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.