Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga. Will Your DVD Help?

by Laurie



I developed EXTREME pain in my fingers, hands, wrists and forearms this winter after practicing power yoga 5 to 6 days a week.

My doctor says it's Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel.

Your extreme icing helped but now 3 months later, whenever I lift a heavy object or perform any stressful exertion with my hands, my wrists and the muscles in my forearms start to tighten up and hurt again.

Will your DVD address and improve this problem?

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Joshua Answers:

Hi Laurie.

Let's see. From just what you've said, yes, I think one of my DVDs will definitely address and improve the pain in your arms.

From the situation you describe I think you should get 'The Tennis Elbow Treatment That Works'.

It will effectively address the dynamic of the entire lower arm. (The Carpal Tunnel DVD does too, but the focus is different.)

If and when you get and watch the dvd, contact me and I will tell you how to slightly adjust one of the activities on it so that you will get the results you want.



The thing to know about this kind of pain is that it is a dynamic, a mechanism.

Just getting rid of the pain, which icing does, is great. But you need to keep at the icing even after the pain is gone to help the body structure work better. And the other activities on the DVD hit everything that needs to get hit to reverse the problem, instead of just make the pain go away.

So I'm curious what is going on in your arms. I can imagine a lot of the activity you are doing in Power Yoga.

Actually, I'm more curious why you are having pain that you tried

the icing for.

At this point I'm just going with that you have too much tightness both muscular and connective tissue that has been slowly getting tighter and tighter over time, and a nervous system that thinks you are in danger so it is kicking in a very strong inflammation process.

Questions to give me a more clear idea of what exactly is going on

1. Did you have pain before Power Yoga? How long have you been doing PY?

2. Have you had wrist/elbow pain before, historically?

3. What do you do with your hands all day? Keyboarding, mousing, what kind of work/activity do you do with your hands?

4. What was your experience with the Ice Dipping? How much did you do, over how long a period till the pain was less/gone?

5. How long after you stopped Ice Dipping until the pain came back from yoga?

6. Does it hurt during Power Yoga, or after?

7. Did your doctor elaborate on it when s/he said 'Carpal Tunnel' and 'Cubital Tunnel'?

8. Any numbness or loss of strength in the fingers/hands/wrist?


So many questions, so little time....

And I'm always happy to answer more questions.




Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com














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May 19, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 2 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: Laurie

I'd been doing power yoga for about a year but the new instructor stepped it up a notch last winter and did no warm-up except breathing exercises.

I injured my left elbow in January but continued to go to class (until March).

That's when the other problems started. I had no history of wrist or arm pain before this happened.

I did the ice dip from the elbows down 2 hrs per day for 10 days until the pain was pretty much gone.

I have discontinued yoga but the pain in my forearms (brachioradialis) comes back when I garden, lift something heavy or strain the area.
My hands go numb at night when this happens.

The doctor only gave me the Carpal & Cubital Tunnel diagnosis and said it would improve over time - no other instruction.

He also indicated I have early stage osteo-arthritis in my hands.(Most likely elsewhere too.)
May 19, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 3 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: The Tendonitis Expert

Joshua Answers

Ok, good information, thanks.

It's a safe bet to say that whether it started with the injury, or whether the injury just sent you over the threshold of 'problem', that there was a tightening up process in place even before you felt any pain.

Let's just say that you've been doing Power Yoga for a year and your muscles and connective tissue slowly got tighter and tighter.

Ironically, muscles and connective tissue can get tighter -and- still give you flexibility and range of motion at the same time.

So your body was compensating for the tightness, your tissue is active and healthy, but then the new teacher stepped it up and pushed you more than your body could happily compensate for.

I don't know what the injury to the elbow was...

But it usually happens that 'injury' is really just getting to the point where the body can no longer compensate enough to keep you pain free and your system goes "Fine! It's your problem now!"

That's when pain and lasting pain kicks in.



So that's great you iced for 10 days until the pain was pretty much gone.

I suggest you do another ten days for a couple of reasons:

A. There is a lot going on underneath the skin. Stage 1 is getting the pain enhancing chemical from Inflammation out of the tissue. That reduces pain.

B. It also stops telling the nervous system that there's a problem, to the degree that the chemical is out. So if you can continue to ice and keep chemical out, as well as all the other good things icing does, that will help your body continue to 'fix' things.



So it makes sense the pain mostly went away, but there's still something lingering there ready to hurt.

Just because it doesn't hurt, doesn't mean the structure doesn't have a problem.




Ahhh, doctors. Tsk tsk tsk.

Odd how some think that giving you nothing but a diagnosis is even a little bit helpful.

