Re: Pinched Nerves and Hand Tremor?
Originally Posted by
timacn
I play the banjo/mandolin/guitar. I'm a rank amateur, but it means a lot to me. I have some cervical stenosis and have been diagnosed with carpal tunnel in both hands. Sometimes I get postural or intention tremors, nothing to the level of dysfunction that banjo great Eddie Adcock had, but just enough to compromise my hand dexterity and banjo playing a bit. Does anyone know, as a general thing, if cervical radiculopathy (pinched nerves in neck) or carpal tunnel syndrome (pinched nerves in wrist) or cubital tunnel syndrome (pinched nerves in elbow) or thoracic outlet syndrome (pinched nerves in the shoulder area) EVER cause hand tremors? Thanks for any help or advice you can give to me.
Any compression in vertebrae starting with C5 through C7 (including the C8 spinal nerve) can cause all sorts of problems down the arms and hands. Numbness or tingling are common but not universal (but may be triggered in certain positions or movements). Muscle tone can degrade with nerve impingement which can certainly cause tremors.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is its own condition and is independent of cervical spine problems, but since things are so interconnected, problems in the cervical spine may affect how you are using your hands which may contribute to CTS.
I have compression from C5 through C7 (including C8 nerve) as well as C4 which affects mainly muscles in the neck area. My hands aren't too badly affected, though my left pinky can get a little twitchy from time to time. Also some intention tremor when rotating my left arm/wrist occasionally. Most of my problems are still in and around my neck where I actually have an occasional mild dystonic tremor.
I'm doing some physiotherapy for it, but it's only postponing the inevitable, I think. I have to weigh the options of surgery - it's really a roll of the dice with a 1/3 chance of it helping, a 1/3 chance of it doing nothing, and a 1/3 chance of surgery making it worse.
Here's the book Kevin suggested: https://www.optp.com/Treat-Your-Own-Neck and more info here: https://www.mckenziemethod.com/about...own-neck-pain/
You'd probably need to get imaging done (if you haven't already) to see the extent of the damage. I need to get mine again soon since it's been almost 10 years and I'm curious how much worse it's gotten.
Only a doc is qualified to give medical advice after an exam, but I will emphatically say this much: please - PLEASE - stay away from chiropractors. Just doing a quick search for "Cervical artery dissection" should be easily enough to put anybody off of ever seeing a chiropractor (along with risks of stroke).
Last edited by Erin M; Sep-10-2020 at 7:12pm.
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