Chronic Wrist Tendonitis in Both Wrists | Designer | 24 years old |

by D. H.
(downtown, ar)

I've had wrist problems for quite some time.

In high school I developed it after doing gymnastics (poorly) for long periods of time. It prevented me from doing wrist intensive gymnastics, and pushups, ever since. But, when i wasn't hyper extending my wrists (ie: handstands or jumping on my hands) I was fine.

In college I would periodically get sore wrists, which would eventually go away. I saw a doctor twice in college, once a physician who gave me a shot of steroids but no education as to why. And another time a chiropractor who was useless.

I'm a designer - i'm on the computer a lot typing, surfing the web, playing video games, and working.

Last year I started working 40-80 hours a week as a FT designer. Ran into some problems, but most went away as i became more conscious of posture and not using a laptop.

Spent a summer of funemployment, freelancing here and there, and wound up at another intense agency working 40-80 hours in a completely new state, not knowing anybody. I work longer and harder, and have less to do since it's not an urban city, so i was always on my computer doing the above activities.

Living on my own for the very first time, my diet was mostly terrible. For fun, if i wasn't working i was probably out drinking (agency lifestyle...)

During the move I drove in, and clenched the wheel tightly as i drove at night, and suffered wrist pain for about a week and a half. it came back a few months later and i started taking Joint Health Complex supplements, and then 2 months after that it progressed so bad i couldn't even go in to work and it would hurt throughout the night and in the morning.

Surfed the web and found some articles that told me what it was which was later confirmed by a physician (wrist tendonitis), and booked an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon and started seeing an accupuncturist. I only saw her twice since my insurance didn't cover it, and it was expensive.

Found your website just before my orthpopoedic, did ice dipping and saw immediate, effects. Tried ice massage, but perhaps didn't understand it enough and stopped after a week. I immediately upgraded my nutrition with organic food and tarted taking:
Magnesium Citrate
B Complex
Joint Health Complex (Still, it has Vit C and Glucosomine)
Vitamin D
FIsh Oil Tablets

I think I was ice dipping too much as well. Every 2-8 minutes, my hands would feel a little like lead every time i took them out (which at the time felt good). My understanding now is this was too much, and i should allow more like 7-10 min per dip?

My orthopoedic led to a PT who gave me bandaids to electronically inject steroids into me, which was much less abraisive than a cortizone shot. He also recommended isometrics and stretching 3 times a day, and 1 min hot water 1 min cold (no ice dipping) 3 times a day as well. Also, I stopped using these wrist braces which actually just hurt worse (with a metal piece that i had tried to straighten out in them), and instead used these stiff gloves for arthritis-only at night.

it worked great, and i probably started pushing my old activities again too hard too early. The same week I started doing wrist curls for strength we cut down to only 1 treatment a week, and i also worked on a personal project on the computer too much and hurt myself, bringing myself at least 2 weeks backwards in the process and it's been a slow climb back ever since with infrequent treatments.

Anyway I don't want to rely on that treatment. So the last week i was doing my (too intense) ice dipping, preceded AND followed by contrast therapy 1 min cold 3 min very hot. Today I've decided to do ice dipping 7-10 min intervals, introduce ice dipping while at work (even if it will look weird to my coworkers) and try your ice massage method again.

Am I missing anything? I've been slipping by at work lately but I'm worried if a big project falls on my plate that i won't be able to do it due to pain. I'm worried how much longer this could take to heal, and a part of me wonders if i will ever heal enough to work without pain/ discomfort/ constant breaks.



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Joshua Answers:

Hey D.H.

You got rid of the Wrist splints, good.

You've been practicing and learning How To Reduce Inflammation. Great!

A healthy guy pretty much can't ice dip too much. Especially if you're going cold hot cold hot. Having said that, if -just- ice dipping, it's good to give enough time for the body to respond and push new blood into the area.

Ice dipping creates circulation, which does all sorts of good things (but is generally not a fix) like lowering pain levels.

Tendonitis is a very predictable beast. Wrist tendonitis included. It's just a matter of doing the right things.

You're doing some of the right things, for sure. It's then just a matter of are you doing enough of the right things, and in the right way?

See: What Is Tendonitis

1. How much of those supplements are you taking?

2. What's your vitamin D level? Don't know? Find out.

3. Describe what you were doing with the ice massage, the more detail the better.




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