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June 29, 2009

Carpal Tunnel 2: The Revenge ()

by fluffy at 10:30 PM
So back when I was 18 or 19 I started to develop wrist pain, and that led to full-blown carpal tunnel syndrome (pain radiating up both arms from my wrists, tingly fingertips, reduced grip strength, twitchy fingers, and so on). I got it more or less under control with a DataHand keyboard, but then with my first job out of college it came back full force and I quit and went back to grad school.

While in grad school I got the CTS under control thanks to massage therapy and a significant reduction in typing volume, but I was left with permanent tendon damage (which I later learned was most likely tendinosis). This tendinosis would continue to flare up now and then (every other year or so), but the carpal tunnel syndrome remained at bay.

Today my fingertips got numb again, and I'm showing all the signs of a resurgence of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Of course this would happen two weeks before an important musical event that I've been looking forward to for months.

Hopefully I can get it under control pretty quickly but my suspicion is that I will not be playing any non-drum instruments at SFRR (fortunately I already have a backup band partially lined up, so I guess the rhythm guitarist will simply be the guitarist), my posting frequency will diminish even more significantly, and I won't be able to do comics or music or the like (not that I've been posting music on my sites lately but I've been doing a few side projects). And of course I can't help but worry about, you know, my career. Basically, this really sucks.

Fortunately I have a two-week vacation coming up (starting with Song Fight Live) so maybe I can keep myself away from the Internet enough during that time to give myself time to heal again.

Comments

#12216 06/30/2009 07:20 am I forget
Please forgive me, I should know the answer to this question.

Have you had the carpal tunnel surgery? Not saying that is a good idea or a bad idea, just wondering.


Gedvondur
#12217 06/30/2009 08:03 am
I have not. All the research I've seen indicates that it doesn't treat the problem, just the symptoms, and that it's really the recovery period after the surgery which does any good. Then a few years down the road after returning to work it comes back even worse than before, and that's assuming the surgery goes perfectly well (if it goes badly it can leave the person with permanent numbness, pain, and disability).