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Original Post By:
Wednesday
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Date: 3/6/2010 4:02:27 PM |
Just wanted to say to any carpal tunnel sufferers out thar...I had my strumming hand fixed on Dec. 18th (couldn't take it any more, and was losing strength, to boot). So far, better than so good. I was playing a small lap harp in only three days, and played a whole 2-hour contra dance (fiddle and uke) in only three weeks, with just a bit of weakness. My mandolin was taking longer to get back to me (really fine motor skills take a bit of time), but wow. What a relief. I'm going to get my fingering hand fixed at the end of April, and am not worried at all about getting back up to full-speed, as long as I'm patient, and do my therapy like a good kid. I've had this problem for a good decade, by the way, so you can imagine how pleased I am to report this.
So, if anybody's in the same boat, there is hope! |
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Posted By:
gitapik
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Date: 3/6/2010 5:13:47 PM |
Congratulations and keep up the "to the letter" rehab. It's so important. I've got a friend who's had success with that operation, too. The rehab's the key.
As a side note for anybody just starting to feel the symptoms of carpal tunnel, I have a bit of advice, should you choose to take it:
I just started feeling that numbness both when playing and riding my bicycle (I love my bike) about 8 years ago. I mentioned it to my bike techie and she said "carpal tunnel". I freaked. She told me she'd had the operation and it had been successful...but she also told me something very interesting. Her surgeon mentioned that, if you catch it in it's early stages, you can keep it at bay with a regular regimen of vitamins B6 and a B Complex.
I took 500 mg of the B6 and a standard pill of B complex, daily, for the next 3 years. Since then (the last 5 years), I've taken 250 mg of the B6 along with the same B complex. No problems. Not even a hint.
So...I'm hoping that means it's "win/win": the operation's got a good success rate and the vitamins do help...at least they definitely did for me.
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Posted By:
Mattman
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Date: 3/6/2010 6:01:00 PM |
Hey, Wednesday-
Good for you!
I had two carpal tunnel releases
done over 13 years ago. Best move
I could've made- at age 35 my hands were
so injured (from repetitive motion at
work- I was a telephone cable splicer)
that I couldn't even hold a toothbrush!
Today I have full range of motion,
strength, feeling & dexterity-
it worked out really well for me.
Keep healing, keep playing,
& all the best to you!
Cheers,
-Mattman
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Posted By:
Wednesday
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Date: 3/6/2010 6:37:40 PM |
Thanks, indeed! I am very pleased...even tho' the fingering hand's a little bit more daunting. I was a book cataloguer when it hit me -- all keyboard, all the time. I used to make a lot of bread, too (all that kneading) and crochet a lot...I gave all that up, but the music was my last stand, as it were. It may not work in every single case, but my surgeon said there's a ninety-percent success rate with this, and that's more than you can say for a lot of things in life.
So, finally, I have no excuse not to learn how to flat pick my mandolin at last. I've been using my thumb all these years...who knew? My hand used to go numb holding the pick, and my fiddle bow, too, but no more, huzzah!
I gave my 6-yr-old son a big pile of Legos for Christmas. Trying to get those infernally small plastic hairdos onto all those infernally small mini-figures was excellent hand therapy...
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