Anyway, remember that 'syndrome' is nothing but a set of symptoms. Just because you have the symptoms of carpal or cubital syndromes, doesn't meant that you actually have a 'real' problem with the Carpal Tunnel or Cubital Tunnel.


You can get all the symptoms of both, exactly as you describe just from muscle and connective tissue tightness and Inflammation.

Plus it sounds like you have some bicep muscle/tendon issue in there too.



Two more questions before I continue.

1. How old are you?

2. How exactly did you injure you elbow? What were you doing, when did it start to hurt, etc.

3. Why did your doctor think you have Osteoarthritis? For any reason other than what you have described to me?



Joshua
May 19, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 4 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: Laurie

Thanks so much for your help!

I'm a very young 58. ;) Seriously! I absolutely loved my yoga and I'm completely bummed that I can't continue it without aggravating the situation.

I don't even feel like I should chance practicing wimpy yoga at this point.

I injured my left elbow in January while doing a one armed side plank pose. I felt it shift and pop but with no significant pain - so of course I kept going.

A couple days later it became hot and inflamed and I could feel the tendon deep in the muscle screaming at me. I stayed off it a few days, wrapped it and went back to class just doing modified poses.

It was so cold this winter, even in Florida, that my muscles just didn't feel as flexible as usual.

For almost 3 more months I continued to overcompensate for the injured elbow. In class I would modify a pose by putting more pressure on my wrists and hands until I realized I was really in trouble.

Now I can't do anything weight-bearing without paying dearly for it the next day. My doctor diagnosed the arthritis because of the nodules that have appeared on the first joint of a few fingers and pain at the base of my thumb joints.

He pretty much told me that the yoga helped contribute to the joint erosion. I've also pulled something in my left knee, but that's another story. So here I am in a very unhappy state.

P.S. I also wanted to tell you that after I quit yoga cold turkey, ALL my muscles went into a state of hyper-tension. A massage therapist said my upper back/neck muscles were in some kind of inversion; I don't know the term. It was unbelievably painful.

Right now I still have some visible fluid that's collected in an area on the underside of my wrists and the sides of my hands below my pinky fingers. Just thought I would mention this to give you more insight.

May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 5 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: The Tendonitis Expert

Laurie, I believe that you are a young 58!

Ok, let's see here....

We need to do two things.

1. We need to knock out the Process of Inflammation and

2. We need to give your body nutrition that it is missing.



A couple thoughts before we get into that.

1. I have never heard of muscular 'inversion'. I have no idea what she meant if s/he actually said that word. Acute hyper-tension, spasm and pain, yes.

2. Your doctor is smoking crack. (I love saying that!)

Your doctor is smoking crack if s/he thinks that you'll eventually get better. What he really means is that if you stop all activity, probably your pain will eventually lessen enough that you won't come into his office to complain very often.

Also, yoga did not 'contribute to your joint erosion', and saying that it did puts the blame on yoga instead of the doctor's inability to have a clue about nutrition and health.

Grrrrr.

I'm not a doctor so I can't diagnose or prescribe, but I do have these SUGGESTIONS for you.

1. Get and take a good Calcium/Magnesium supplement.

2. Start finishing your showers on COLD. For the short term, take 2-3 short showers a day, and alternate between hot and COLD, finish on cold.

3. Start making and eating Bone Broths.



Calcium/Magnesium: Muscle requires Calcium to fire, and Magnesium to stop firing. I bet you don't have enough, and your muscles are basically stuck firing on.

Also, being super tight and spastic uses up more CalMag than you take in.



Finish your showers on COLD: You know how Ice Dipping your forearms helped? If you would Ice Dip your entire body, I'd tell you to do that.

But it's all I can do to get a tiny percentage of people to finish their showers on cold. Plus you live in Florida, I bet your cold water isn't very cold.

If you want to get out of pain fast, fill up a tub with ice water, and jump in and out 20-30 times a day for the next week.

It will keep you young :)

And if you won't do that, finish your showers on as cold as you can get for as long as you can stand.



Bone Broth: I am making some assumptions about your health based on American nutritional habits and your symptoms.

You have given me many clues. I don't think your immediate problem is just tendonitis, although you definitely have tendonitis issues.


Your deeper and immediate problem is that you are falling apart.

Immediately we need to get the inflammation under control. Secondly and just as immediately we need to fill you up nutritionally so your body will get tough/strong again.

(Continued in PART 6)

Joshua
May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 6 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: The Tendonitis Expert

(Continued from PART 5)

One aspect of that is to start making and eating Bone Broth. I've been thinking about writing an article on this, I'll point you to it when I write it. For now, look it up online.

Basically, Bone Broth has been used throughout much of our history. Then we stopped having that and we switched to grocery stores full of nutrition-free food.

