10 Year Old With Wrist Pain and Numbness in Fingers

by Andrew
(Connecticut)

Hello. My son, age 10, has been complaining of discomfort in his wrists recently. Specifically, he has pain on the side of his wrist at the joint between the wrist and thumb of his right hand, as well as numbness and loss of strength in his fingers.


The symptoms manifest themselves most acutely after he plays hockey. He is a competitive ice hockey goalie and has been playing about 4-5 times per week for the past 3 years. The pain is mostly in his right hand, which is the hand in which he holds his stick. The glove hand (left) is not hurting as badly as the right. While the pain is not debilitating, it is uncomfortable and we are worried about it getting worse.

Overall he is in very good health. He has a very healthy diet, refusing to eat junk food or drink soda. Lots of salads and fruit in addition to chicken, pasta, etc.

He does not get enough sleep in our opinion, typically getting about 8-9 hours per night. The only surgery he has had was for tubes in his ears. The tubes were inserted when he was 6 and have been out for a year now.

He does not play too many video games, although he does have an iPod and iPad that he uses quite a bit (although to be honest not that frequently).

He does play drums in school and plays drums in Guitar Hero on the xBox.

Any wisdom or insight you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!



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Joshua Answers:

Hi Andrew.

There's competitive hockey for 7 year olds? Wow.

Ok, so, here's my thoughts on
your 10 year old with Symptoms of Tendonitis.

It's super rare for 10 year olds to have tendonitis. Most aren't doing that much repetitive motions. On one hand, that's a lot of hockey stick. On the other, it shouldn't be, 10 year olds are (should be) active and resilient.

Tendonitis shows up in adults and young adults for a variety of very good reasons. And it's happening in younger and younger ages for those very same reason.

See: What Is Tendonitis




So I have some questions before I continue to comment.


1. You said pain. Describe the pain symptoms in specific details. Where, how, when, description of sensation, etc.

2. You said numbness. Where, how, when, description...etc.

3. Say more about tubes in the ears. How, when, relevant details surrounding the situation.

4. Health history. Allergies? Food allergies?

5. Pasta? Bread? How much processed foods? How much wheat foods? Milk?

6. If you can (you can), get his Vitamin D level tested. (Doctor's office don't let them tell you no or $60 blood spot test kit online here: Vitamin D Council Testing Kit)



I suspect our focus will be on nutrition, but answer the above questions and we'll go from there.





----------------------
Please reply using the comment link below. Do not submit a new submission to answer/reply, it's too hard for me to find where it's supposed to go.

And, comments have a 3,000 character limit so you may have to comment twice.
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Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com








Reversing Wrist Tendonitis ebook cover



Reversing DeQuervain’s ebook cover



Carpal Tunnel Treatment That Works Dvd cover


Reversing Guitar Tendonitis ebook cover







Comments for 10 Year Old With Wrist Pain and Numbness in Fingers

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Feb 26, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Wrist pain? Flouroquinolone Antibiotics possibly?
by: Karen

Just wondering if the child may have been prescribed any antibiotics in the last few months for any kind of an infection? Quinolone's such as...Levaquin, Ciprofloxacin, or Avelox? There seems to be thousands of people out there who have been devastated by these drugs...pain, tendonitis, muscle and ligament damage..rotator cuff tears and eye pain, tendon ruptures, so many awful side effects in so many people, many of whom are in wheel chairs, losing their jobs, their homes and suffering greatly...

My husband was severely damaged by Cipro...tendonitis in both shoulders, pain in his knees and hips and eye pain that took months to go away...He followed the Tendonitis Solution protocol and after several months he is finally almost healed of the worst pain...We just want anyone who suddenly has a mystery illness to think back and try to remember if they were ever on Quinolone antibiotics for any reason.

Google Levaquin toxicity, you will be amazed..PBS did a show on it, it is on YouTube..check it out.


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Karen.

That's a great question for people to consider!

Levaquin Side Effects are bad news.
Feb 27, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Response to your feedback and questions
by: Anonymous

Thanks for the response.

Types of Pain and Numbness: It seems to be less about pain and more about numbness in the hands, his hands feeling cold, loss of strength, etc. The numbness and cold seem to come more frequently at night before bed, and when he wakes up. He does not seem to complain about it during the day.

Tubes: He had tubes first put in his ears in 2005 or 2006 (can’t recall exactly). He had them as a result of frequent ear infections caused by insufficient draining of liquid from his ears. Very common from what I understand, and the procedure went without a hitch. Both tubes are now out. One fell out naturally, the other needed to be removed via a brief surgical procedure in 2011 since it would not come out on its own. Again, everything was very routine.

Health history: He is generally healthy. No allergies that we are aware of. He does suffer from growth pains in his legs, and has for at least 3 years now. These almost always come at night before bed or after he has gotten into bed. The pain, as I understand it, is sharp and confined to the area between the knees and ankles. We try to alleviate it via massage and increasing blood flow, but often times he needs Advil or Tylenol. Other than that, he is a pretty healthy kid. No broken bones or major illnesses. One mild concussion about a year ago, but we followed all the recommended protocols regarding rest and recovery, and he’s had no ill effects from what we can tell.

