Ouch! Elbow to Hand Pain, Tingling in Fingers. Give it up?

[250sc]

Scotti,

I had the same surgury and it took the nerves a long time to heal. You might get more relief but if the nerve damage was too bad it might not get better. That is the reason to get professional help and not to put it off until later.

[fishtownmike]

The problem with cortisone shots are they do not offer long term result. Yes it will bring relief by reducing inflamation for the time being but it will not fix the damage and in the long term if overdone can cause more damage like thinning of the joint cartilage and weakening of the ligaments.

[Grindstaff]

Update:

Woke up with a lot of pain and a bit of swelling. Ice helped get it down.

Went to doctor and diagnosis (without sophisticated testing) was both tennis elbow and carpal. Also went to chiropractor today and it helped a bit as well. A notch or two below the neck got adjusted and seemed to be related. Seemed to be immediate relief for a little while.

Taking Aleve. Guess it'll be okay. Have a number to call for physical therapy. Wrapped my arm and will continue with ice.

I really appreciate all the postings and suggestions. Guessing it'll be okay soon, and I can resume shopping for a responsive and easy to play mandolin with a lot more caution in positioning when playing.

[Paul Haley]

Best of luck - take care.

Paul

[Bertram Henze]

...with a lot more caution in positioning when playing.

That's the most important point. I remember sitting and working at a computer in a wrong position for just one day (makeshift chair, too low, too soft). It earned me cervicobrachial neuralgia (pain and numbness from the neck down to the right wrist) and it took several years to go away.

I have radically changed my way to operate a mouse since.

[Grindstaff]

I also want to say that I believe that had I been active and in better shape I think I would not have experienced the injury to begin with.

[Grindstaff]

Update: Doctor, Chiropractor, Physical Therapist have resulted in quite a bit of expense. Pretty serious injury (not being able to use left hand), so gather round, boys and girls, and take heed to posture and position and keeping in good physical shape, especially if in middle age and above.

Most helpful was Physical Therapist, who noted nerve sensitivity where neck meets the spine (C7/T1). Moderate exercises were prescribed first. Massage by therapist helped a bit, but after 3 weeks with little improvement, doctor prescribed oral steriod (low dosage) which I believe helped more than anything. Rolling off of that now after a couple weeks and will continue on Aleve/Ibuprofen.

So the tingling and pain are almost gone and I'm typing with both hands now. Paying a lot of attention to posture. Still some swelling and inflammation in neck/back, I think. I've been going on long walks before going to the gym. Still icing after exercise.

Physical therapist's massaging seemed to help more than the less-delicate chiropractor adjustments.

At the gym today there was a trainer who had a lot of ideas on exercises and observed my posture and so forth.

Sold mandolin, will get another when I get this in order.

Thanks for all the comments -- thought I'd give an update.

[Bertram Henze]

Good to hear you're on your way to improvement. Sorry to hear you sold your mandolin, but quite sure you'll get back to it in the end. Wish you a fast and lasting recovery.

Everybody heard that about posture? 100% agree. The body is built to work as a whole, and is not supposed to focus the load on single points. You wouldn't notice a wrong posture for a long time until it starts to hurt, and then it's too late.

[Mike Snyder]

Smart! Now you can move up to a Kimble or <insert builder here> when you heal. Why didn't I think of that?

[John Bertotti]

I have had some tingling in my hands and arms and it was in my neck. A chiro visit fixed me right up. I do the chiro thing once a month and most of it is covered by my insurance but I have ound that keeping my spine aligned has helped my balance and sleep also. My playing got better, well more precise, my martial arts got better, and my lower back pain got better also. A chiro is not a fix all it just worked for me. I also started more stretching I had let up on and increased my exercise. All fo it helped my arms and back and neck. I have no neck pain but xrays indicate arthritist in my cervical joints. A OP doc is a great start let us know what works for you! God Bless.

[Roger Kunkel]

First off... I'm not a Doctor, this is what works for me.


2. Excercise. I'm an office worker so I need to lift weights to maintain upper body conditioning. What particularly works for me and this specific area are curls, pullups, and dips. If you stopped right there that would probably be enough but to round it out I would also include, military press, bench press, lat pulldowns. I use "universal" machines at the "Y" and I can complete one round in about 20 minutes.


Kevin

This is my experience too. I had lots of problems and was seeing a PT. Once I got it under control I joined a gym and do light weight upper body exercises four times a week All my problems have gone away.

[Gerry Hastie]

Consider even therapies like Reiki or Therapeutic touch. I've had a problem with one of the lower muscles in my thumb and made a decision to stop playing. I have not played for 4 weeks now and whilst it's been hell I'm starting to see some improvement. Rest and anti-inflammatories hasn't been enough. I'm due to see a Reiki therapist soon and a physiotherapist (physical therapist) for diagnosis etc.

When I start playing again I seriously plan to re-evaluate my technique etc really concentrate on breathing and relaxation. According to acupuncture theory the lung meridian runs down towards the hand.

Good luck, but don't give up yet.

[Loretta Callahan]

I'm reviving this thread because it helped me before when I started to get tingling and pain in my fingers. I was able to nip problems in the bud at that time. The tingling was in my left land mostly. This time, however, instead of both hands, I'm only experiencing pain and tingling in my right (picking) hand. I'm almost positive it's from the computer mouse and the hellish work schedule I had in July. Thing is that now I can barely pick without my fingers going numb.

