Kendo & Iaido with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

[1stdan]

Anyone out there ever have experience with CPS. I have a pretty sever case and want to continue to train. Could you please share your experiences with this. Thanks....

Ps. I dont think one handed Jodan is the answer...

[Anorymous]

Obvious questions:
1) Which hand has the problem?
2) Have you seen a doctor yet?

Obvious solutions:
1) Surgery/Physiotherapy
2) Nitou

To help ease the strain on your wrist, try using the mouse with your healthy hand if you aren't already -- you won't believe what a relief it can bring.

[JSchmidt]

Obvious questions:

2) Nitou

Aside from beating up his wrists with a large mallet, that's just about the worst solution you could come up with.

1stdan, aside from strapping up the wrists for increased support, consider using ladies/highschool shinais?. That should decrease the strain on the wrists, although impacts could still be an issue.
I assume you have talked to your doctor/physio about this?

[sirius1906]

was the cps due to kendo/iaido? or is it work related? if it's work, doctors would tell you to take frequent breaks to avoid repetitive motions. if it's kendo, they'll tell you stop doing it. :P when i first started kendo, i was overly nervous, had a death grip on the shinai, so tight, my hands went numb during keiko. For a while, I can't hold a fist when I wake up in the morning. I learned to relax the grip, and that went away. My dad had surgery on both wrists and and several fingers due to work. He was a hibachi chef for twenty some odd years. He's a precision slicing and dicing machine.

[1stdan]

OK i did leave some info out. Right hand mostly, Left hand has shown signs but not severe at all. Right hand has had Numbness in the fingers (randomly) and sometimes severe pain in the wrist and hand. I have seen a dr a while back but at the current time i am without Insurance, so dr visits are a rare thing as they can be pretty expensive. When I did have insurance i did see a wrist dr. and had a EMG test. Basically they shock your nerves in specific ways to determine whether its neck injury or CPS. My Dr. said mild CPS in the Ulnar side(outside edge) and moderate in the Radial side. Thats where it stopped.

I have not thought of using the other hand to mouse I will try that tomorrow. I do mouse for a living. Im a video editor and photographer. I use a pen and tablet a lot. That seems to help but not as much as I wish. I will also look at Ladies shinai although i will prolly keep that info to myself.

[Tort-Speed]

Guess this won't help but I had had a "spring finger" - middle one - of my right hand. Luckily, gripping the shinai should depend on the last two fingers but when I couldn't bend the middle one - it stayed stuck out - it was not only inconvenient but seemed irreparable. Well, what helped was clenching and unclenching my fingers in thick, warm dirt.
A long story, but the material is my tortoises' substrate and is a mix of river sand - like in kids' sandboxes - + coconut coir, being the dried-into-bricks-then-rehydrated-in-warm-water outer "skin" of coconuts, available at some hardware, plant and maybe pet-supply stores. The African Spurred Tortoise and the Russian Tortoise - one each of which I plucked from a neglectful petshop - need semi-damp "beds" to walk around in.
I found my spring finger recovering in 6 months, after 12 years of seeming to give people the bird, since I started using a sprinkling can with hot water over the substrate. Every day, min alternate days, I mix the top wet layer with the lower ones and in so doing, seems the warmth of the "exercise materials" and the clenching and unclenching of my hand has done the trick. Tortoises are happy too and I didn't have to pay a Doc. Don't know what could work for you but just my experience. Hoping for the best 4 U!

[ScottUK]

Isn't the muso-ryu technique Tanashita designed for use in tunnels?

[48thRonin]

Unfortunately I share your condition.

To date I've been succesfully avoiding the surgery. After speaking with a multitude of people it doesn't sound like the best option for me (continued post-surgery pain, loss of strength, recurrence).

What I've found to be key actions are:
1. The doctor/physio recommended pre-activity stretching (palm facing out, fingers up & pulling back on your hand with the opposite hand). Do this for both hands regardless
2. Ice your wrists a little before class
3. Try to be vigilant about not overgripping the bokuto/shinai
4. Stretch again after activity and ice again

I'm going to experiment with one of those tennis elbow straps and see if it helps.

Hope this helps

[DCooper]

I will also look at Ladies shinai although i will prolly keep that info to myself.

Too late; of course your young one has to let you get to class first.

When you can, talk to sensei as he fought the CTS a while back.

[pgsmith]

Hey Dan,
I constantly fight this myself as I work at a computer all day. Here are the things that I feel have had the most impact to continuing my practice ... Learn how to mouse with your off hand! It is awkward at first, but quickly becomes second nature. I routinely switch my mouse from one side to the other. Don't grip so tightly, either at work or at practice. Over gripping your sword/shinai (or your mouse!) will aggravate your wrist quickly. Don't bend your wrist side to side. Bend your wrist downward as little as humanly possible when striking. The side to side movement of the wrist will quickly aggravate the tendons, and cause a lot of pain. You give up a couple of inches of reach, but that beats the heck out of not being able to practice at all.