This is for those of you with Rsd in you hand or hands. Do you have carpal tunnel and if so did you have it before or after the RSD. When I had the accident that caused RSD and they did all the tests, they said I had carpal tunnel in my left injuried hand. A year later it was in both wrists. I did not have any problems before the accident with either wrist. So I want to know what others think if they have this problem. THANKS, carose

Hello, I'm a Dental Assistant, who ended up with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands (mild CTS in the Lt. hand and severe CTS plus trigger finger in my Rt. hand which was unfortunely also my dominant hand) I had carpal tunnel and trigger finger release surgery on my Rt. hand in 3/06 and things went down hill after that! A few months after the surgery I started having severe burning pain and my hand was swollen twice it's normal size and turned bright red in color. In 10/06 I was diagnosed with R.S.D. and have been fighting Work Comp ever since (I.M.E. says it's recurrent CTS). My 3 doctors say R.S.D.

Hi,

Yes, I have RSI though not exactly carpal tunnel.

I got RSD 3 years ago after a bad fall resulting in a Colles Fracture of my left arm, (the most common cause of upper-extremity RSD) with broken hand bones too, the ulnar side being the most affected. Then about a year ago I started getting the RSI symptoms. The computer mouse is the main culprit, not the keyboard, but my RSI is diffuse (tendinitis, tenosynovitis). The RSD stays focused on my (left) hand and wrist (hasn't spread yet), but the RSI runs up and down the length of my right arm.

It's complicated, though. Firstly I am quite arthritic, with a deformed little finger (I have both Heberden's and Bouchard's nodes on both hands) that drags on the mousepad or table - that's where it started. Fairly quickly it travelled down the ulnar side of my hand and now is an orchestra of pain that can be anywhere on my hand and/or wrist and shoots up the inside of my arm, now, to my neck. It's very painful.

Secondly, I also have spinal stenosis and cervical spondylosis of C4- C6; all these things are affected by posture and movement, and cause peripheral neuropathy. So...I have a whole medley of stuff going on.

The osteoarthritis was diagnosed about 15 years ago, the spinal things were diagnosed after RSD, but nobody was looking for anything before, and they are almost certainly the results of the osteoarthritis.

The one big difference between the RSI (right side) and the RSD (left side) is that the RSI is much better in the morning, after rest, or if I stay off the computer, but the RSD pain never stops and is a deeper, different kind of pain - a bit like a muezzin wailing 24 hours a day. The one big similarity is that both hands/arms are worse on the ulnar side.

So, not carpal, but that's my RSI story - what a mess, huh?! I'm wearing splints on both wrists, now, they do help - I'm trying to teach my left RSD hand to do the work instead of my RSI right one, when it's too bad. I'm right handed, so it's slow-going....

all the best

hi carose,

i had both carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel (elbows) before i developed rsd.....i think it was the cubital surgery on my left arm that really triggered the problem....i still have some carpal and cubital related problems with my hands and arms.....after a while, u learn to tell the difference.

hope this helps.

For those that have or may have chronic RSI I really suggest reading thru the Useful Links on our TOS forum -- just in case you may have that also. { the combo does happen}

There's also therapies for RSI listed too {that's how my TOS started = RSI, then shoulder injuries/strains, c spine strain and then all of those combined together}

You might be able to lessen some of the TOS pain with gentle posture or bodywork, triggerpoint work, massage/myofascial release, etc.

Or from a xray or MRI you might find out you have a extra cervical rib causing some of the problems, or that your vascular system is being compressed in the scalene/neck/collarbone/top rib.
With TOS the nerves or the blood flow can be affected by compressions.

the link- http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=84

sorry i had the wrong link there before !