Anyone keep this at bay with just physio?

A post this morning (which now seem to have gone) got me thinking that i may suffer from it in my left hand.

Not had it long. Think a bad crash at ard moors last year resulting in a left hand owie may have brought it on. Left hand/thumb is still a little weak.

Was going to follow this leaflet- http://www.csp.org.uk/publications/carpal-tunnel-syndrome-exercises

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/biking-with-a-tingly-and-numb-hand/

That’s the one Drac, couldn’t see it on the chat pages and can’t get the link to work.

I posted on that thread and mentioned physio. The physio I had was mainly for my neck/shoulder, although I was diagnosed with Carpal tunnel syndrome and offered the operation, but my wife was pregnant with my first child at the time and I had a massive paranoia that something would go wrong and i wouldn’t be able to hold my baby so didn’t bother with it!!

That was 10 years ago and I still have problems with it, but the exercises do help with the nerves in my neck and shoulders. Sometimes i can lose all feeling in my right hand, (which is great for braking!!) and a good crack of the neck eases it right off.

I should really go back to the doctors…….

This in a lot of cases has its roots in posture problems, tight chest muscles and shoulder muscles the usual culprits, YTWL exercises and seated rows will help along with stretching the chest and shoulders.

May not help in this case, but worth a try because you’ll get relief after the first session.

Had mine operated on.
Day surgery, and back on the bike in a few weeks.

Like night and day, I’m completely cured. I would recommend having the procedure.

APF

Anyone keep this at bay with just physio?

Yes. My carpal tunnel was tingling in my hands, no pain. I did a few months of physical therapy consisting of stretching and strength exercises combined with the therapist doing Graston technique on my hands and wrists.

http://www.grastontechnique.com/Patients

I stopped doing the exercises after a few months. Now, I get the tingling once in a while, and some stretching takes care of it.

Edit – I consider surgery a last resort, and wanted to try something less drastic first.

Had surgery in December on right hand and ultra scan injections in the left hand a month later , so far right hand ok left hand still having problems.

operation was day surgery but took ages getting to that stage almost a year of hospital visits and tests even had steroid jab in arse to help. Then had tests where they send electric pulse thru your fingers / hands and right hand was so bad didn’t even register on the test.

Back on bike middle of January.

I would see a doctor. I had it years ago and thought an operation would be needed as my dad had this done when he was younger. We talked it through and the doc recommended a wrist support for the computer keyboard at work, I thought she was flobbing me off to be honest, but it cleared up within a few days and despite the ocasdional set back I’ve been good since.

Pins and needles in left hand (little finger and the next one) for many years.

I just stopped noticing it.

You’re unlikely to get surgery, unless it’s severe now. The NHS have added it to their list of ‘non-essential’ operations.

I don’t know their criteria. But my wife was unable to sleep for 12 weeks before she had the operation in her first hand. She had no feeling, but pins and needles, and was on a very high dose of gabapentin.

You can go private, but unless you’ve got insurance it’ll be expensive.

Get yourself to the docs, and really try the physio and observe what they tell you to do. If you can a kid it getting bad – you’ll be grateful!

I’d been suffering for years and initially it was thought to be my neck.  I tried physio and exercises which improved things generally apart from riding the bike or motorbike when it was as bad as ever.  Cue injections which gave improvements for about 6 weeks at a time, splints at night and eventually being referred to a specialist for release surgery.  Had both done at the same time under general (after much pushing the consultant, they only wanted to do 1 at a time, no the best option for self-employed).  That was last September.  4 days of not being able to do much at all (poor wife!). 2 weeks for the stitches out and about 6 weeks before I tried riding the bike (which was painful at first).  Lingering numbness in my right hand which gradually went away over a few months.

Down side is don’t quite have the dexterity I did which is a bit annoying when doing fiddly work on vehicles but overall really glad I had it done.

Might have posted this in the linked thread but it won’t open….

I was diagnosed with severe CTS in both hands around 8 years go. As I was contracting was going to wait for a gap between contracts to not lose out on income.

A while later I was seeing an osteopath about another matter and mentioned the CTS. After investigation he said the fault was due to posture. Hunching shoulders caused tightness around the collarbone where a group of nerves and blood vessels pass through a confined space.

Stretching and concentrating on posture helps keep it at bay.

Don’t just jump to surgery as a first course.