Jennifer Boyer on sun 28 may 00
Hi all,
Just thought I'd pass on an interesting conversation I had with
a massage therapist friend(also she's my yoga teacher). She
works in hospitals and nursing homes. I mentioned to her that I
have the classic hand tingling that is associated with carpal
tunnel syndrome: Tingling in the thumb, index and middle
fingers and a little bit of the ring finger. I've had this for
years and it gets worse when I'm working really hard throwing
pots before the holidays. SHE said that it isn't necessarily CT.
She said that given the classic throwers muscles I have, I
probably am experiencing the symptoms because my extremely tight
pectoral muscles are squeezing the nerves that go through them
to get to the spine from the arms. She said to keep good posture
while working, holding my shoulders back rather than slumping
over the wheel. This engages the back muscles more. Also I now
use a doorway in which to lean while pressing my arms against
the two sides, stretching the pecs. It feels REALLY good. I'm
planning on spending some time on weight lifting exercises to
strengthen my upper back muscles, which are weak(!). I'm a full
time production potter and thought I had a strong back...
Anyway, I'm extremely relieved that CT is not necessarily what i
have, and that exercise and stretching will help this nagging
situation, rather than the surgery I imagined
lurking.....thought I'd pass it on.
Take Care
Jennifer in the middle of Vermont's Open Studio Weekend(175
crafts studio's open). Nice folks visiting.
--
--
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jennifer Boyer jfboyer@sover.net
Thistle Hill Pottery
Vermont USA
http://www.vermontcrafts.com/members/ThistleHill.html
Check out these sites about web hoaxes:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/culture/urbanlegends/mbody.htm
http://www.stiller.com/hoaxes.htm
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Bill Aycock on tue 30 may 00
With all due respect to your Yoga friend- it sounds like you have elbow
trouble, rather than nerves being squeezed by the pect. I am the victim of
damage to this area, and have done some consulting with neurologists and
some good books. I have no latteral finger motion in the right hand (this
severely handicaps a potter), and am VERY familiar with the distribution of
the sensory impulses and the motor impulses to the hand.
There are three main nerves that serve the hand, and go through a cluster
in the elbow. Almost everyone is familiar with the feel of pressure to the
"funny bone" spot on the outer notch between the arms bones. Thats where
the problem starts. Sometimes, the way you hold your elbow, particularly in
a strained position for some time, is enough to hurt these juctions.
THe nerves in the area are the Ulnar, median, and radial- named for the
bones in the arm. THe sensory and motor nerves serving the hand are divided
up among these nerves, and not in what seems to be a logical manner. For
instance, the description you give of the tingle location seems to rule out
the ulnar nerve, but I am missing the reference I need to detail the other
locations. (My daughter has sorted and re-ordered some of my bookcases).
For your own good, to find out just where the problem is located- please
see a good neurologist. They have the tools to find out exactly where the
problem is located, if it is possible. The folklore based disciplines like
Yoga are lots of help, at times, but, there are better ways of finding out,
for sure. And- believe me, you cant really do much good by shooting in the
dark. I had the help of a good therapist, who set up excersizes according
to the doctors assesment, and helped me get back the feeling in most of my
hand. Unfortunately, the damage to the Ulnar nerve was not repairable, but,
even so she helped get me part of the way back. The Ulnar affects the
feeling in the outer two fingers, and the control to the inter-ossii
muscles. (means 'between the bones"). Thats why I cant spread my hand, (or
pull handles).
Good luck- Bill- who is doing other crafts than pots , on Persimmon Hill
>Hi all,
>Just thought I'd pass on an interesting conversation I had with
>a massage therapist friend(also she's my yoga teacher). She
>works in hospitals and nursing homes. I mentioned to her that I
>have the classic hand tingling that is associated with carpal
>tunnel syndrome: Tingling in the thumb, index and middle
>fingers and a little bit of the ring finger. I've had this for
>years and it gets worse when I'm working really hard throwing
>pots before the holidays. SHE said that it isn't necessarily CT.
>She said that given the classic throwers muscles I have, I
>probably am experiencing the symptoms because my extremely tight
>pectoral muscles are squeezing the nerves that go through them
>to get to the spine from the arms.
