Having trouble figuring out whether it's carpal tunnel or wrist tendonitis from basketball

by WristAche

Hello, a few weeks ago I started having wrist pain from playing too much basketball. Since then I've went to many doctors and some have said it's tendonitis, while others have said carpal tunnel syndrome.

I've been icing the wrist as described in your website (10 times a day, whole hand in the ice water), and I've been doing light exercise, but hasn't helped.

The pain is mild, like a toothache. It's to the left of the bone, in the palm side of the wrist, towards the thumb. The fingers don't hurt, and I have a lot of weird experiences with the pain. It randomly shoots up even when I'm not doing anything, and some days the pain only escalates if I move the wrong way.

Another weird occurance was the fact that only my left hands wrist hurt for a few days after I started getting the pain. Then out of nowhere my right hand started hurting in the same exact place even though all I was doing was occasionally browsing the internet, icing, and resting.

I would appreciate any help in helping to diagnose exactly which one I have and what else could be done to help the pain. The pain is very mild, but it never goes away no matter how much I ice or rest.



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Joshua Answers:

Hi WristAche.

1. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome requires numbness and/or tingling for that diagnosis. DO you have numbness or tingling?

Really, your doctors couldn't tell the difference? That's sad.

Having said that, random, non-obvious pain can be hard to diagnose because it's non-obvious.

2. Maybe it's just symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency.

3. Maybe you would benefit from reading this page. Magnesium for Tendonitis

4. Pain can switch sides, as the body tries to adapt and maintain homeostasis. And, the body tries to match what's happening on one side on the other side. So a problem on one side and pain on the other is not uncommon.

That's partly the Pain Causing Dynamic.

5. You said 'ice dip the whole hand'. You are dipping the entire hand and forearm up over the elbow? As described on the How To Reduce Inflammation page, yes?

6. Tendonitis symptoms come from a variety of different directions - tightness, irritation, Process of Inflammation, nutritional issues, etc.

See: What Is Tendonitis





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