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Recent Carpal Tunnel Surgery, still have weakness, pain, and a grinding feeling
by Betty Raynor Davis
After over six years of pain, numbness, tingling and a weak ability to hold onto things with my right hand I had surgery in June 2009. My wrist was in a plaster cast for two weeks after surgery. During that time I felt pain not only in the area of the surgical wound but also in my right thumb and wrist just below the thumb. The cast is now gone, stitches removed and the wound nearly healed. However, I continue to have the pain in the meaty part of the lower thumb and wrist just below that point. It feels sometimes like a grinding or rubbing against a coarse area inside this part of the lower hand/wrist junction at the thumb. I have even more weakness right now following surgery. When I do attempt to grip items it hurts and I can feel a tightness and pulling that is uncomfortable. My surgery was very recent and for some reason my physical therapy authorization has not yet been authorized but I have tried some simple excerises on my own. Let me add that I have diabetes although I control it well. I wonder if this is affecting, possibly slowing somewhat, my healing. The after surgery pain at the wound site was not all that bad after the first three to four days. However, I do continue to have problems with weakness and the coarse grinding sensation. One area under the wound site is very sensitive and when pressed against is painful. I apply cetaphil cream and rub it in and around the scar site several times a day. I'll post another followup report after some more healing time has passed. ---- Joshua Comments: Hi Betty. Thank you so much for sharing. Please do update us as time goes by. And, I'm a big believer in helping yourself heal better and faster from Carpal Tunnel Surgery, or any Tendonitis suryger, for that matter. I highly suggest that you start Ice Dipping, as described on the How To Reduce Inflammation page. You have a lot of inflammation process happening in there. As far as the grinding, I don't know the exact situation of your hand, but I also suggest that you start massaging the muscles of your thumb pad. Just 30 seconds here and there throughout the day, squeezing and eventually digging a little bit at the tight bands of muscle that you will feel in there. If the muscles are super tight, they will pull the bones of the joint together, compressing the joint such that the bones don't glide over their articulating surfaces but instead grind. Weakness can be caused by a couple factors, I wouldn't worry about it at this point. But do know that if the body feels pain or perceives that movement is dangerous (like your does right now), it will not allow the muscles their full strength potential. As far as the diabetes, that can play a role, but if you have it under control and don't have any other downsides from it, your description of you post carpal tunnel surgery experience sounds like a very familiar and usual story. Tenodnitis and Carpal Tunnel dynamics usually don't just go away without a fight (or at least, a nice talking to). Keep us updated!  Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T. The Tendonitis Expert www.TendonitisExpert.com
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