Hand pain

[vasc2]

Hi -

Please go easy on me if this falls in the category of "stupid questions" but there's an issue that bothers me re: specialty choice. I'm premed and work in a NS department doing some office work. Very interested in NS in general. The issue that concerns me is a mild compression injury to my right hand a few years ago (I'm right handed.) Some level of mild nerve damage remained; right hand motorics are basically okay although not the full 100 percent. But there are occasional pain episodes and fatigue, and those will probably continue whatever I end up doing.

All this has left me wondering if there's any realistic chance to consider NS down the line, or if my hands have basically gone bad from the NS point of view. There was never any indication before I started working here that NS specifically would pique my interest, and it has; but this issue with my hand gets to me. One of the guys in the dept is a climber; it amazes me that someone in NS would climb (which is great, but...) considering the strain and risk to the hands and arms. What would he do if he hurt himself - could he continue to work?

As I said this could be a totally pointless question/post, which I hope it's not, but any thoughts or comments would be much appreciated regardless. Thanks for reading.

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[menaniac]

The NS who has operated on my spine several times can't bend his right wrist at all due to an injury he had as a medical student. Doesn't affect his nerves, but not being able to bend your wrist at all would seem like an obstacle in the OR. He, however has no trouble with it, and says that if you learn to operate with what you have, you just figgure out your own way of doing things if there's a problem. If your nerve problem isn't degenerative or anything, I don't see why it should be a problem. You'll just figgure your own way around things if you have to. At least, that's what I would assume from his example.

 

[vasc2]

Thanks for sharing the story.

 

[vasc2]

Just wanted to add that now, about 9 mos later, I'm experiencing no problems. How grateful am I. Fingers crossed that the problem is gone for good.

 

[dizzyorange]

That's great vasc2, hope it stays that way. I have some mild nerve issues with my right wrist as well from swinging a baseball bat and playing too many first-person shooters with the mouse. I quit baseball and computer games, and have been using the mouse exclusively left handed for a few months now, and the problems seems to have gotten better. But every once in a while, I still feel a little tingling/slight numbness in my right wrist.

Hopefully this will go away or at least be okay 95% of the time in the future so I can still pursue NS.

 

[DrDre311]

I had to quit playing golf--I was getting weird parasthesias in my left hand and wrist pain too. I'm still looking for a way to hold the club that doesn't hurt or make my hands feel weird. Anyway, I think the main thing for NS wouldn't necessarily be ROM, but a steady hand. Shaking a whole lot might be detrimental to operating on the brain.