respect your body (lesson learned)

[deereman75]

Well I am a 14 year old high school student, and I just took up wood carving. Insted of easing into it like I should have, I jumped right in, and practiced for a few days. Well my hand and wrist have been very sore, and some lumps have apeared on the back of my hand. My shop teacher (an expert carver) looked at it and right away said ''you got carpel tunnel, same thing happened to me when I started. Try to do as little as possible until the swelling goes away, that could take a few months, and then gradualy ease into it. If you don't, it will be with you for life, thats why I cant carve for more then 3 or 4 hours a day." So here I sit, with ice on my hand, unable to do much of any work in the shop for a while. Just thought I would share this perfect example of why you should take care of yourself when young, 14 is way too young to start with carpel tunnel...

 

[Garybake]

AND all the more reason to watch the amount of typing/texting you do. Wife had surgery on both wrist and two years later it returned just as bad and limits gardening, social media as well as her favorite hobby cement sculpture painting.
Take care of that body when it cries out.:thumbsup:
Heal soon and check out exercises to stregnthen after healing (rolling a piece of rope up and down from a wood dowel held in both hands).

 

[deereman75]

AND all the more reason to watch the amount of typing/texting you do. Wife had surgery on both wrist and two years later it returned just as bad and limits gardening, social media as well as her favorite hobby cement sculpture painting.
Take care of that body when it cries out.:thumbsup:
Heal soon and check out exercises to stregnthen after healing (rolling a piece of rope up and down from a wood dowel held in both hands).

The typing and texting shouldnt be much of an issue to me, I dont text, and I only really type here, at most 10 posts a day. I will defenatly rest it for a while, and look into*some excercises.

 

[vwnotrunning]

When I was way past 14 - I did some small carvings. I never had problems with the carpel tunnel - but I did find out - beer - holding small items between knees and sharp objects to not play well together!

 

[deereman75]

Ok I was looking around some, and it seems it isnt actually carpal tunnel, thats just what my teacher said. It seems the carpal tunnel is only in the wrist, this is in the back of my hand, it is just badly inflaimed tennons, its about like an almond sticking out of my hand.

 

[Garybake]

Streched tennons are as bad as a muscle cramp. Make sure you are not dehydrated or lacking potassium (banannas) and hand rest. Ice packs first to reduce swelling then later heat and massage to relieve pain. No exercise needed - too much, to fast in your case - stretch before working out (carving).

vwnotrunning glad it was your knees and not in your lap.

 

[mjncad]

You're 14 now...just wait till middle age set in and the real fun begins.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Just so I'm clear here, you had a SHOP TEACHER diagnose Carpal tunnel syndrome?
Did I hear that right. I'm going to bite my tongue here considering you're 14.

The first thing you do is see a real Doctor.

I can pretty much guarantee you don't have Carpal tunnel syndrome. There is no way you get Carpal tunnel syndrome as soon as you got it doing what you were doing.

See now the teacher scared the Bajesus out of you with no actual medical training.

Son, ease up, your fine, go see a doctor and have him tell you your fine....or educate yourself.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001469/

You'll note that Carpal tunnel syndrome is pressure on the median nerve. Now look at the pretty pictures and see where that nerve is. It's NOT on the back of the hand.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Well I am a 14 year old high school student, and I just took up wood carving. Insted of easing into it like I should have, I jumped right in, and practiced for a few days. Well my hand and wrist have been very sore, and some lumps have apeared on the back of my hand. My shop teacher (an expert carver) looked at it and right away said ''you got carpel tunnel, same thing happened to me when I started. Try to do as little as possible until the swelling goes away, that could take a few months, and then gradualy ease into it. If you don't, it will be with you for life, thats why I cant carve for more then 3 or 4 hours a day." So here I sit, with ice on my hand, unable to do much of any work in the shop for a while. Just thought I would share this perfect example of why you should take care of yourself when young, 14 is way too young to start with carpel tunnel...

I'm 48 later this month... I just had the carpal tunnel release surgery on my right hand in Oct, ad I need to have it soon on my left. I have one such "Almond" on the back of the right hand myself. It is not directly related to CT which is wrist, it is an inflammation of the tendon sheath that moves your finger. I had two, one has finally mostly went away, the other sometimes is large, sometimes is small, sometimes it hurts. It comes from strain on the tendons, or over use of your hand in some fashion.

Please do go and see an orthopedic specialist, they can usually help you very quickly. Often they can simply drain it with a needle and it will not recurr if you allow for healing time.

As has been said, relax. You will be fine. Go see your DR.

Side note... I hurt my left hand cutting wood when I was 13 and I never went to the doctor. Well it never healed properly and in 2008 or 2009 I finally had to go and have surgery twice to restore full function to that finger.

Go see your DR.

Be well DeereMan75.
David

 

[deereman75]

Just so I'm clear here, you had a SHOP TEACHER diagnose Carpal tunnel syndrome?
Did I hear that right. I'm going to bite my tongue here considering you're 14.

The first thing you do is see a real Doctor.

I can pretty much guarantee you don't have Carpal tunnel syndrome. There is no way you get Carpal tunnel syndrome as soon as you got it doing what you were doing.

See now the teacher scared the Bajesus out of you with no actual medical training.

Son, ease up, your fine, go see a doctor and have him tell you your fine....or educate yourself.
Carpal tunnel syndrome - PubMed Health

You'll note that Carpal tunnel syndrome is pressure on the median nerve. Now look at the pretty pictures and see where that nerve is. It's NOT on the back of the hand.

