stopping surgery

Yesterday I was talking to a friend who mentioned that she was told by her physician that she needed to go for surgery because her hand keeps falling asleep while she is driving and she was told it is CTS. My friend drives hours every day because of her job as a sales rep, and I told her that the odds were the only problem was her forearm muscles are tight and putting pressure on the median nerve at her wrist.

Sure enough, just putting pressure on the flexors, at a key point with a common trigger point that presses on the median nerve, caused the tingling to stop immediately. She told me that as she was driving last night, she would press into point each time she came to a red light. She didn't have any problems the rest of the day, so it appears that the only thing wrong was tight flexor muscles and surgery wasn't going to be the answer.

Driving and numb hands

I did a lot of driving between May 2006 and August 2007, in fact, I drove cross country five times -- and then did so many north-south trips that it added on another 9,000 miles. It added up to EIGHT TIMES back and forth across the USA! It was fantastic, fun, and made me really admire how beautiful this country is, but it also made me understand how driving causes the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Keeping your arms bent at the elbow for hours at a time will put pressure on a little bone at the top of your shoulder. This bone, the coracoid process of the shoulder blade, then presses down on the nerve to the hand and causes your hand to tingle.

Often all I'd need to do is just straighten out my arm for the tingling to stop. After a while though, I needed to do the self-treatments for the biceps for it to stop completely. Fortunately this is easy. It's great if you already have the Julstro Tool because it makes it easier to do the treatment, but if you don't you can just put your opposite fist on the bulk of the muscle and press hard. Make sure you don't bend your "working" wrist, since that would cause a different problem.

Wishing you well,
Julie

Mouse Shoulder

I was just at the National Speakers Association University in Tucson, AZ, and was talking to an author that I highly respect for the books he's written. He told me that he'd been diagnosed with "Mouse Shoulder" (an interesting new name for shoulder pain) and was in severe pain while trying to finish his latest book. He also had pain all the way down his arm and into his hand.

I explained to him why muscles cause pain and numbness and then taught him an easy technique that is in my book "The Pain Free Triathlete" (definitely not just for athletes!) and he immediately began getting relief. That afternoon I was in a store and bought him a tennis ball and I showed him how to just lie on the floor and put his shoulder blade directly onto the ball. His weight was all that was needed to give him the pressure necessary to eliminate the trigger point that was the source of both his shoulder pain and a good bit of the tingling he was feeling in his arm.

How exciting it was for me to help an author who was key to my being able to self-publish my last three books, "The Pain-Free Triathlete," "The Pain-Free Runner," and "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You!"

Neck muscle causes violinist hand pain and numbness

I find myself on a mission to let serious musicians know how much muscle spasms and contractions can cause them to end their career! I only wish I could speak to them in large groups, it is so terrible to see gifted individuals stop playing because of something as minor as a taut muscle causing pain and numbness.
The violinist has been told by several caring people to revise her posture. This is certainly a possibility that could help her, and one that she should examine, but it won't totally resolve her issue.

The following is a message I just posted on http://www.violinist.com/ as an answer to an individual who is experiencing pain that could end a career, yet all that she has been told is to "stop playing," a totally unacceptable answer for a dedicated violinist:

While I absolutely agree that you need to examine your posture, the repetitive nature of playing the violin, and how to treat the muscles, is one that that is missing in all of the messages I've read.
Regardless of how perfect your posture becomes, you are still using the levator scapulae muscle to raise your shoulders to play your violin. This muscle originates on C1-4 and as it shortens due to repetitive use, it will pull these vertebrae out of alignment. Every vertebra is attached to the one above and below it, so it becomes a negative chain effect.

Also, the anterior scalenes originate on C3-6 and unilaterally work together to bring your head down. You hold this contraction for hours while you are playing. The static contraction of the muscle will eventually cause it to shorten (called "muscle memory") and when you try to lift your head the non-shorter muscle is pulling C3-6 down, putting pressure onto the vertebrae and your disks, and pulling the vertebrae out of alignment.

Tension on the scalenes causes the muscle to impinge on your brachial plexus, the bundle of nerves that give sensation to your shoulders, upper back, upper chest, down your arm and into your hand. It not only causes pain and numbness, but also can cause edema in your fingers.

