestions are welcome!!!!!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Karen
 
Hi Karen! I would talk to your surgeon about this. Many times if they know that you are very serious about wanting to workout they will share a few exercise options for you. I would imagine (and this is only a guess) that you are able to do mild cardio after the incision has completely healed, and very controlled lower body workouts that do not affect using your arms in any way. Controlled meaning no exercises that could possibly cause you to lose your balance and risk falling. Your doctor will most likely give you rehab exercises for your operated wrist and that will most likely be all the stress you can place on that area until the rehab is complete. This again, is a big guess on my part and I think it is so important that you get the true opinion and okay from your doctor. Hope this helps! Good luck with everything!
 
Hi Cathe!

Thank you so much for answering my post so fast! Your right of course but I am
just going to miss seeing you every morning. Hmmmm........maybe this would be
a good time to watch the videos and eat popcorn on the couch!!!

Oh well, at least I know that you will be waiting for me when I get the green light.
 
I had a similar experience several years ago that I wanted to share. I broke my wrist (fell off the step doing Interval Max of all things!) and couldn't do any upper body work for 8 weeks. After the surgery and a week's recuperation, I started walking around the track at the Y, and using the treadmill (holding on so I was sure I wouldn't fall). I also did lower body workouts. I didn't work my other arm, because I didn't want to be "lopsided." The good news is that after I started working out again (and doing several weeks of physical therapy with a PT) I was amazed at how fast the strength came back. All this to say, you will recover and be fine and be able to put this behind you - and hopefully not have pain from carpel tunnel anymore. Best wishes for your surgery and a speedy recovery!
 
Thank you so much for your response and kind words. I am curious....what lower body workouts
did you do?

Karen
 
Karen,
I had carpel tunnel surgery 4 years ago and it was at least 8 weeks before I could start using weights again, and it took me about 6 months to get all my strenth back. I'm sure everybody is different, but you will need to baby your wrist for awhile, I would not rush it. I went back to work after 4 weeks and I wish I had waited until 6 weeks a least. I am a cake decorator, so I do have strong hands, but it was a good 8 weeks before I could comfortably use weights and I still to this day have to be careful with a lot of exerises, because my wrist will still hurt some.
Good luck on your surgery.

Pat
 
Hi Karen,

I just did the lower body workout sections on my videotapes - I do a lot of Cathe and also Charlene Prickett. And when I went to the YMCA to use the treadmill or the track, I would find a step afterwards and do lots of squats and also lying down to do glute raises and hamstrings. It made me feel so much better to get to start working out again after having to take a few weeks off because of the surgery!
 
I almost forgot to mention one more thing - I bought some workout shoes that closed with velcro straps - since I couldn't tie my shoelaces! They were New Balance brand and I ordered them from L.L. Bean.
 
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