-
Bill Aycock --- Persimmon Hill
Woodville, Alabama, US 35776
(in the N.E. corner of the State)
W4BSG -- Grid EM64vr
baycock@HiWAAY.net
w4bsg@arrl.net
Jocelyn McAuley on tue 30 may 00
I would also like to add that the symptons of "Stingers" are also tingly
fingers. I learned this helping a trainer for a football team several
years ago. Stingers occur when an impact results in stretching one's neck
far to the side away from a shoulder. I can't quite remember the
mechanics of it, but stinging and tingling in the fingers was one way we
would deduce the nature of the football injury.
And who says ceramics isn't like football at times! :)
Jocelyn
--
Jocelyn McAuley ><<'> jocie@worlddomination.net
john dellow on wed 31 may 00
I have found that sitting with my bum lower than the wheel head , helps in
this respect.
Jacka "The flower pot man"
----- Original Message -----
From: Jennifer Boyer
To:
Sent: Sunday, 28 May 2000 10:06
Subject: finger tingles, not Carpal Tunnel?
> Hi all,
> Just thought I'd pass on an interesting conversation I had with
> a massage therapist friend(also she's my yoga teacher). She
> works in hospitals and nursing homes. I mentioned to her that I
> have the classic hand tingling that is associated with carpal
> tunnel syndrome: Tingling in the thumb, index and middle
> fingers and a little bit of the ring finger. I've had this for
> years and it gets worse when I'm working really hard throwing
> pots before the holidays. SHE said that it isn't necessarily CT.
> She said that given the classic throwers muscles I have, I
> probably am experiencing the symptoms because my extremely tight
> pectoral muscles are squeezing the nerves that go through them
> to get to the spine from the arms. She said to keep good posture
> while working, holding my shoulders back rather than slumping
> over the wheel. This engages the back muscles more. Also I now
> use a doorway in which to lean while pressing my arms against
> the two sides, stretching the pecs. It feels REALLY good. I'm
> planning on spending some time on weight lifting exercises to
> strengthen my upper back muscles, which are weak(!). I'm a full
> time production potter and thought I had a strong back...
> Anyway, I'm extremely relieved that CT is not necessarily what i
> have, and that exercise and stretching will help this nagging
> situation, rather than the surgery I imagined
> lurking.....thought I'd pass it on.
> Take Care
> Jennifer in the middle of Vermont's Open Studio Weekend(175
> crafts studio's open). Nice folks visiting.
> --
> --
> ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
> Jennifer Boyer jfboyer@sover.net
> Thistle Hill Pottery
> Vermont USA
> http://www.vermontcrafts.com/members/ThistleHill.html
>
> Check out these sites about web hoaxes:
> http://urbanlegends.about.com/culture/urbanlegends/mbody.htm
> http://www.stiller.com/hoaxes.htm
> ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
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>
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Jennifer Boyer on thu 1 jun 00
HI Bill,
This is an excellent example of what I was trying to get across:
that not all hand problems are from Carpal Tunnel syndrome.
I agree that it's best to consult with experts about all this.
I wasn't thinking that tight pecs was the answer to everything
hand problem, only that Carpal Tunnel Syndrome isn't the only
reason that hands tingle.....In the past, I've thought that was
true. Now I'm hearing how complex the diagnosis is, and that
surgery isn't always the solution(phew).
Take Care
and WHAT crafts Bill? :-)
Jennifer
Bill Aycock wrote:
>
> With all due respect to your Yoga friend- it sounds like you have elbow
> trouble, rather than nerves being squeezed by the pect. I am the victim of
> damage to this area, and have done some consulting with neurologists and
> some good books. I have no latteral finger motion in the right hand (this
> severely handicaps a potter), and am VERY familiar with the distribution of
> the sensory impulses and the motor impulses to the hand.