Start making and eating Bone Broth. A lot of it. It basically counts as taking glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, collagen, and a lot of other nutrients necessary for strong bones, connective tissue, and teeth.



Your primary mission right now, looking at the next 40 years, is to get back to old style nutrition.

Bone Broth, good dark green vegetables, NO refined wheat (inflammatory), light on the sugar.

And you want to up your protein intake by A LOT. Fish, red meat, chicken, cottage cheese, Kefir, good yogurt, raw milk NOT pasteurized store bought milk.

A more natural diet will help with any arthritis too, if it is in fact arthritis.

This is going to become a long conversation with you. We have a lot to talk about! I'm going to bring in Kerri from www.easy-immune-health.com and see what she has to say.

Here's a bone broth recipe from her. (I threw some in with my chicken, rice and beans fry up for dinner tonight) Essential Bone Broth Recipe.

She's the right person to talk to about arthritis.

Plus she'll want to know how much you are out in the sun, uncovered. I can't imagine you're Vitamin D deficient, but maybe you stay inside and under wide brimmed hats.....?


My main point I want to make is that I think that your body is breaking down more than it should be, and that is absolutely nutrition related.


Ok, tell me what you hear in all this.

Also, say more about that whole fluid in your wrist. Surely it's from a huge inflammation response, but let's check that out.



Joshua
May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 7 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: Laurie

WOW! This is allot to digest -no pun intended.

I am and always have been very diligent when it comes to what goes into my body. I found in my mid-20's, after a 4 hour glucose tolerance test, that I have hypoglycemia, so I've basically been on a low carb/high protein diet since then.

NO SUGAR or wheat but lots of chicken (some red meat), fruit,vegetables, cheese, nuts and seeds - almost no processed garbage. I take 1350 mg of calcium/magnesium/Vit.D. in addition to allot of other vitamins and minerals such as B's, C, E and zinc plus a multi-vitamin. I'm a redhead so I stay out of the sun as much as possible and see a dematologist twice a year. (Possible vit. D deficiency?)

The swelling I mentioned on the underside of my wrists look like two little pillows where fluid has collected. I've never noticed it before all this, so I'm assuming it's connected to carpal tunnel.

I tried the cold shower thing after reading it on your website but I have to say that didn't last very long. The cold water seemed to tighten me up more. But now that it's warmer I'll try it again.

I checked out the broth recipe and it's basically the same as the one I use when I make soup, so that's easy. I definitely buy into the nutrition thing, but I don't think the magic bullet in my condition has to do with poor food choices.

It's possible that I don't eat enough though. I have a small, wirey frame at 5'2" and keep my weight at around 105.

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Joshua Answers:


1. Based on general rules of Vitamin D, I'm going with DEFINITELY vitamin D deficient, probably very deficient depending on how much you keep yourself sun free. And that can account for much of your symptoms, actually. I'll have Kerri respond about that, she's the expert there.



2. I do think there is some magic bullet as far as all this pain. You just have too much symptom for it not have a nutritional, which could be caloric intake. Definitely doesn't look like poor food choices, good for you.

I'm making up numbers here, but if, with all your activity, you need 30x amount of calories and protein to have all the building blocks you need to have a strong structure, and you only take in 20x, sooner or later your building is going to crumble.

Most athletes in my opinion don't eat enough protein. That can include not enough calories, such that the protein they do take in is burnt for fuel instead of used to build and repair.



3. I'm not exactly sure why there's all the super tightness and tighter from finishing on cold.

Could be the Calcium Magnesium thing. Could be your body's response to all the pain and it's just in a very 'guarding' state of mind.

You may just naturally run tight. Maybe it's a function of mental stress. I don't know yet.

If you want with shower, instead of finishing on cold, shift to hot-cold-hot-cold-hot-cold-warm.

That way you get the circulatory change over but still get the warmth.


Joshua
May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 8 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: Laurie

I'm taking 1400 IU's of Vit.D per day in my calcium and multi-vitamin supplements, which is 3 1/2 times the daily requirement, plus I live in Florida. Whenever you step out the front door you're exposed to UV rays.

At this point I'm the furthest thing from an athlete. I haven't been to a yoga class since mid-March, so my calorie intake is probably sufficient.

The cold shower tightness I referred to was just my momentary response to the extreme change in water temperature. Shock would have probably been a better description than tightness. I'll try the hot/cold/hot/cold/warm approach instead.

My doctor called today to give me the results from my routine bloodwork. He also did vitamin B and thyroid tests along with glucose and the other usual stuff. He said my results were "enviable" in every respect.

I told him about my ongoing forearm/tendon/muscle thing and he asked if I wanted cortisone shots. You know what my response was to that! He said if I wanted he could schedule an appointment with a "hand" doctor to do some tests for possible surgery. You know what my response was to that!

