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Old 01-26-2015, 08:06 PM
Bobby78 Bobby78 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 38
8 yr Member
Bobby78 Bobby78 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 38
8 yr Member
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jo*mar View Post
[Have you had any sports injuries, hit,s falls or car accidents in the past?
What type or work do you do desk work, repetitive, lifting /reaching or static postures? ]

You might have missed these questions..
it might help us to know what might have caused your TOS symptoms.. some sort of injury or repetitive and or static postures over time?
Your response is detailed, so here is a detailed answer. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the feedback here! Thanks for reading.

Work:
I do sit at a computer but am also up and down constantly throughout the entire 8-10hr work day. I also spent all of 2010-2012 doing graduate school and sat at a desk hunched over many hours.

No sports injuries per say:
I did run into a screen door April 2013 causing neck pain for a few weeks. Only “injury” I can think of. Lol

Sequence of pain:
May 2013 – I changed my handlebars on my motorcycle to “ape hanger” style (tall handlebars, arms extended out, hands at or above shoulder level). This caused the beginning of my right wrist pain. Located on the ulnar side. This is also when I began to have numbness to the right small and ring finger after being at work using the mouse for long periods of time. It would come and go.

August 2013 – Got rid of the ape hangers, started riding a new cruiser style bike with regular handlebars. Started riding long days and miles = static position

December 2013 – bought a second motorcycle with “ape hangers” again. Only ride around town though

February 2014 – continued with right wrist pain on and off with right pinky and ring finger numbness. I noticed a def change with occasional right sided neck pain after riding the “ape hanger” bike. One day particular I was on the highway for awhile and my neck was killing me from the wind pressure.

July 2014 – continued to battle nagging right wrist pain here and there, no strength loss. Pinky and ring fingers still numb with work and sometimes riding. Very positional with shoulder movements to make it worse. Bad posture at work. Would still come and go. By now I’m also riding the other bike with “ape hangers” more and adopted a riding position of arms out at shoulder height, neck flexed forward to fight the wind pressure, and often times my shoulders are hunched up. So I look hunched over with shoulders up in order to fight the wind.

September 2014 – By now I’ve been having occasional right wrist “weakness” with extension, some pain to the forearm made worse with wrist extension. I would come home from work and wrist would feel limp. I started thinking I had tennis elbow or radial nerve injury. I wore a tennis elbow strap which made this worse.

October 2014 – This is when my symptoms took a MAJOR turn. I was out riding on the cruiser style motorcycle (normal riding position, mimicked like sitting at desk). I rode for 400 miles that day. On the way home my right arm was hurting so bad and the pain had creeped all the way up to the right side of my neck. I kept thinking I had a shoulder injury because the pain was there also. I clearly remember the pain felt like it was deep and just above my clavicle.

I rode another long trip at the end of October which did me in. My pain was all the way up my right arm into my shoulder and neck. This landed me at a Chiro for the first time. Now I’m thinking, “great now I have a neck strain too??”

The Chiro did nothing to help and was not the kind of Chiro I would return to. Rack’em and crack’em style. Business oriented for the masses. In fact I started having a pain to the left side of my neck and occasional tingling to my left arm. I freaked out and had CT scan of my neck done. It was negative.

November 2014 – By now I’m having people at work constantly massage my right neck and shoulder because of the pain and cramps. I had been experiencing a strange sensation in the back of LEFT wrist now. This was new and scared me (it was spreading I thought) It was a burning sensation with stiffness with extension, just like the right one had started so long ago. Also, by now I had been experiencing some strange sensations to the left upper arm like a dull ache in the tricep area. My left arm felt heavy per say. Both arms would fatigue easy when lifting above my head. I noticed this because at work one day I was holding a phone up on speaker so we could all talk into it for a meeting and my left arm felt so crampy and I had to put it down. I was having numbness and tingling sensations at night with lots of pain to the right forearm. The right shoulder felt like a cramp underneath it or something. This was worse at night.

I thought I was having a major disease by now. I went to my primary care and begged for a workup concerning for MS. He sent me to a neuro the next day… at my request, not his. I had 4 MRIs, blood work, EMG/NCV, and neuro exam….all normal, except for my odd sensations. I was dismissed with a prescription of Nortriptyline. Never got it filled because I feel there IS something wrong. Medication is not the answer I was looking for.

December – present;
I have had on and off arm pain, aches, dullness, and tingling. The right side is worse and mostly positional. Working at the desk using a mouse makes the entire arm go numb, tingly, and painful at the forearm elbow area. If I work too long in the same position it will go to my right neck. The left hand is affected with stiff fingers and dull ache at times to the triceps area. The left thumb and index finger feel stiff and achy with numbness and tingling too. Sometimes this extends into my radial wrist.

Summary of current situation:
Right side (dominant side and original problem limb) –
• Numbness to small and ring finger, positional with certain movements, mainly the shoulder
• Numbness to back of hand involving index finger webbing
• Wrist extension pain and or weakness
• Ache in the thumb and index finger
• Pain in the forearm just below the elbow
• Pain in the shoulder and right lateral neck, mostly after long static position sitting
• Pain like its “under my clavicle” or something…strange description I guess
Left side (more recently involved)
• Pain/ache/stiffness to small and ring finger
• Burning sensation, numbness, crampy feel to back of hand involving the thumb and index finger
• Cramps and aches to the palm and fingers with fine motor movements such as shelling peanuts or using a knife to cut up chicken or steak
• Wrist extension stiffness that comes and goes
• Dull ace to the triceps area, worse if I life my arm above shoulder height

How do I feel?
Like I have carpal tunnel, radial nerve, and also ulnar nerve involvement all at once, that comes and goes involving a difference of the 3 nerves.
I think the motorcycle with ape hangers was a contributor riding in shoulder up, head forward, hunched up position…all while being tense to fight the wind.
I also think work, stress, and posture while sitting at my desk doesn’t help. I often find myself hunched over staring into the computer screen with shoulders hunched forward.
Before this…I was very active and have no medical history other than mild anxiety. No medication use. I drink beer and do not smoke. Basic dude per say.

Thanks for reading.
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