>
--
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jennifer Boyer jfboyer@sover.net
Thistle Hill Pottery
Vermont USA
http://www.vermontcrafts.com/members/ThistleHill.html
Check out these sites about web hoaxes:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/culture/urbanlegends/mbody.htm
http://www.stiller.com/hoaxes.htm
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Helen Bates on fri 2 jun 00
Just a quick comment. In my prior life as a physiotherapist, I had a
few patients with nerve involvement giving symptoms in the wrist and
hand from compression of the pectoral opening for the passage of nerves
from the cervical area to the arm, forearm and hand. Wrist problems can
originate anywhere from the neck down. It just depends on where on the
long distance of nerves to the wrist from the cervical spine receives
pressure. Also, there is nothing to say that more than one thing might
be happening at once.
Helen
--
=========================================================
Helen Bates
mailto:nell@reach.net
=========================================================
ferenc jakab on fri 2 jun 00
> Just a quick comment. In my prior life as a physiotherapist, I had a
> few patients with nerve involvement giving symptoms in the wrist and
> hand from compression of the pectoral opening for the passage of nerves
> from the cervical area to the arm, forearm and hand. Wrist problems can
> originate anywhere from the neck down. It just depends on where on the
> long distance of nerves to the wrist from the cervical spine receives
> pressure. Also, there is nothing to say that more than one thing might
> be happening at once.
I've been trying just to lurk as I'm in the middle of exams, but I want to
say to all people suffering from finger tingles, pain in hands etc. The
source of the problem can be fairly definitively diagnosed with nerve
conduction tests. I have had these tests to establish the source of my own
troubles which are due to an industrial accident where I suffered fractures
of the spine. This resulted in damage to nerve pathways and chronic soft
tissue damage. Year by year I am losing feeling in my hands and I haven't
been able to throw since Art School. It's simply too painful. At first the
doctors thought I might have carpal tunnel problems but nerve conduction
tests established the problem as being in the nerve channels in the neck.
There's nothing that can be done but at least I didn't have to undergo an
unnecessary operation.
Feri.
Lynda Harrington on fri 9 jun 00
I'm a week behind in my email so this is a little late coming. On the chance
that this may help someone, I'll post this. I, too, have experienced the
finger tingles, weak/no grasp etc. I thought that it was carpal tunnel. An
orthopedic surgeon concured. My family physcian thought not and suggested I
get a second opinion from another orthopedic specialist so I did. I spent
the better part of a day being tested for many different problems and at the
end of it all it showed that I did have carpal tunnel but in a very minor
way. The problem that was bothering me was considerably more serious. It
turned out that it was an entrapped nerve in my elbow that I had been trying
to ignore until the pain from the nerve had become so great that it felt as
though my elbow had been scalded. I could no longer grasp/hold anything. I
couldn't even push up my glasses anymore with that arm. I was still somehow
continuing to make pots - a combinaion of pain killers and determination and
was also working full time in a library. This gives an idea how much use my
arms were getting at the time.
The second orthopedic surgeon was very concerned that I had let it get that
bad before I had sought help. It had reached the point were all my fingers
on that arm were numb most of the time. I had emergency surgery to release
the nerve. He told me that most surgeons wouldn't even bother to try
operating at that point but that he thought it still might be worth a try as
I am a musician and potter. All he promised was that he wouldn't make me any
worse.
I had the surgery - an operation that he told me he would most likely only
do once or twice in his career as it was so unusual. He rechanneled the
nerve, took out tendons and a vein to make more room for it and reattached a
muscle elsewhere. When I had my post surgery visit he mentioned that in the
medical literature potter's were mentioned as the people who present with
this problem. He also told me that had I waited any longer before having the
surgery that it would have likely been to late.
If I had known earlier that this type of injury can happen and that it can
become irreversible I would have been much more careful of the way I work. I
would also have sought help much earlier from a very competent orthopedic
surgeon.
My surgery was very successful. The recovery was long and regaining full
range of motion took even longer, but in the end I have made a complete
recovery. I now make a deliberate attempt not to put unnecessary strain on
my fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders. He warned me several times that it
was a one time only kind of repair and that I should use it with care and
not abuse it.
It was entirely successful. My arm has been fine for about 6 years now.
My assuming that it was only carpal tunnel almost cost me the use of my
entire arm. I would highly recommend that if you are experiencing finger
tingles or other problems that you seek help immediately.
Lynda Harrington
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