So now what? I'm back to the question of whether one of your DVD's would help.

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Joshua Answers:

No Corticosteroid shot for you?? :)

ON the cold showers, that 'shock' is exactly what you want. That makes the tissue contract, force waste product and irritant and old fluid out, and the body overcompensates and pushes a lot of new blood in. Shock in this case is good.

First off, I may need to apologize, I do tend to throw more at people that they asked for, and more than they sometimes want.

Having said that....here's more:) (My intention is always towards a cure, and not just for less pain)

(Continued in PART 11)
May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 9 - Plus Arthritis, Pain, Tingling and Vitamin D
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen

Hi Laurie,

Joshua asked me to jump into this conversation and give my 2 cents.


Yes, I agree with Joshua about the bone broth. Really steep those bones and eat the broth on a regular basis- 2 to 4 times per week.

And even mild Vitamin D Deficiency can cause SERIOUS aches and pains. Please get your Vitamin D Level checked and get and keep your level between 50 to 80 ng/ml. The reference range on the test is 30 to 100, but Vitamin D Researchers almost all have concluded that lower than 40 should be considered insufficient.

Vitamin D Deficiency has also been linked to numbness and tingling as well, so Vitamin D Deficiency could be contributing to all this.


Are you taking Omega 3 Fatty Acids? These are very anti-inflammatory and the vast majority of people don't get enough. Turmeric and Ginger are also very anti-inflammatory and can help reduce the inflammation if used consistently over a period of time.


Could you be simply overtraining? How often are you doing fairly strenuous yoga? Are you allowing your muscles and joints to recover in between times? Are you getting 8 hours of sleep a night? What TIME do you go to bed at night?





Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com
May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 10 - Plus Vitamin D and Tendonitis
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen

Hi Laurie,

I know that you think that your Vitamin D Level is sufficient because of your intake, but it really may not be. Even taking WAY over the RDA and EVEN living in Florida.

Researchers are actually recommending about 10 times the RDA of Vitamin D, and a study done on people living in Hawaii who got 5 hours of non sunscreened sun exposure per week were STILL Vitamin D Deficient.


Virtually all of my clients are SHOCKED at their Vitamin D Levels! In fact, I know of a doctor in Florida who if fit and tanned and still takes 10,000 IU's a day, every day because he is aware of how much Vitamin D the body actually needs.


And yes, I think that you should get Joshua's DVD. He addresses some very interesting aspects of the pain causing dynamic that most people simply just miss.


Good luck




Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com
May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 11 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: The Tendonitis Expert

(Continued from PART 8)

I see answers for you on two levels:

1. On a purely physical level, yes, The Tennis Elbow Treatment That Works will help get rid of the pain and help the entire structure work better/be more healthy.

It will very much help the arms from the shoulder down. And I can help you fine tune it specifically for you.

2. On a deeper level, there's something going on that is having you have all this pain, and potentially be taking more damage than you should be.

Vit D is a big invisible factor.

And I'm comfortable saying, that more protein/calories -will- help your body heal. Flat out, if you don't have enough building blocks, there is not building or rebuilding.


Joshua

P.S. Kudo's on the good feedback from the doctor. I love healthy people. It's such a continual process/effort isn't it.


May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		PART 12 - Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel From Power Yoga.
by: Laurie

Thanks to both of you for your feedback and concern. I'm really feelin' the love!:)

As soon as I get back home I will order the DVD and buy some Vitamin D. I already take so many vitamins but I agree that this one is very important, plus I'll try to step up the protein.

In the meantime I'll start the extreme icing again. I know that helps immediately. Thanks again!

On another note... Have you ever heard of astaxanthin? It's a super charged antioxidant dirived from microalgae. It's great for arthritis and is said to accelerate muscle healing for athletes. It also plumps the skin as though you were infused with collagen. I've been taking it to see if it helps my muscles and because it makes my skin look fabulous! Look it up and let me know what you think.

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Joshua Answers:

Good good good. And I'm glad you're feeling the love. I'll throw everything I have at someone willing to be curious and do the necessary work to get better. Thanks for playing.

And yes, I know what you mean about all the different supplements. I like Vit D3 because you can take a months worth all at once, and not have to worry about it everyday.

Kerri may have, but I haven't heard of astaxanthin. Sounds cool. I'm all for anything if it really works. I'll check it out.

Have you heard of, and I love this, 'Green Lipped Muscle'? Apparently it's 158x as effective as Omega 3s. Its cool that it works better, but I love the name ;)



Joshua
May 20, 2009
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		C & C Tunnel Follow-up
by: Laurie

I'll do anything to get rid of that Saran-Wrapped feeling in my forearms!!! (anything other than steroid shots and surgery;)

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