As I said in a follow up post, it is just inflamation in the tendons (tennons?) Seeing as hospitals/doctors are basically free here, I will be sure to go in.

 

[Bird]

I can tell you that when the carpal tunnel syndrome gets bad enough, you'll be willing to do anything to stop the pain. I put up with it until I couldn't sleep (literally quit going to bed at night; just sat up in a chair so I could let my hands and arms hang down in front of me), tried cortisone injections which only helped a little bit, then finally had the surgery on one hand on August 4, 1997. I overheard the surgeon tell the anesthesiologist that mine was the worst he'd ever seen, and he'd done lots of them. The nurse called the next day to ask if I was in pain and I told her I sure was in pain . . . in the other hand, the one that had the surgery was great. That surgeon likes to wait 3 months before doing the second hand, but I convinced him to do the second hand on Sept. 3 (almost one month).

This particular doctor had already done both hands for our younger daughter. Then my mother had the surgery on one hand by the wrong doctor and it didn't help. My doctor re-did hers and fixed it. So it is important to get the right doctor. I found people came for hundreds of miles to see the doctor who did our hands. And he also believes in surgery only as a last resort.

 

[schweizer]

As a physician, I can see several potential diagnoses here:

Someone mentioned tendonitis (or tenosynovitis) -- quite possible.
Another possibility is a synovial cyst (AKA ganglion cyst) which can get inflammed.

Both of these situations are quite treatable, mostly w/ rest, and sometimes anti-inflammatory medicine. Some cases require needle aspiration or excision in the case of a synovial cyst.

Other etiologies are much less likely considering your age and circumstances.

You should have no long term problems.

Carpal tunnel is quite a different beast.

Without seeing it, I'd recommend taking it easy and if it persists after a few weeks, or worsens, or is associated w/ redness, swelling, fever, go to your doctor.

Marcus

P.S. Most docs won't say much on these kind of forums to prevent exposure to any litigation, considering our crazy legal environment.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

As a physician, I can see several potential diagnoses here:

You should have no long term problems.

Carpal tunnel is quite a different beast.

Without seeing it, I'd recommend taking it easy and if it persists after a few weeks, or worsens, or is associated w/ redness, swelling, fever, go to your doctor.

Marcus

P.S. Most docs won't say much on these kind of forums to prevent exposure to any litigation, considering our crazy legal environment.

Doc Schweizer,
Marcus,
Packmate,

You sir ROCK. I like your style and bravery. You drive a righteous tractor, have a imperial name, and an awesome signature. AND Bonus points for living off-grid.

I applaud you sir.

Are you in the coastal, mountain, or desert part of southern Oregon? I'm a former Willamette Valley guy myself (Portland & Hillsboro).

Be well,
David

 

[schweizer]

Thank you Mossflowerwoods/"sir member-of-the-month"! You made my day and made me smile!

We live about 15 miles outside Grants Pass in the mountains, in a side valley of the Applegate Valley.

 

[deereman75]

Well the problem with our free healthcare, is if I did decide to have surgery for something like this, the wait would be years. Ice and pain killers seems to work just fine.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Thank you Mossflowerwoods/"sir member-of-the-month"! You made my day and made me smile!

We live about 15 miles outside Grants Pass in the mountains, in a side valley of the Applegate Valley.

Doc Koiti,

You sir are most welcome!

If you are ever near DC or Richmond, VA please plan time to visit our ranch/farm MossFlowerWoods and there will be a cold beer or a hot cup of coffee readily available for you and the missus sir.

Be well,

David

PS - I think that whole Member of the Month thing about me was really just an April Fools joke they forgot to take down...

 

[schweizer]

@deereman75: You sound wise beyond your years...

@mossflowerwoods: Awesome! Would love to. Likewise here, you are always welcome! I like your farm name -- guess why -- ours is Mossy Hollow! (do a google search on: "bryner mossy hollow" to see our project).

 

[MossflowerWoods]

@mossflowerwoods: Awesome! Would love to. Likewise here, you are always welcome! I like your farm name -- guess why -- ours is Mossy Hollow! (do a google search on: "bryner mossy hollow" to see our project).

Doc Kioti,

Sir, I only made it through a handful of pages so far but to my soul Mossy Hollow is AWESOME and Beautiful & to my engineer's brain it is complex and wonderful.

W O W.

Almost makes me pine for the fjords of my youth in the Will-a-mette...

I used to hunt down near Corvallis in a place my stepdad called "the Neverstill" forest, and also in old "Tillamook burn"area off the Wilson river.

My favorite memories of Oregon and my youth are stomping around in the woods and encountering babbling mossy & stone filles streams like the one in your pix.

Thank you for that reminder sir.

Be VERY well...
David

 

[dmccarty]

I am not a Doctor nor did I stay had a certain hotel last night.

A couple of weeks ago I was building a chicken coop that required quite a bit of nailing, stabling and wire cutting. I was using a Dremel to cut the wire but the wheels kept breaking and eventually I got out the hand powered wire cutters. I have a good air powered nail gun and stabler which helped but after three days of nailing, stabling, and wire cutting my hand was swollen and in pain.

Thankfully by the time the pain hit, the chickin coop was done. :thumbsup:

Ice, rest and over the counter meds have made it all better. This is the second time I have done this and at least this time I knew that ice, rest and the meds would help.

Even with the power tools I still managed to overuse the hand.

Later,
Dan

 

[deereman75]

Well as an update, after that happened, I hurt both my wrists badly. Now both my wrists and my hand are better. I love how fast you heal when your young.