Food: He does like pasta, but does not each much bread other than the home made bread my wife makes. He does not eat candy, does not like sweets, and eats salad and veggies (usually though organic or homemade soup) every day. No ice cream, although he does like frozen yogurt on occasion. Lots of chicken, fish, meat, etc. Not a lot of milk, but he does like organic yogurt.

Have not had Vitamin D tested.


Mar 02, 2012
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Joshua Responds - 10 Year Old With Wrist Pain and Numbness in Fingers
by: The Tendonitis Expert

Joshua Comments:

Hi Karen.

1. Get his Vitamin D levels tested ASAP. Either at the doctor's (demand/make them do it if they resist at all) or you can get a blood spot test kit online for $60 here: https://vitamindcouncil.zrtlab.com

Get yours and your wife's tested too while you're at it. Adequate level of Vit D reduces the incidence of breast cancer by 85% and the category 'all forms' of cancer by 33%. Not bad for a $15 bottle of liquid Vit D3 that will keep your family for 6-12 months.


2. 3 years of growing pains? That's not great. Get his Vit D level checked. Get him on Magnesium supplementation.

3. Vitamin B6 and B12. Lots to say there, including Inflammation Causes Vitamin B6 Deficiency and Carpal Tunnel and Vitamin B6 Deficiency (numbness and poor circulation).

Plus B6 is required to utilize magnesium. And magneisum and Vit D are required to utilize calcium....

4. How much gluten would you say he eats? His diet looks pretty good so I need to investigate more thoroughly. How much pasta, wheat, bread, processed foods?

Why doesn't he drink milk? Just because, or does he not handle it well?

My first thought is that he's got nutritional issues from being gluten intolerant. So he either eats more than you're saying, or he's REALLY gluten intolerant, or it's something else.

Describe him physically. Thin, frail, strong, stocky, etc. How's his energy levels. How's his digestion.

Regardless, my first focus is nutrition. That explains everything you've described.

There could be problems at the neck from injury, fall, birth trauma (Do they still use forceps?).

Let's start with nutrition, and go from there, unless there's some physical trauma reason that could explain symptoms in the arms/shoulders/neck.
Dec 11, 2016
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Tendonitis in 10 year old?
by: Jess

My daughter does competition cheer.

2 months ago she was doing a stunt (she's a base she lift the girl with another base) The girl fell on her and bent back all her fingers and wrist.

Took her to urgent care. Had X-ray everything was fine. She was swollen so they wrapped her hand up and told her to wear it 3-4 days do heat and ice.

This morning she had practice and was visibly in pain while lifting and tumbling. Same wrist was once again swollen and very tender. Took her to the ER they are telling me she has tendonitis.

Is this possible for a child her age. She's only 10.


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Joshua Comments:

Hi Jess.

Yes, it's absolutely possible for a 10 year old to have tendonitis.

Especially after an event like the 'wrist structures forcefully overstretched' she experienced.

Xrays only show bone breaks fractures or Major tears of BIG tendons.

It's incredibly unlikely they would have seen any small soft tissue damage on an xray, and it's unlikely that she had any ripping or tearing (though it's certainly possible).

But structures were definitely overstretched (very problematic in adults, generally less problematic in 10 year olds), and her wrist joint was traumatically compressed from the impact/overstretch.

You'd think she'd be fine two months later, but obviously such is not the case, se you need to A. investigate, as you are and B. get to work with her to reverse the pain dynamic.

Maybe there's damage, maybe there's not, but you need to help her body dial down the defensive pain response and then see what's left to deal with in there.


1. The joint compression could have caused a Bone Bruise Basically, the inner joint tissue was crushed and bruised.

That can take a long time to recover unless you help it along.


2. Joint capsule tissue, ligament, tendon, could have been over stretched, and actually stretched.

This is a semi-injury, in that the above tissue isn't naturally stretchable.

As she's 10, she can -maybe- -probably- recover from this. Adults are left with permanently lengthened ligaments etc. Not idea.


3. She's stuck in inflammation process. No, ibuprofen won't stop it, that's just good to get her through the day, and has potential gut-damaging risks.

Learning How To Reduce Inflammation is a far better method to reduce pain and inflammation.


4. It's a safe bet she's nutritionally insufficient. If she wasn't before (she probably was, most kids are) she is now (because pain and inflammation eat up necessary nutrition).

Do you know her vitamin D level? If you, you should get a level before supplementing her (and you should supplement her, and yourself, for a ton of important reasons).


Pain and inflammation eat up necessary nutrition, necessary to recover, and necessary for proper function in the future.


In general, I suggest that you get the Reversing Wrist Tendonitis program. It will give you exactly what you need to to speed up her recovery process.

And read this thread, of course.


As she hasn't gotten better in two months, it makes sense to put some serious effort into helping push her recovery, as 'time' isn't doing a very good job.

Which means a few possibilities are present causing/keeping her pain in place. The RWT program covers factors causing pain etc, and limiting her healing/recovery.

And as I mentioned earlier, if she does have a tear or something, you need to do everything in the program anyway, and we'll deal with that if it comes to that.

(Also, if you get the program, contact me re: the nutrition, as we'd need to talk about adjusting the nutrition for her age/size.)

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