Carpal Tunnel for those interested

[Guest Jeff Roark]

Here is a topic that many are not interested in until they are plagued with this terrible condition that limits everything in your life including eating, sleeping, daily activities, work, workouts and grip work. I found simply pouring a glass of milk for myself almost impossible for the pain in my bicep/elbow area, and for sleep well forget it! I went for months without any good sleep maybe I could get 30 minutes at the most at a time. I am now living with it and having to tip-toe around everything to avoid aggrivation of my CTS.

I love the Olympic lifts and they build great strength but they really brought on CTS for me so I discontinued there use. Maybe in time I may try to work them back in, but the few times I did do them they automatically knocked the numbness back into my fingers. This also brought about changes to the frequency of my workouts, I reduced to 2 times per week from 3-5 workouts.

Now for my grip work, I have been plagued with set backs. I closed my BBM months ago and the numbness came back so severe that I dropped all training for a month. I had many long discussions with Heath Sexton and I think we found several problems with the way I was approaching my grip training especially my crush training. I was doing maximum attempt upon max attempt 3 times per week. Some may can handle this but with my condition I could not handle this. I was advised to drop all the attempts and work on the strapholds with a frequency I could handle, with an occasional attempt with a gripper above my best current close. I was also advised to work the wrist roller equally (directions) to even up strength imbalances. At this point everything seems to be moving along nicely as far as my grip is concerned without any CTS flare ups. I do 3 sets of max holds once per week on the grippers and thats it. I do the roller and plate pinches too.

Now for out of the gym things that help me. I found that when the pain got so severe that I could not take any more I had a cortizone injection in my wrists. It releived the pain. I only did this once because it is not good but when you are desperate you'll do anything. I have now found that if I would have got the braces first time I recognized the symptoms I would have avoided surgury and pain that I didn't need. The CTS braces have been a saviour for me to rest at night. I would definately get them if you start having symptoms. They are actually comfortable to sleep in after you get used to them. They are allowing me to grip train again and sleep all at the same time. I have had the surgury on my left hand which was sucessful, but gaining my strength back has been hard. I feel if you wear the braces at night it can save you the pain of an operation. Hope this helps anyone with this problem.

[Guest Canthar]

The braces definitly help alot. I have CTS in both wrist and went through numerous PT sessions to deal with it as I did not want the surgery at all. The braces did help but I do caution about over using them. Don't let yopurself get dependant on them(during the day mainly, at night well do whatcha gotta do to sleep). After sometime of heating my wrists and elbows before working out and then icing them when finished and being careful not to push to hard, I do not even need the braces anymore. Jeff's advice is excellent for anyone who suffers from this...

Nic

[Guest Jeff Roark]

Canthar,

Good point. I do not wear my braces throughout the day. I only wear them to sleep well. I find if I wear them during the night I don't need to wear them through the day. But if I don't wear them at night, I usually end up suffering through the day.

I have also found a little DSMO seemed to help. Also something that helped in my recovery was taking Liver and extra B-vitamins. I guess I was getting mega doses of B, but I read where it can rejuvinate dead nerves. I would like to know if anyone here has tried the Super Blue Stuff advertised at night on the infomercials? It says it eleviates alot of pain. Does it?

I want to make it a point of pounding this into the ground, if you are suffering with this you are going to have to learn to train smart within your limited capabilities. Pick your exercises smartly, the ones that will provide the biggest bang for your buck because with this you are on a tight budget.