***I work in physical therapy with over ten years of out patient experience**. I will do a video for you all covering tendon glides nerve flossing various stretches and*** CONTRAST BATH -do not miss this one and begin today. Super cold ice water,.. dunk hands for 30" followed by 2 minutes in warm water (or hot tub). More to come. I also have some carpal tunnel stuff from rock climbing for the past 20 years as well as bolting 20 something first ascents and chopping wood chain saw etc. The ice masstage works and is used right before band practice with and increase of mobility via the blood flow it promotes. Let me know how it goes,.
Don
That's too cool about the first ascents Cragginshred. U are incredibly brave!
To the OP, like Cragginshred, since '03, i've worked at a medical/physical therapy group that has successfully treated dozens of well known musicians, guitarists, violin players, pianists, etc. Had musician endorsements in MUSICIAN magazine re carpal. His awesome recomendations and the video will be very helpful for you.
A few things i thought i would suggest as well, that have helped me & other musicians, and dancers & acrobats who lift others: Sometimes chiropractic on the hand, wrist, arm, or neck can do a lot. Getting a proper evaluation may reveal a bad neck curve even though u have no neck or back pain. Isolating any finger sensations & doing an online check as to which cervical or thoracic vertebrae is near the nerve that outlets there, and examining a neck/mid back x-ray to help rule out a piched or repetitively traumatized nerve (even from "sleeping funny").
When the problem is mainly or only the arm, wrist, or hand, for many of us holistic medicine still has much to offer over cortisone injections & surgery in my opinion. Contrast soaks are excellent. Massage & chiropractic, if done by truly dedicated practitioners, are important as well.
As with arthritis, be aware that nerve entrapment is a diagnosis, but can have more to it than we hear about the cliche conditions like carpal (even though MANY guitarists, musicians, people who use computers for hours, etc., have that beginning to surface as well), but instead or also a chronic stress condition with recoverable joint inflamation, recoverable fibrocartillage complex degeneration, etc. accompanied or caused by practices or conditions easily eliminated, as done by resting, relaxing, stretching, nutrition & supplementation, solving vertebrae/ nerve issues and releasing general toxic stress.
Know this sounds like a lot when a particular pain must get resolved so u can play. What I'm saying though is that if u continue to learn about your body, what at first seems unrelated may prove to be a key in staying well once u solve your immediate worry.
(Degeneration DOES NOT MEAN IT WON'T GET BETTER IF U FOCUS ON HELPING YOUR BODY DEAL POSITIVELY).
Taking fish oil or circumin may do wonders for inflamation, and in my experience most people benefit from assimulateable powdered magnesium that's dissolved in warm water, like the product CALM or one like it (there are a lot; they have an acid base and go into solution in the water, so your body can absorb it well & quickly). That helps a person stay relaxed. In some cases a person, if they don't eat their greens, milk, cheese, etc., may add a little calcium.
Really deeply massaging into the whole tendon area (to the elbow) for about 5-15 minutes, often will begin to release toxin built up from repetitive stress behaviors; this is something you have to see to believe; if you get a massage therapist to do it, have him/her continue deeply & after 5 minutes or more you might have red stripes directly above your tendon, along your whole forearm. The red stripe is not everywhere he/she digs in, but specifically & only where the tendon is.
That's toxin coming out of the tendon into skin tissue from where it can be eliminated. Our body, unless we're in our 90's, would have probably eliminated all of this but we've begun to do behaviors that go from one cortisol producing activity or position to another, etc.
Lack of sleep, pollution, & a fast food diet doesn't help. A body will have pesticides and MSG and who knows what else to deal with.
Do the above and your arm & especially your hand should feel imediately better. You'll need to periodically repeat this (i do it on myself every two weeks or so for 5 minutes or so until I feel a lessening of the toxin buildup. You may want to really dig in from about 5 inches in from your wrist, but look up ulnar nerve entrapment online. Many of us experienced guitarist develop toxic buildup beginning near the elbow where that is so I recommend you dig in back there too, and along the whole tendon and musculature. )
Please note, I AM NOT A TRAINED PROFESSIONAL or therapist, just been around great ones. Seek professional advice, I'm just giving anecdotal info to think about and check into with your actual health expert, or your Rockefeller Foundation Funded specialist that does the work of big pharma companies, u decide which of the above is right for u
Peace.
