carpal tunnel - what exercises to avoid

M

Michele S

Cathlete
Hi all!

CTS is an occupational hazard for me since I'm a court reporter, but since starting the Hardcore series I've noticed that my forearms have almost a dull ache to them that sometimes extends down to my pinkie/ring finger area. While I don't think that what I'm experiencing is CTS (isn't that more thumb/wrist?), I'm just wondering if there are any other exercises that would aggravate the carpal tunnel/forearm area.

Thanks in advance!
Michele
 
Hi Michele,

I had a problem with my wrist and hand 2 years ago. They said I had tendonitis and beginnings of CTS. I noticed one morning that my middle and ring finger were numb. I could not do weights all summer long and went through physical therapy.Things I do not do now are tricep dips. My wrist always feel weird when I go to do that. I do these but have to be careful and that is bicep curls. I have to watch that I am not going too heavy. I do push ups, but then again have to watch for it if I am doing too many. These are the only exercises I have to be careful with.

Have you gone to a doctor to see what is wrong with your wrist? Cause CTS can be a serious problem. If you are still working out, just be careful with your weights and you might want to lighten them some.

kim
 
Kim -

Funny that you mentioned the bicep curls, because my first thought actually was that I was trying to go too heavy with my weight. I'm taking it a little easier now and will be going lighter with everything to see if it helps. My sister is a nurse and she thinks I have tendonitis or "tennis elbow."

I haven't seen a doctor as of yet, but I'll probably make an appointment to go before my kids are done schoool.

Thanks for your help!
Michele
 
Michelle,

I had a problem back in December with my arm hurting from the elbow down and my pinkie and ring finger going numb. I went to the doctor and she said that was in the thoracic spine distribution and sure enough I was exquistely tender in that area. I had a "pinched nerve" which cleared up on its own with rest and anti-inflammatories. This is my experience and may not be yours. You need to see a doctor for an assessment.
 
I had a problem with this and ended up having to have a cortizone injection it got so bad. I wear weight gloves that have tight wrist bands on them, I use a push up bar for push ups and I NEVER do tricep dips, I substitute head bangers or extensions. I cannot do the exercise with the barbell over the ball and I do not do the wrist curls, I am not sure what the real name of that exercise is but it is extremely irritating to my wrist. I also wear a brace on my right wrist at night when I sleep, it helps a lot. If you use a computer a lot at work get a mouse that you roll the ball with your thumb and a little pad to put under your wrist. Do go see your doctor, mine got to the point of needing the injection because I tried to ignore the pain and numbness.
 
one more question, please!

When everyone mentions resting the area, did you continue doing cardio? I'm going to take a break from the weights for this week but I'm just wondering if I should give EVERYTHING a break, or is that not necessary?
 
RE: one more question, please!

Michele when I had a problem with mine I didn't lifts weights for three months. That was so very hard to do. But doctors told me to lay off for a while. but I didn't stop activity all together, I still did cardio and legwork, along with pilates. I would just rest the hand.

If you're going to the doctor he will probably tell you more. I hope everything turns out okay.

kim
 
I'm an occupational therapist working with hand injuries. I do agree that you need to see a physician and most likely a hand therapist (occupational or physiotherapist specializing in hand injuries)

But just to throw my two cents in, it's sounds like cubital tunnel syndrome rather than carpal tunnel syndrome both are abbreviated to CTS. It's comes from repetitive or sustained elbow flexion while carpal tunnel is due to wrist flexion. Is your work station set up properly to avoid these movements?? Also could be from repetitve elbow flexion during weight training. It's an inflammation that requires rest first to get the swelling down, analysis of your activites to decrease what is causing the problem. In our clinic we do night splinting of the elbow for 6 weeks. HTH Kim
 
I had problems with CTS several years ago (which became symptomatic after a workout with push-ups and tricep dips). It bothered me for several months to a year or so.

It hasn't bothered me much lately, but things that can set it off:
1)using a regular keyboard (I have an ergonomic keyboard in the office. When I had to use a regular one for a few days while mine was being replaced, my wrists started feeling iffy after about 10 minutes of typing. Oddly enough, the keyboard on my home computer doesn't bother me. It's a laptop, and I use it while it is sitting on my Fanny Lifter, and I am on a balance disc on the floor, so the angle of my arms to keyboard is different).

2) Pressure on a bent wrist. Push-ups and tricep dips bothered my wrists for quite a while, so I would do push-ups with my fingers splayed and bent where they meet the palm (like the hand placement Cathe uses when doing levitatino lifts in Core Max), and I would avoid tricep dips, or use push-up handles to do them. Then after I started doing yoga, that seemed to help a lot.
 
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