Unfortunately to just tell someone to adjust their posture is impossible since you must have your head down in order to play the violin. It is important to massage these muscles so you can flush out the lactic acid (a toxin that forms during muscle action, and becomes entrapped because of the static contraction). The biggest problem here is that you need more massage than you have the time to receive!
You need to work on the muscle at least once a day, at the end of hours of practice, and even better is to work on the muscle several times a day. So, the thing to do is to learn how to do self-massage on the muscles.

I suggest that you read "Anatomy Lessons." You'll see a graphic of the scalenes that will make this discussion easier to understand. It's logical that the muscles will shorten from the repetitive nature of playing the violin, and it's also logical that you are the most important person to treat the muscles so you can continue to play your instrument while maintaining healthy muscles.

Wishing you well, Julie

A Muscle in Your Chest That Causes Your Fingers to go Numb

The pectoralis minor muscle in your chest originates on your ribs, and inserts into a small bone at your shoulder. When the pectoralis minor contracts normally, you bring your arms forward, and also raise them up in front of you. If you sleep with your arm up you are contracting the muscle for hours, and it will shorten because of muscle memory.

The problem is, the median nerve to the thumb and first two fingers passes directly under the bone. As the muscle gets shortened by muscle memory, the bone presses into the nerve, and even into the artery to your hand, and your fingers go numb. If you wake up with numb hands, and then you put your arm down and shake it and it comes back, you are witnessing the result of pressure on the nerve that is caused by the pectoralis minor muscle.

This is often diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome, and all it really means is that the muscle needs to be treated to lengthen the fibers and take the pressure off the nerve. It is well worth the time and effort to learn how to self-treat this muscle. It's easy, and it works.

Wishing you well,
Julie

What is "Repetitive Strain Injury?"

I travel around the USA, teaching Julstro workshops to fitness trainers, athletes, and to anyone who is interested in learning how to stop pain from limiting their lives. One of the many questions I'm constantly asked is "What is the explanation of Repetitive Strain Injury?"

When a muscle is used over and over in the same manner, the fibers are being strained repetitively and they eventually will shorten, and may tear. Small micro-tears may happen to the fibers, or in a severe case of repetitive strain, the fibers may tear away from the tendon, or pull the tendon off the bone! When a muscle is severed from the tendon or the bone, it is extremely painful and will require surgery.

This is truly a situation where "prevention is worth a pound of cure."

As a muscle is shortening because of repetitive motion, it can easily be reversed by simply pressing deeply along the entire length of the muscle. This flushes out a toxin called "lactic acid," and draws blood into the muscle. The muscle fibers will begin to lengthen as the lactic acid is removed, and the longer fibers will take the strain off the insertion point at the bone. This eases, and quickly eliminates the strain at the joint, and prevent tears from happening to the muscle fibers.

Avoid Surgery - Look at Muscles!

It took a while to get this blog going...if only working on computers was as logical to me as finding the source of pain in the body! Thank heaven for Greg, my webmaster, he's the best!!!

Today I was wondering how many people have the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome: hand/wrist pain and numbness? Many people are afraid to tell their employers that they are suffering, and some of the stories I've heard are terrible. People getting moved to jobs that are way over their ability, and then being fired because they can't do the work (you can't fire people for getting carpal tunnel syndrome, but you can for inability to fulfill their position), and other people who are just working in constant pain for fear of losing their job. It's so unnecessary when just working on the muscles that either cross over the median nerve from your neck to your hand, and also working on the muscles of the forearm that control your hand, will eliminate the pain. More about that as we move along with this blog.

When I first developed CTS in my left hand I had to close down my massage therapy office. I couldn't even open a door, or pick up a pen! I was heading for Welfare while I tried to figure out how to support myself with just one hand (not much good as a massage therapist). That's when I discovered all the information I'm going to share on this blog. I've seen it already work for over 1000 people, and it's really time to get the word out to the public.

While I work on learning how to use this Blog software, you'll find a lot of great information at: www.carpaltunneltreatment.org and http://www.julstro.com

I want to make this a website where people can post questions, but I need to learn how to do that without allowing spammer's to fill up the space with junk. I know it will work, it's just a "learning curve" for me.

Have a great day,
Julie