4 ms·

I've got nearly identical symptoms, and while it does come back now and then, I feel like I'm finally on top of it. I spent about a year trying various things,

I've got nearly identical symptoms, and while it does come back now and then, I feel like I'm finally on top of it. I spent about a year trying various things, including exercise ( which actually only seemed to aggravate the symptoms rather than helping), various targeted stretches, physiotherapy, rest, ice, compression, wrist support braces, various ergonomic keyboards What ultimately worked for me was a combination of massage therapy and self-massage. I found that I had a large number of muscle knots/myofascial trigger points in my hands, forearms, tricep/biceps, shoulder, and back. Working with the massage therapist we slowly worked them out. In particular I found targeting the teres minor, which is a small muscle below the shoulder almost in the armpit, to be one of the breakthrough moments. Normally I have no back or shoulder pain, but when you find these knots and you start poking at them it can be incredibly painful. I now have a home self-massage routine that I do regularly, especially if the tingling or any pain comes back, and it really helps. I use a combination of tools, including a lacrosse ball which I use against a wall on my forearms, back, and shoulders, and teres minor area, a Theracane massage stick, and a forearm massage tool from Armaid.com. The combination of the Armaid and Lacrosse ball really helped work the knots out of my forearms, and I highly recommend both of them. A book I found useful was "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" by Claire Davies. I coupled this with a muscle anatomy book to help name/identify muscles to search in the Trigger Point book. The location of trigger points and symptoms as described in the Trigger Point book were uncannily accurate, it was literally spot on. There are some good youtube videos, blogs, and websites of course. A few I found particularly helpful were the "Doug and Brad physiotherapy channel" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzVO9DU-bog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzVO9DU-bog), and the Painotopia youtube channel and corresponding website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwTpwn8lWZQ_lXfUPL1JZg/featured https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCwTpwn8lWZQ_lXfUPL1JZg/fea... https://www.muscle-joint-pain.com/ https://www.muscle-joint-pain.com/ the Painotopia website is full of info, but I did find that I had to search around to find a bit. Anyway, that's what worked and is working for me. I believe that stress, posture, and computer use, all contributed to developing these muscle knots, many of them near the ulnar nerve. Everyone's pain, symptoms, and causes are different. Good luck! If you have any questions or want more info send a comment and you can drop me an email: my HN username @ gmail.com

whitepoplar 6y ago
Thank you so much for this thorough response! I have the Armaid and use it regularly, though I haven't done any focused massage therapy. Can I ask how you found your massage therapist?
- robscallsign 6y ago
  Just through a quick google search and chose one that happened to be near the route I drove between work and my sons daycare. Her website was pretty generic and minimal, so I didn't have high hopes going in, but feel I lucked out as she had an undergrad degree in Kinesiology (or similar), and was a semi-professional cyclist, and had a lot of applied knowledge on anatomy, health, wellness, performance. The keywords I would recommend looking for when looking for a masseuse would be myofascial release, trigger-point therapy, and active release therapy, though, your mileage may vary of course. I found the 30-45 minute appointments too short, and the 1.5 hour too long, but an hour was just right. At first we just focused on the shoulders and back, but as I learned and researched more, as well as trying to find problem spots myself, we did a couple sessions on calves, buttocks (mainly piriformis), hands, neck/scalenes, forearms/elbow. A few other things I didn't add in my first comment: - I now always use a heating pad under my keyboard. The office spaces I've been working in the last decade are cold, industrial spaces, and the desk surface and hence my keyboard are always frigidly cold. I was developing arthritis-like symptoms (joint stiffness, I could feel the tendon 'clicking' in my pinky finger). I now use a generic heating pad under my keyboard and couldn't go back to not using it. - Really paying attention to my wrist/arm posture when I sleep. I was a side sleeper and would flex my wrist under my chin when I slept which was putting additional stress on my wrist/forearm, I now really try to focus on relaxing my hands/arms when I sleep. This took some time, but I think it's one of those little things that paid off in the long run. - I also have a Dr. Ho's Tens electro stimulation unit which I will use on my elbow, forearm, shoulders and back as needed. I find it helps. For the cost of ~1 massage appointment it seems worth while, even though reception/reviews/clinical proof of it's effectiveness is mixed.
  - whitepoplar 6y ago
    I really appreciate this! How often did you visit the massage therapist? After looking at prices, I know many can be quite expensive, but if it works I'm fairly price insensitive.

whitepoplar 6y ago

Thank you so much for this thorough response! I have the Armaid and use it regularly, though I haven't done any focused massage therapy. Can I ask how you found your massage therapist?

robscallsign 6y ago
Just through a quick google search and chose one that happened to be near the route I drove between work and my sons daycare. Her website was pretty generic and minimal, so I didn't have high hopes going in, but feel I lucked out as she had an undergrad degree in Kinesiology (or similar), and was a semi-professional cyclist, and had a lot of applied knowledge on anatomy, health, wellness, performance. The keywords I would recommend looking for when looking for a masseuse would be myofascial release, trigger-point therapy, and active release therapy, though, your mileage may vary of course. I found the 30-45 minute appointments too short, and the 1.5 hour too long, but an hour was just right. At first we just focused on the shoulders and back, but as I learned and researched more, as well as trying to find problem spots myself, we did a couple sessions on calves, buttocks (mainly piriformis), hands, neck/scalenes, forearms/elbow. A few other things I didn't add in my first comment: - I now always use a heating pad under my keyboard. The office spaces I've been working in the last decade are cold, industrial spaces, and the desk surface and hence my keyboard are always frigidly cold. I was developing arthritis-like symptoms (joint stiffness, I could feel the tendon 'clicking' in my pinky finger). I now use a generic heating pad under my keyboard and couldn't go back to not using it. - Really paying attention to my wrist/arm posture when I sleep. I was a side sleeper and would flex my wrist under my chin when I slept which was putting additional stress on my wrist/forearm, I now really try to focus on relaxing my hands/arms when I sleep. This took some time, but I think it's one of those little things that paid off in the long run. - I also have a Dr. Ho's Tens electro stimulation unit which I will use on my elbow, forearm, shoulders and back as needed. I find it helps. For the cost of ~1 massage appointment it seems worth while, even though reception/reviews/clinical proof of it's effectiveness is mixed.
- whitepoplar 6y ago
  I really appreciate this! How often did you visit the massage therapist? After looking at prices, I know many can be quite expensive, but if it works I'm fairly price insensitive.