Question, Is this carpal Tunnel?

[Bummer Knees]

I have been having pain in my hands, and loss of strength in the arms and hands. Also having pain in my neck and shoulders.

I tried making hamburger patties yesterday and found it very difficult to do because of the loss of strength & pain.

I do not like taking pain meds but last night I did take a loratab.

I was in an auto accident in December and was diagnosed with myofascial of the neck.

Is there anything I can do to reduce the pain in my hand?

Several on this forum have carpal tunnel and I am in hopes that they would share their thought on this.

I am scheduled to have an emg in August.

[red1030]

Hi Bummer... sorry you are still having issues in your hand and arm. I really know very little about carpel tunnel but will do some research today. I am sure that people who have experienced thisare much more capable to relate than I would be...miss you Red

[jayne]

sounds more like a disc in your neck Bummer dear I have pain and loss of control my affected discs are c3-4 c5-6 c6-7 ask your doc for a disc o gram

[tweety00]

http://www.workerscompensation.com/carpa...ndrome.php

[Bummer Knees]

Thanks Jayne, will the emg show if it is a disc in the Neck?

Tweety, thank you for the article, after reading it I am not for sure if I have carpal tunnel. I will add the pain in the thumb area was a 10+ yesterday.

I see my doctor next week for the pre-op appointment on my knee and will visit with him about the problems I am having.

I have to go off all meds by the end of the week, no more loratab.

[weathergirl]

Hi, Get a comp attorney if you dont have one yet, cause any neck injury is serious, trust me..... It could be ridiculopathy(sp?) from your neck injury that is affecting your hands. Or you could have developed Carpal Tunnel after the fact , as a secondary injury.

Go to "mayoclinic.com " and look up the symptoms, to be sure. They also have hand exercises you could try to alleviate pain and stiffness and bring back range of motion. Make sure you bring it up and have it documented with WCB. Get tangible proof, and keep copies for yourself. Often secondary injuries occur because us injured workers are not permitted timely and effective treatment in the workers comp system.

Also, I have a suspicion that non WC doctors often dont relate a secondary injury to the original one, because they dont realize that these injuries/illnesses are not immediately treated, for extended periods of time, in the Workers Comp system. And I have noticed that WC and state doctors DO know that secondary injuries are common, due to inaction, but will not attest to it.

Be persistent. Good luck and try to have an SSEP test with your EMG at your neurologists, because it can supplement the emg and identify problems in muscle activity. Weathergirl

Bummer Knees Wrote:I have been having pain in my hands, and loss of strength in the arms and hands. Also having pain in my neck and shoulders.

I tried making hamburger patties yesterday and found it very difficult to do because of the loss of strength & pain.

I do not like taking pain meds but last night I did take a loratab.

I was in an auto accident in December and was diagnosed with myofascial of the neck.

Is there anything I can do to reduce the pain in my hand?

Several on this forum have carpal tunnel and I am in hopes that they would share their thought on this.

I am scheduled to have an emg in August.

[red1030]

jayne and bummer...what jayne said makes a lot of sense. I remember for about 5 years before I was diagnosed with MS, my left arm hurt all the time, and I thought maybe I had carpel tunnel. My arm felt heavy, pain went up and down my arm to the tips of my fingers to my shoulder. Then when I was diagnosed, the MRI showed that my plague was all in my cervical region C-1 and 2 which connects to the brain stem which also had some plague. Just recently I had another MRI (when I was in the hospital) and now I know that my brain stem is completely covered with plague and funny but for the first time since I started treatment for MS, my left arm aches very badly again. Oh...I am not hinting or saying outright that you sound like you have MS, just that it is very possible as said by weather girl and jayne, that this may actually be a neck injury. What the EMG will show is if you have nerve interference from one spot to another. if they run from your neck to you fingers, they may find the nerve in question which could give them some indication that the injury is in your neck. I hope not, because as weather girl said, this is a very complicated surgery and healing process. Best Wishes Bummer...Red

weathergirl...welcome to the forum and the off topic forum as well....hope to see you around more. Red

[tweety00]

http://www.necksurgery.com/articles-causes.html

[capricorn]

Bummer...I also believe it's coming from your neck. I have a cervical injury that has not required surgery as of yet BUT the pain in my shoulder, arm and hand is horrible at times. Not 24/7 but often enough. I also can't use my left hand for anything. No strenghth at all. I have had my PM Dr. and my spine specialist obth tell me the hand pain is from the neck. I have had an EMG and it showed lots of nerve damage in my neck. I have very little neck pain , it all seems to be in my shoulder , arm and hand. I also had shoulder surgery on that side so it's been debated about for over a year now. I am having new MRI's of my shoulder and cervical this week so hopefully there will be some answers. Also I have spasms in my neck always that actually show up on the MRI. Best of luck in this journey.


CAP

[Bummer Knees]

Weathergirl, Welcome to the forum and thank you for the information.

Hi Red, Thanks for the post and I agree I do think the problems I am having is related to my neck. The pain is worse on the right side, also the side I hold my cane. The doctor questioned the use of my cane aggravating the neck injury.

Tweey, Thanks for the web site.

Cap, The pain you describe is much as I have, although I do have some neck pain. I went to bed this afternoon with a very bad headache, doing better this eve.

I started Sunday cleaning my house with doing some each day and I think that is what set off the neck problems. After the injury in December the only test I had was an X-ray and 2 weeks of physical therapy which was discontinued due to lack of progress.