DavidM said:
How long have you had it, and what are your symptoms exactly - Pain ? Tingling ? Weakness ? When ? Precise location ?
CTS can CAUSE tingling/pain in 4th and 5th fingers, without necessarily having a tendinitis as well. In fact, both a tendinitis and CTS can be helped (often very effectively) by a corticosteroid injection (NOT anabolic steroid - so shouldn't be any proscribed substance worries).
Your GP may well be able to do this for you, but worth checking out first, as some may consider this a 'specialist' proceedure.
I have had it since last September. I think I can pin-point it down to an exact time, but cannot be for sure. I would like to say it was caused (directly or indirectly) by a specific workout. I did some preacher curls that allowed my wrists to really flex back and slightly turned out when my arms were extended with the weight...bad form, very bad form.
Anyway, that is about when the left hand pinky finger pain started. It was located in the joint area where the pinky connects to the palm and in the wrist down from the pinky. I had loss of flexibility and has swelling in my pinky. I did have weakness in my grip...mainly due to pain when trying to grip something tight. It progressively got worse as the weeks went by. I didn't think much of it and just tried to not over work it from there on out. Generally, once it was heated up during a workout or ride...the majority of the pain went away and I gained some flexibility back.
In October, I had a pretty bad MTB wreck and did a mild seperation in my left shoulder. That added insult to injury. The pain never went away in my hand...but soon after in about mid to late November I started getting the numbness in my thumb and forefinger. Not bad at first...just noticeable. Again, as time went by, it got worse. Mainly at night when I slept. It would occassionaly wake me up.
So, in December I went to my GP and she sent me on to a neurologist. We did the whole EMG thing...which as VERY painful I might add. All looked good except the Median nerve. It had a distal latency of 3.52. He said anything over a "3" was considered CTS. BUT, he said he was writing it down as "Normal" (screwing me out of workman's comp-would have been work related if it was CTS) since it was border-line, as he put it...although, he thought it could be CTS and I should seek surgery to fix it.
I go back to my GP to discuss the findings and I request a second opinion. You should always seek a second opinion when surgery is involved. I requested that she refer me to a Sports Medicine Doctor.
I go see him...took all my information to him and we sat down and thoroughly went through every detail of my issues. He concluded that it is most likely tendonitis and potentially tendonsis. All of which were most likely causing my CTS symptoms in the CT area (mentioned the "hook" bone in the wrist as where part of the issue was). He thinks I may have damaged the bone at some time allowing it to irritate the tendon...via that work out or a previous MTB wreck (I have had a few). He also felt some "grinding" near the joint where the pinky connects to the hand and said that the tendon had formed some small lesions (sp?)...beginnings of a trigger finger. Anyway, he recommended some options I could take...none involved CTS surgery.
One would be to continue taking the celebrex and see if my symptoms went away on their own (icing the area after workouts and rides). Two, would be to get the cortisone shot..which may or may not help in the long run, but would give me relief by helping reduce swelling and to lubricate the tendon. The third was a PT method that he didn't really recommend, but said the option was there. It involved some sort of topical gel along with electrical impulses to stimulate the area. He didn't believe this would work since the gel they used doesn't go deep enough to reach the problem area.
Right now, I am opting for the celebrex. It helps...a lot...although I still have reduced flexibility due to the swelling. I try to keep it stretched and that helps. But, I don't want to over do it and keep it irritated. I am going to do this for the next 3-6 months and see how things go. If buy then, things are not better...then I will consider the C-shot.
I am changing my MTB gloves to a more padded glove along with my grips, too. Hopefuly this will help. I have also changed my road bike's tape to a more plush tape.
I am looking for alternate ideas that will also help...any specific stretching methods, treatments, and the like that others may have found to work relieving their syptoms allowing them to get better. I wear a wrist brace at night to help, too. But, it doesn't usually make it the whole nght before I get uncomfortable and can't sleep. Then it comes off.
Anyway...I know this was rather long....but, I hope I explained everything as to what's been happening. Give me your thoughts....
