doctor and carpal tunnel?

[captain bhangra]

i have a slight case of carpal tunnel
will this affect me in being a physician??

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[nick_carraway]

i have a slight case of carpal tunnel
will this affect me in being a physician??

Isn't that relatively easy to correct? If it worsens, can't you just cut the flexor retinaculum?

There's this doctor with a blog who has numbness in 3 fingers due to damage of his median nerve and he's still a surgeon so I think you're fine.

 

[CATallergy]

I know of a blind psychiatrist who continued practicing.

 

[SOUNDMAN]

I had both mine done prior to starting medical school. Got so bad in the OR that I couldn't hold instruments or anything. Wasn't painful, just couldn't feel at all and woke me up all the time. It's so awesome now no problems. Took awhile to recover, although I did scrub back into surgery 12 days after surgery, THAT was tough though.

 

[Tired]

i have a slight case of carpal tunnel
will this affect me in being a physician??

I don't really see anything in medicine that is substantially worse for carpal tunnel than any other profession.

Severe cases, as mentioned above, might affect you during procedures. But really, if you're that bad off, you'd have it treated even if you weren't going into medicine.

 

[TheAmazingGOB]

You can try a few things that I won't mention because this is not a health advice forum and I'm not a doctor (though I did shadow an orthopedic hand surgeon for 80 hours). The flexor retinaculum release is what most people with severe cases do. The surgery is quick (~30 minutes), the incision is small (~1 cm), and the only danger is severing one of the palmar nerves that's close to the incision point. But if your case is getting unbareable, I would go see a hand specialist and get it taken care of.

 

[captain bhangra]

thanks guys
its not that bad right now, just hurts my right wrist a little and my pinky feels wierd somtimes
i asked a family friend thats a joint doctor (dont know the name) and she said just dont use the computer too much
will it prevent me from going into surgery if i want to?

 

[Silence]

i asked a family friend thats a joint doctor (dont know the name) and she said just dont use the computer too much

you might also want to try switching to an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, if you haven't already. it's helped me a lot.

 

[Cirrus83]

Well for a little while I thought I might have carpal tunnel (I actually have had repetitive stress injuries before so it wasn't exactly a far fetched idea, I used to use the computer way too much in high school without any wrist support and it took it's toll) because my hands would sometimes get tingly.

Anyways, I went and bought a bunch of random wrist support things, for use during the daytime and when I sleep, so you can look into that sort of thing since some people put a lot of pressure on their wrists when they're sleeping.

And maybe some wrist exercises will help.

But yeah, even I don't think I'd really want to be a surgeon even though the tingling doesn't really affect my motor skills.

 

[gary5]

Do everything you can now to allow it to heal. If it is from a sport, then stop for a long period of time (6 months+).

I would plan on being a non-surgeon physician, since you're already having problems.

 

[MattD]

You can try a few things that I won't mention because this is not a health advice forum and I'm not a doctor (though I did shadow an orthopedic hand surgeon for 80 hours). The flexor retinaculum release is what most people with severe cases do. The surgery is quick (~30 minutes), the incision is small (~1 cm), and the only danger is severing one of the palmar nerves that's close to the incision point. But if your case is getting unbareable, I would go see a hand specialist and get it taken care of.

Oh, but the inability to oppose your thumb is such a minor complication

OP, you have wrist pain and PINKY numbness and they said you have carpal tunnel? Guys, am I forgetting something from anatomy here? That doesn't seem right, seeing as how the median nerve innervates the LATERAL 3 1/2 digits. CTS also would typically present with numbness and burning or 'pins and needles'. *Disclaimer: This isn't medical advice for the OP (hear that OP? I'm not diagnosing you!) I just wanted to query others for opinions on CTS presentation.

 

[nick_carraway]

Oh, but the inability to oppose your thumb is such a minor complication

OP, you have wrist pain and PINKY numbness and they said you have carpal tunnel? Guys, am I forgetting something from anatomy here? That doesn't seem right, seeing as how the median nerve innervates the LATERAL 3 1/2 digits. CTS also would typically present with numbness and burning or 'pins and needles'. *Disclaimer: This isn't medical advice for the OP (hear that OP? I'm not diagnosing you!) I just wanted to query others for opinions on CTS presentation.

Good call. I'm not diagnosing either (and with my stats, I probably won't ever--ha... ha...) but you'd think that the ulnar nerve is the culprit. Maybe you're compressing your forearm on the edge of the desk or the keyboard or the mouse? Could be compression at the elbow too but wouldn't you feel tingling down your forearm as well?

Either way, it's a shame. The flexor retinaculum seemed like an easy fix if the symptoms got worse. How do you fix a ulnar nerve compression at the wrist?

 

[scrubsaresexy]

Oh, but the inability to oppose your thumb is such a minor complication

OP, you have wrist pain and PINKY numbness and they said you have carpal tunnel? Guys, am I forgetting something from anatomy here? That doesn't seem right, seeing as how the median nerve innervates the LATERAL 3 1/2 digits. CTS also would typically present with numbness and burning or 'pins and needles'. *Disclaimer: This isn't medical advice for the OP (hear that OP? I'm not diagnosing you!) I just wanted to query others for opinions on CTS presentation.

Might be tendinitis. I have tendinitis in my wrist from playing cello and typing and writing a lot and initially I thought it was carpel tunnel because I get similar numbness. It's just nerve damage though...yay! But again, not medical advice, so don't take me seriously