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Oh boy, another brain dump … This one on how to work on getting worsening tendinitis to back off and let you get your life back.
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I’ve been through the worst possible scenario that started with this kind of overuse pain, and the worst possible things went wrong just short of amputation, and my entire life got wrecked.

Also, I was a nurse, and what with one thing and another, I think I’ve seen a lot of ways this can go. So, I do hope you’ll forgive me for offering some perspective and advice from the sharp end. It’s wholly well-intended and very much from the heart. I do not want anyone to go through a tenth of what I did.

Firstly, it’s usually possible to rehabilitate tendinitis, IF you are sufficiently wise and adult about it. (Easier said than done!)

Secondly, doing so takes time; give it 2 years, considering how widely it affects your life right now.

Keep in mind… *those two years will pass anyway.* Wouldn’t you rather be better at the end of them, rather than facing a lifetime of being handicapped in all the most fundamental and enjoyable tasks of life? Trying to live without using your hands is no way to go. Trust me on this.

It will require changes, some of them major adjustments, and some of them minor adjustments to what you already do.

There are several aspects to address, none of which are optional, but all of which have different things to try:

– Positioning during the day (when we do 95% of our activity.)
– Positioning during the night (when we do 80% of our healing!)
– Rest & recuperation time (without this, nothing improves for long.)
– Rest & recuperation physiology (nutrition & pain control.)
– Adapting life tasks to ease up on your wrists (this requires professional help to get started with, so the physical dynamics start off right and you learn what “good enough” really is and what it isn’t.)

You’re obviously a very bright and rational person, and I feel very shy about stepping forward here, but you’re doing what I did and what many people do, and smart and well-informed as you are, it’s just possible you’re overdoing to the point of damage, and that damage IS almost certainly recoverable and possibly totally preventable. It just takes a bit of time and work first, then you can get back to the best and most important things when you’re better. (Never give up on getting better.)

– Positioning during the day
Talk to your doc or physiotherapist about whether a brace would help or hurt your wrists. It depends on where the tendinitis is and what the triggers are. Alternatively, learning to tape them may be better. (I got a whole extra 6 months out of my right wrist with strategic taping.) The right structural support can change things. (As can the wrong structural support, but not in the good way.)

I assume you’ve been to your doc and have discussed that 🙂

– Positioning during the night
Few docs know this trick (my surgeon did), but it’s absolute gold: Wrap towels around your elbows at night so you can’t bend them up in your sleep. Since >80% of recovery and healing happens during night-time sleep, the more you can protect your arm tissues during that period of time, the better. Bending them up cuts off that process. Simply cuts it off. So, unbend.

Since you have this tendinitis, there’s a ~90% chance you sleep with your hands tucked up by your face. It will take some adjustment (sure did for me) but that position is about to change. You clearly depend on your wrists too much to let this go on, so *let* the nerve and tendon pathways heal at night, and see what that does for you over time.

This one thing alone has “cured” some people of their daytime symptoms. It’s terribly important — it repays perseverence.

– Rest & recuperation time
Yup… put the hooks, needles, etc., down for a few weeks to a few months. I’m sorry, but healing takes time and there’s no shortcut to this. The good news is, the time WILL pass, and you’ll be better for it. (I wish I’d done that!!!)

The most helpful guidance on “how long?” is probably from a rehab speciallist called an occupational therapist. They’re technically similar to physiotherapists, but they focus on the mechanics, tasks, and demands of daily life. THey’re more dialed into the practical application of the larger issues that physiotherapists and physicians work in.

Since you’re still doing these things despite the pain, I figure your doc may not be *completely* up to date on just how much this is interfering with your life and activities. I’m an old nurse; I’m not wild about doctors; however, this is a great time to get re-acquainted with yours — because he or she can sign you up for OT and PT to help you rebuild your tendons without further damage, and rework the hand-tasks of life so the *overall burden* of wrist-stress is better distributed and *still* gives you time to do the things you love to do!

– Rest & recuperation physiology
Tendinitis can be solely due to overuse, or it could be due to overuse plus other factors. (E.G., I have a fairly normal variation in my radial muscle, where the edge of the muscle bundle is sharp; it wound up scraping and irritating my radial nerve so much along that edge that I had to have a chunk of the muscle cut out. I also had carpal tunnel space that was simply tiny. That had to be opened up so the nerves and tendons could fit without hurting each other.)

Basically, if something mechanical really needs to be dealt with, it’s wise to deal with it so you can get on to the good part — getting better. (I’m no fan of surgery either, but sometimes it makes sense.)

Pain makes your body tissues sticky, and sticky tissues get gummed up; gummed up tissues hurt more because they can’t move right or work right or clean themselves up properly. And round and round we go.

Thus, less pain with better hydration (to clean out the sticky stuff, quite literally) makes for better healing. Two things can have significant effects on pain — nutrition and medication.

Wild fish and grassfed butter (bring on the Kerrygold!) are known to reduce inflammation, improve metabolism, and support healing. (Conventional butter and farmed fish, sadly, do not. Long explanation r/t histological metabolism.) Produce of all colors make a huge difference in healing.

Even with a great diet… in our modern messy world, and with a fairly longstanding pain issue evolving, it’s not ideal to depend on the finite number of calories you can eat to get all the nourishment your body is hoping for. Fish oil (very fresh: Nordic Naturals and Kiva are known to have good fresh processing and delivery methods) and, of all super-easy things, vitamin C are outstanding for inflammatory pain and nerve healing. As a long-time painiac, I recommend 500-1,500 gm daily of Ester-C, because it releases itself slowly and is the most digestion-friendly vitamin C I’ve ever used. Vitamin C works by refreshing all the other antioxidants. Wonderful stuff. Your nerves are among the biggest producers and biggest users of antioxidants; right now, they need more, but can produce less, so it helps a lot to make up the deficit.

From my own standpoint, I consider a good food-based multivitamin essential, because I’ve seen in myself and in so many others just how much of a difference it makes in healing time and recovery completeness. However, I realize many have strong feelings about supplementing with multis, and I don’t want to seem contentious 🙂

Ibuprofen/paracetamol, where you’ve got plenty of hydration and good nutrition, are terrific for reducing inflammation and knocking back the pain, of course.

– Adapting life tasks to ease up on your wrists
So you get to keep them for the rest of your life 🙂

This is where you want to start with an Occupational/Physical Therapist, rather than doing the natural/easy thing and trying what your friends have tried.

Why’s that? Easy — because of muffled signals. Since you’ve been dealing with this for awhile, you’ve gotten pretty good at ignoring some body signals, and one thing these pros can do is help you learn *which* signals are right, and which ones can be safely ignored. Once you get the parameters in mind, then you’re better equipped to choose your own adaptive gear from there.

Having the outside pair of eyes, which are so well-educated, is a great help in readjusting life and redistributing the load on your body.

I hope that’s helpful, and I hope you don’t mind my hopping onto this so enthusiastically. It’s my mission, now that I’m on borrowed time, not to let anyone else endure any of the horrors I did

3 thoughts on “On repetitive motion and avoiding CRPS”

  1. Cheryl Robinson-Atwood

    I’m facing the need for surgery on my left wrist (had the right done decades ago). I’m an old ortho nurse myself, so I know the benefit of PT. I should have asked for a consult a long time ago. Thanks for the reminder. PT just might help me kick surgery a bit further down the road.

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