Nerve conduction study inconclusive for carpal tunnel

by Tony
(UK)

Hi Joshua

Last June I started to get pain over my left wrist which goes into the palm of my hand. At first I was not that concered but then I started to notice an intense itching in the same area that would come and go through out the day.

I visited my GP after a month of not being able to resolve the pain by trying to use my right hand more whilst at work. The Doctor suggest thumb joint arthritis, prescribed me Diclofenac with instructions to come back in a month.

A month passed and the pain and itching became worse, sadly I did not tolerate Diclofenac very well, rather than help the pain it just burned my stomach. I was then sent for xrays, the results came back normal, they did blood tests which also came back normal for RA.

Finally I visited a Physio as my Doctor basically shrugged his shoulders and dismissed my concerns with the most amazing statement I have heard from a health professional ( Well you are 40, your getting old )

The physio seemed to think that my problems could be carpal tunnel related, I seem to have good joint movement, the grind test didn't cause me any pain. Tapping along the median nerve almost made me jump out the chair!! every tap was like a small electric shock. I tried a wrist splint but to be honest I feel it makes the pain worse. The pain started to radiate down my arm, the pain is a burning nettle sting type pain.

I went to a different GP who asked for Nerve conduction tests, I had the test on Friday. The test was simple enough and there was a difference between my left and right hand, the results however where pretty normal from what they said.

If I try doing the finkelstein test I can hear crepitus as my wrist is bent towards my little finger, how painful this is meant to be am not sure, It is certainly not comfortable and the next day my wrists feel sore with pain radiating down my arms. So far the only thing to give me any relief is thinsulate fingerless gloves, I never wake up with the pain, it just comes and goes through out the day. Work seems to make things worse, but the pain comes on shortly after finishing the activity that I am doing. The pain moves around the palm, wrist and radial area. Sometimes when I am moving my thumb I will get a momentary catching feeling but it goes straight away and doesn't bring any extra pain. I do get some joint cracking when bending my wrists but I cannot repeat the cracking with every movement so I don't believe that to be serious

To be honest I am worried it could be thumb joint arthritis despite the x rays saying different, I am a plumbing & heating engineer so resting my hands is difficult. I hope you might be able to shed a little light on what you think might be going on with my hands

I have included a few pictures, I have drawn on my arm the areas which are painful

Regards Tony



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Joshua Answers:

So your doctor just prescribed you a drug on the -suspicion- of a particular diagnosis? Interesting.

What your doctor didn't bother to ask is "If you do have joint arthritis, WHY do you have joint arthritis?"

But doctors don't ask those kind of questions. Which leaves you with the experience of "Well, you're just getting old, so don't blame it on my inability to help you at all."

Tendonitis isn't rocket science. And it's totally predictable, as far as it's mechanism and how it works

See: What Is Tendonitis?


Symptoms of Tendonitis show up because of the Pain Causing Dynamic.

The Pain Causing Dynamic is a mechanism of interplay between a process of inflammation, increasingly tight muscle and connective tissue, and nutritional insufficiency.

The joint cracking and crepitis is a function of too tight muscle and connective tissue compressing the joint(s)

If you can tap on your wrist and get the response you get, that's a function of the connective tissue in/on/wrapping around the nerve (and the wrist) in the boney groove of the carpal tunnel.

Surgeons like to get in there and cut all that up. But really all you have to do remove the tightness that is pulling on the saran wrap tightly wrapping everything up.

Wrist splints and braces never fix anything.

Reduce the inflammation, reduce the tight muscles pulling on the connective tissue and thus compressing nerve, and make sure one's nutrition is up to snuff, and all the ouch goes away.


Quesiton:

1. Why do you fear thumb arthritis? Yu didn't say anything about thumb pain.







More questions, more answers.





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