Sunday, June 20, 2021

Carpal Tunnel or Tendonitis

 It's true I've had tendonitis from building houses starting at about age 12 part time with my father in the summers. But, I didn't get the symptoms until I was about 32 after building many things in my 20s. And when I was 29 I helped a French Architect who was a friend build a beautiful home in Mt. Shasta then too. And a year or two later I also built a home for myself and my wife then and kids on 2 1/2 acres we purchased at about 4000 feet. So, from about age 32 I have had some pain in my hands most of the time. 

However, I was always taught by my father who was an Electrical Contractor to just not think about the pain because when you are building whether it is building like a carpenter or an Electrician or whatever you are doing pain is a part of being a builder because you are always getting little injuries of one kind or another to the point where even if you are bleeding it is mostly about not getting blood on clothes or other places and preventing getting infections and not bleeding so much you are bleeding out and dying. So, injuries where you are in pain some or most of the time is pretty normal if you are building things because unexpected things are always happening of one sort or another. In other words when you are building there are always minor injuries. So, the main thing is to work safe enough so you don't get major injuries.

But, I also remember my father falling 30 feet of a ladder and breaking his wrist so he couldn't work for around 6 weeks when I was about 5 years old. So, he was injured on the job. And I remember one time I fell through the ceiling which was a T-bar false ceiling because I was reaching for a cable above the ceiling so i fell about 14 feet through the ceiling and into a pile of lumber. However, I knew how to fall and still do so I wasn't seriously injured. You have to roll when you fall so you don't die like a tumbler.

So, the worst that happened to me then when I was about maybe 17 was that I couldn't breathe for a few minutes because the air got knocked out of me. So, knowing how to fall and what to do when this happens is important to your survival if you are going to be a builder of anything. You have to have really good reflexes and know what to do in an instant so you can survive all these things.

So, the tendonitis thing I have had pretty much ongoing since I was around 32 years old and I'm not 73. But, how it is affecting me now is that I have lost the strength in my thumbs because when I grip like a jar my thumbs hurt like hell. So, often now I have to ask my wife to open a jar of pickles or whatever or get out some giant Channel locks to open it or something like this. The same for jars of jelly.

My fingers are still strong but my thumbs are just too painful when I try to grip something hard to open it.

It's also one reason why I'm writing less because typing also seems to make this worse for me too even though I love to write and it is also sort of like a Zen discipline or meditation for me to write ever since I learned to type on a typewriter one summer in a class at my 7th Grade Junior High school in Glendale California in about 1960.

I've never regretted learning to type because term papers go much quicker if you know how to type ever since. I can still remember my first term paper in my sophomore year in high school on the History of the Automobile which I very much enjoyed doing except I had to stay up all night to get it finished on time. But, I got a good grade on it. As I have studied these pages it is more likely that I'm dealing with tendonitis than Carpal Tunnel because it mostly just affects my thumbs.

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Carpal tunnel syndrome
Also called: median nerve compression

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Description

A numbness and tingling in the hand and arm caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist.
Wrist anatomy, underlying health conditions, and patterns of hand use can contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome.
Key symptoms are pain in the hand and arm with numbness or tingling.
Treatment may include rest, ice, wrist splints, cortisone injections, and surgery.

Very common
More than 3 million US cases per year
Treatable by a medical professional
Requires a medical diagnosis
Lab tests or imaging rarely required
Medium-term: resolves within months
For informational purposes only. Consult your local medical authority for advice.
Sources: Mayo Clinic and others. Learn more
 

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Tendinitis of wrist

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Description

Swelling of the tissues (tendons) connecting muscle to bone in the wrist.
Repetitive stress (overuse) of the tendons, such as from hand-intensive activities, is the usual cause.
Stiffness and pain are symptoms.
Treatments include rest, ice, pain relievers, physical therapy, and sometimes steroid injections.

Common
More than 200,000 US cases per year
Treatable by a medical professional
Usually self-diagnosable
Lab tests or imaging rarely required
Medium-term: resolves within months
For informational purposes only. Consult your local medical authority for advice.
Sources: Mayo Clinic and others. Learn more

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