Sports: Re: [DucatiST] Carpal Tunnel and possible treatments, was: Grip Puppies

Hi Michael

Unfortunately I can not give any good information for this subject, I had my right Carpal fixed over a year ago and it still gives me hell.

The left is stuffed but I won't have the surgery for the repair.. Sorry but it can be hell..

Cheers Dave

From: Michael Heth <mheth@motolectric.com>
To: st2_owners@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, 29 August 2011 12:44 PM
Subject: [DucatiST] Carpal Tunnel and possible treatments, was: Grip Puppies

>
> Ian, that is a crucial bit of info.
> Before you do anything, align your levers so that your forearm/wrist/palm of your hands are in a straight line. Having your levers too high, resulting in an upward bend of your hands WILL mess things up!!!
>
> You may have to file off a retaining pin on the handlebars (prevents correct orientation of the levers but is there as a 'safety' mechanism), which takes a couple of seconds. My St4s is extremely comfy, after I placed the levers in the correct orientation.
>
> FYI I was starting to get carpal tunnel something wikkid a few weeks ago - and it was because my keyboard at work was moved into an incorrect position. It caused such pain I couldn't sleep. But once I figured out what was the source, and re-aligned my keyboard, it went away in just a few days.
>
>

Here's what I can offer;

I had a galpal who once got carpal tunnel so bad she went on disability so I was able to see what they do if you get it so bad you can't work.

The only medication that they put her on was about 800 mg of ibuprofen (daily). (As I learned) the only difference between the prescription version and over the counter is the script version have more ibuprofen in each tablet so you don't have to swallow so many pills every day. So you can just bump up the over the counter dosage and you will get what a doctor would prescribe (Hey, I didn't tell you to do that, I just said you could).

She also had to wear wrist braces 100% of the time, even to bed as your wrist will move into bad positions while you sleep.

The above eventually got rid of it for her after maybe 2 months.

As for me I was getting it myself starting a few years back due in part to using a mouse about 18 hours a day.

I changed to a trackball and put it on the left side of the keyboard to give my right wrist (the worse of the 2) a break. Trackballs seem to allow for a better positioning for your wrist (IMO).

I also bought the best wrist braces I could that were not large and obtrusive.

They are branded Bioskin and are here

http://www.bioskin.com/Wrist-Bracing.html

When the pain was at it's worse, (stabbing pain from just trying to put my hand into my trouser pocket) I wore the Bioskins most of the time (while working at my desk, while sleeping) and they helped get rid of the problem. I bought the Bioskins because they looked like I could actually get them to fit under a pair of gloves if I need them to for riding (in case things didn't get better).

I also bought some foam grips ($12 USD) that mimic the barrel shape of the 1960s and 1970s Tomaselli grips that came on Nortons and many other bikes. If you curve your hand as if you are holding a handlebar grip and examine the shape you will see that your hand has an indentation in the palm area. The barrel shape fills that area and gives you more surface to palm contact and because of that you can have the same amount of grip on the bars with less force.

This I think is key, - your hand has to take a unnatural shape (your palm has to press down) in order to try and get a proper grip if you are using a tube shaped hand grip. The added pressure it not noticeable until you exacerbate the issue with poor keyboard and mouse orientations that cause the issue to be pretty much non-stop (you are damaging the carpal area all the time).

In order to "cure" carpal tunnel you have to isolate the hand to forearm transition point (your wrist) and hold the hand in the proper orientation so that the tunnel can heal. Basically it is like puling a rope through a small circular hole. The wrist has been in the wrong orientation and so the rope has been rubbing against the edge of the hole and is now sore. Until the tunnel is allowed to mend (by not rubbing on it for a while) it will never heal. It is the same if you get a cut and rub the scab off the wound every day, it too will never heal up.

So, I do think it is possible to cure a bad carpal issue, I was able to do it. But it does require that you focus on a sound treatment and not dabble at it. The dabbling will never allow the tunnel area to heal.

BTW, my carpal issue was quite bad while riding and I ride an E900 (upright dualsport hand/arm/bar orientation).

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

M./

Michael Heth
mheth@motolectric.com
(415) 992-7840

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