Hey everyone great informative site! I came looking for possible reasons why my arms and hands could be numb. I had a repetitive shoulder injury in Jan. Work related so I called our nurse line told them i could not move my arms well both shoulders hurt and when I went outside to sweep the lot my arms went completely numb. i thought it was just aching because I work too hard--store manager so lots of stocking and way too much overhead work for the previous 3-4 weeks.

Went to doctor and they diagnosed tendonitis. 2 Weeks in a sling cortizone shot no help. Back to doctor NSAIDS rest light duty. Same for a couple of weeks after that. Next appt referal for mri of shoulder only. This whole time I am saying why are my arms numb reply was we do not have authorization to look at your arms only your right shoulder. MRI still not scheduled 3 weeks later--find out after calling a 2nd time that my adjuster at work "forgot" to make the appointment. It gets set the same day for the following week. Doctor is thinking impingement but when they did the MRI it was just with my arm down at the side so nothing showed but "arthritis".

Send me to pt which helps a bit with ROM but numbness still there. They know all my symptoms and have been great and documented everything. After 7 weeks of PT still have major pain in shoulder and numbness so doc takes me off pt back in sling and cortizone shot. Back 2 weeks later no relief so they finally send me to ortho.

Ortho says definate impingement cannot treat hands or arms only rt shoulder but wants EMG of rt arm due to possible surgery. EMG done that doc says carpel tunnel(no signs before injury) and that they need to do surgery the same day they do my shoulder. Back to ortho and he says ok we will schedule surgery as the emg was good no nerve damage in the neck. Surgery on 6/22 wants to send me back to work 2 weeks later. Fortunately my company didnt comply with state rules so I waited until they sent me the correct paperwork per my atty.

Tried the light duty one day but I was in so much pain that I couldnt move that night and that was just from organizing the paperwork in the office(they did nothing while I was gone for 6 weeks) and writing up complete lists for every employee on what they had to get done per my NEW district manager. I am now not only having the numbness but also pain in my wrists and hands and my left shoulder now has times that I get a pain like the impingement but when I am not moving. Also on the rt side I get a very tight feeling in my neck muscles and it radiates up to the top of my head.

I now have an IME with a doctor of my choice(supposedly one of the best in shoulders and was ortho for Atlanta Falcons). Hoping that he will actually look at the whole history of the injury and actually get the other issues checked.

Long story I know and now I need to give my fingers a break!

Have you seen any information about thoracic outlet syndrome? {also called TOS for short}

Basically the trouble originates with the neck muscles , collarbone or pec minor, entrapping the nerves and or blood flow to the hands /arms.
repetitive & overhead work can cause it.

Are you going to your own dr or a MCO/or company supplied dr?

for the work comp part you need to have the treating dr add your hands & arms - also your new pains too- the neck and such.
be sure these are added or it will get pooh poohed and shoved aside.

We have a work comp forum as well as a TOS forum.
here's the useful sticky thread for TOS info- post # 1 is a crash course to get you started to see if it sounds like a candidate for your symptoms.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

work comp-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum30.html

I'm surprised you get to choose the IME.. usually the wc carrier chooses the IME dr and it is a dr that tends to lean favorably in the wc direction and not favorable to the worker.

I am going to a doctor we chose this time. Problem with them adding the other issues is that they told me from the first day that WC only authorized rt shoulder and they refused to even look at anything else when I had the numbness symptoms and my left shoulder was also swollen and impaired. My lawyer is trying to get teh numbness added though so we will see what happpens. I just feel like they dont really care about the patient when it is WC(yeah I KNOW they dont)but the sad thing is the only doc in my town is the one they sent me to and his practice is where I normally go for anything else too. I am sure my lawyer will help me though as I am the 3rd case same company same type of issues in less than a year, all managers. My company doesnt follow the state rules unless forced to--they dont even have a panel of physicians in any of our stores and I actually tried to put one up in mine and one of the upper management from corporate took it down.

I didnt see this part of your reply before:


"I'm surprised you get to choose the IME.. usually the wc carrier chooses the IME dr and it is a dr that tends to lean favorably in the wc direction and not favorable to the worker."

In my state if the company doesn't have a proper panel of physicians posted we can go back and get an IME with a doctor of our choice. Believe me it happens in almost every WC case this company has in Georgia. I have been on the other side as well testifying on behalf of my company because a worker did not report an injury to me then later when she came to work in pain i asked what happened and she told me as well as another employee that her cousin stepped on her back and now it hurts. Still at the time her lawyer filed wc(even though they didnt win on the actual case)she was entitled to see whatever doctor she wanted to because there was no panel posted.

Hello animal, and welcome to NeuroTalk! This is such a great place with so many caring, friendly, and helpful people.

You will feel welcome wherever you go. We're so glad you found us!

Welcome

It don't sound like you're able to work right now. WC can add to the stress.

It does sound like my TOS symptoms. I feel bad for you. It sucks big g00se eggs

You'll have to get help for arm projects. I just wasn't able to use my arms much at all. There was not meter but I was running on empty all the time. I do much better this year, but it's going on 9 years. 'bout time.

There's lots of info here about things that may help you. I know it's hard to operate the keyboard. It does aggravate our symptoms.

Ask if we need to explain or find something for you. Lots of readers here ready to share their experiences. We're all trying to help each other get through the rough times.

So many tips and things to try. Palms up is a good position to keep your hands and arms in, kind'a like the atlas of the body we see on anatomy charts at PT or doctors' offices. I guess it's a natural position for our Atlas to be in.

We're here for you.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I have been researching this for months so was very happy when I found this site! I'm just flat out not myself I dont feel "right" I am sure you know what I mean. Not sleeping well at all so really no energy. If I do much with my hands not only do they hurt but my shoulder does too. I am just really disgusted with our workers comp system, even more so after reading some of the personal stories online.

i had simular problem twice,,both times in my case[was pinched nerves,,it took months both times and God healed them up,,i used to be heavy into lifting weights and another time was from a motorcycle wreck,,keep doing theropy,,,,God will heal you,,,,,,,,,,,,bobber.........pray,,,,pray,pray,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,james 5;13

Sounds really bad.
I'd be stopping the PT until it is sorted, as you may be aggravating an injured muscle, tendon etc.
Exercise must be specifically tailored to your condition.
I had to modify mine as a few made me worse.
With all of that trauma to your body, add into the equation muscle knots, tension, soreness etc. You are bound to have all sorts of sore and suffering muscles as your body tries to keep going, and also protect itself. This will cause a lot of pain.
Doctors tend to ignore this aspect, but you will need remedial massage as part of your treatment and recovery.
I was amazed at how much my pain levels dropped with this treatment.
Hasn't cured me, but have had a BIG improvement in pain levels.

Good afternoon! Just got back from follow up-doc again released me with restrictions but said the only thing he can base his restrictions on is the shoulder as they havent allowed anything with the neuropathy yet. Good news is when I looked at the paperwork I have(I kept everything from every doc visit) the diagnosis the doc put on the first visit actually did include bilateral peripheral neuropathy! Will take this to my lawyer on the 31st! I just want all issues to be looked at as I have never had any trouble with my hands or arms.

The doc I am seeing on the 24th actually did research and published a paper on shoulder injuries and neuropathy so I do have hope its just getting through the next month that is going to be hard. Starting to get a bit depressed as I am normally a very active person! With 6 kids you have to be lol. I will get through it all for them though, my 2 youngest really are my inspiration as they went through a couple of years of PT and OT for cerebral palsy.