I'm working on hydration, exercising and getting back to my supplements. I ran out of turmeric; so I didn't take it for a month. Turmeric has been a miracle cure for arthritis pain, which I don't have anymore … but I think it acted as a preventative for carpal tunnel as well … not sure.

I'm not a Western medicine fan; don't have a good chiro at the moment, so I'm trying what's available to me at the moment. My work schedule will never be that insane again (or I quit). Hopefully, good advice, exercising and swinging a dead chicken or two will help out.

[Steve VandeWater]

I have a different problem...my playing causes pain to the listener

[JeffD]

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I was having severe tingling and shooting pain in my left hand and forearm. Could not play for more than an hour, if that, and it would hurt for days if I pushed it further. Seriously thought I was coming to the end of my mandolinning. I was putting Mr. Advil's kids through college.

Discovered in a routine health screening I had type II diabetes. After getting by blood glucose corrected through medication, diet, exercise, the pain all went away, immediately, completely, and so far has never ever returned.

(Note: looking back, I had all the other typical symptoms of undiagnosed type II diabetes, but I had rationalized each and every one of them to "getting old".)

[Lou Giordano]

I have similar symptoms . I'm trying acupuncture. It's starting to help after a month, but I have lots of old injuries.

[Kowboy]

I used to have a very similar condition, pain radiating down my left arm and tingling in my middle and index finger and thumb. The pain got extremely worse over time. I had a Dr. x-ray my neck and it was diagnosed as sciatica. The sciatic nerve was being compressed between the 2 vertebrae in my neck. I opted for therapy over the surgery. I had to change a lot of my life style. You lying on the bed w/ your neck propped up w/ a pillow is not good for your neck. If that is what you're doing. Driving a car and sitting too far from the steering wheel causes your head to lean forward and compresses the nerve. I guess you get the picture. It took me some time to get relief, but I eventually did. Good luck on this one. Been there, done that!

[Loretta Callahan]

Thanks for all of the replies.

Hmmm. I'm due for a non fasting blood test to rule out type II diabetes …. all other blood tests came back normal. I think I should do that ASAP. I depend on my doctor to tell me what tests to take … and he does just that. How I deal with anything that needs fixing is the key. Thanks, Jeff.

In the short term, I'm going to look at the kind of mouse I'm using. It might be too small, causing me to have to squeeze it too much.

Discovered in a routine health screening I had type II diabetes. After getting by blood glucose corrected through medication, diet, exercise, the pain all went away, immediately, completely, and so far has never ever returned.

(Note: looking back, I had all the other typical symptoms of undiagnosed type II diabetes, but I had rationalized each and every one of them to "getting old".)

[High Lonesome Valley]

I really think this is related to mandolin playing and not a serious medical condition. I do sleep on my left arm normally but have been cutting back on this.

Thanks.

Retired RN am I.

Epichondylitis (tennis elbow) maybe. Or an impinged ulnar nerve in elbow. Tennis elbow can be helped with a shot of steroids, ulnar it MIGHT help, but maybe not.

Tennis elbow will have a hotspot of pain right on the top of the elbow that you can activate by a hard touch of your finger.

I put on 1% hydrocortisone cream and then DMSO, which I find in the horse linament aisle, for about every other day for a week. Then continue every other day with only DMSO, which I put on very lightly, don't slather. That's just me, I never recommend anyone else using this barbaric non-prescription home remedy that works fine.

[Loretta Callahan]

Update: Lots of good advice here taken. Careful not to sleep on my hand, changed my mouse, drinking more water, taking turmeric again, drinking less alcohol, being mindful of the pick "death grip" and chopping up my work time on the computer in to shorter hours at a time.

Result: very little tingling and I can play longer with fewer hand problems. Yay!

[OldSausage]

I had this too recently. I did absolutely nothing about it whatsoever, continued to drink alcohol, coffee by the bucket, and failed to exercise even once, and after about three months it went away on its own. YMMV. I wouldn't recommend it as a great approach, though.

[nickster60]

I suffered with carpal tunnel for years until they found I had a thyroid condition. Carpal Tunnel is a side effect of low thyroid. It still acts up a little when I ride my motorcycles for a long period of time. But that is combination of vibration and hand position. I actually say I am overweight because of a gland condition.

[bart mcneil]

I took up mandolin and banjo during and after a health crisis maybe thirteen years ago. I was amazed at the pain in my finger joints of both hands as I began playing roughly an hour or two per day. Several joints on both hands were quite painful. Within maybe a year the pain grtadually disappeared and has never re-appeared. But I might note that I play between two and three hours per day, every day. At a point of highest pain I asked my GP about it and he told me that If I don't use my finger joints I will eventually lose the use of them. He was not a specialist however But his advice worked out for me.

[Paul Hird]

I have suffered with carpal tunnel for several years. Up until now, I have tried different treatments, mainly various types of P/T. I had to result to my first cortisone injection in both hands roughly an hour ago. It is difficult to get through an entire tune without both hands going numb and I guess I just reached my threshold. My doctor says if the injections show good results I would be a good candidate for surgery. Of those people realizing a good result with the injections, 85% will have permanent success with the surgery. On the other hand (no pun intended), If I show no relief after the injections I will most likely not be a good candidate for surgery. I will hopefully see improvement in the next few days!

[spufman]

Changing to an Evoluent Vertical Mouse has done wonders for me. I highly recommend for anyone who spends significant time mousing around. The scroll wheel did me in over time. And my Ma Roller pretty well sets me straight. No issues now when playing any instrument.