Quote:
Originally Posted by HiVel
...some stupid hand banging on a wrench recently.... been wrestling motorcycles for a long time and computers for a shorter time.... is this thing common amongst bikers or just me?
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It's certainly not unique among bikers, being pretty widespread in the population at large. The kind of activities you mention can all contribute.
Twenty-some years ago I began working out at a gym and managed to acquire carpal tunnel syndrome as a result. It can be aggravated by any number of activities involving the wrist, particularly ones that you're not already accustomed to doing. It can present any number of symptoms, too, not just in the hands but also the forearm.
At the time, my doctor prescribed anti-inflammatories, with surgery as the next option. Unfortunately, I started showing side effects from the medication. The next one on the list of possible effects, I discovered, was loss of color vision--a major hindrance in my line of work, so I dropped that and went to plain aspirin. I looked up the surgical procedure as it was done at that time, too. Pretty ghastly business, followed by six weeks in a cast.
At this point I'd better interject: Don't let this discourage you from seeing your doc! There are better medications now, and the surgery is
vastly improved over what it was! I only mention the way things were before to illustrate why I didn't have the procedure done back then. I struggled along for some years with intermittent flare-ups of carpal tunnel syndrome... annoying, sometimes very painful, but not a major issue in my work as long as I was careful.
Then along came computers. I hadn't typed all that much since college, so the "new" strain of keyboarding really got to my wrists at first. I began thinking I'd have to have surgery after all. About that time, I also realized my typing technique had gotten pretty poor, so I started concentrating on proper posture and hand positioning. That was even less comfortable at first, but before long I noticed something. My wrists started getting better! It turned out that the same thing that was being blamed for so much repetetive motion injury in the workplace could actually be good therapy if done properly.
So don't hesitate to see your doctor. If he's smart, he will know about the new medications and microsurgery. If he's VERY smart, he will also consider whether you may be a candidate for physical therapy first. Gentle exercises to strengthen fingers and stretch tendons may do wonders for the wrists, enabling them to resist compression of the carpal tunnel itself. When I grip things (
ie, motorcycle controls), I've also learned not to depend so much on pressure against the palm and heel of my hand, but to let the fingers do more of the work. Of course, if I get careless, I still have twinges. There's always the possibility I might injure my carpal tunnels someday to the extent that I'll finally have to have the surgery; but I've had a decade and a half without the bother or expense of it, and the technology has improved enough in that time that I won't mind so much if it becomes a necessity now.
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