RADIAL NERVE INJURY-has anyone ever had it?
Hello,
i know a concert violinist, who woke up one night, two weeks ago, with a radial nerve palsy in his left arm and hand. The doctors are not sure about the causes, but 12 days after the incident, his wrist, still has the characteristical "wrist drop", and his nerve resonance was measured 9 times lower than that of the right arm! His playing abilities are ever since very limited.
Needless to say, he is terrified.
He had to cancel 15 concerts so far.
Will he ever regain his playing abilities?
What is the prognosis?
Anyone knows of any specialists in this field?
We heard, that the first 6 weeks are crucial for recovery.
Replies (16)
Hi - Not sure what radial nerve palsy is. But I had some LH thumb tendon problem that caused me pain when I played my violin. My therapist (acupuncture & massage) at www.dr-jun.com (in Malaysia) took care of it in 1 small treatment session (cost about USD10). That was all. I'll ask him what radial nerve palsy is & revert, Lee
$10 for medical treatment made me fall on the floor laughing. The thing is, it probably worked.
It could be many things -- compression, fracture, contusion, ??? -- affecting the radial nerve.
A chiropractor once told me I had radial nerve problems. Supposedly it has to do with the nerves near the elbow (ulnar tunnel syndrome)sort of like carpal tunnel in the wrist (which compresses the median nerve) only in the elbow (and the radial nerve). Trigger point therapy helped me where nothing else worked.
Radial nerve palsy is a different animal. It's sometimes referred to as "Saturday night palsy" --- where the radial nerve is compressed against the humerus (as in falling into a deep sleep in a chair with the arm draped over the back). The symptoms are wrist drop (weakness of wrist and finger extensors) and sometimes a loss of feeling in the foot or toes. Electrical nerve conduction helps localize it.
Is your friend in a splint yet?
yes, he is in a splint, but plyas TERRIBLY!!!
No joke - USD10 to cure a injured tendon or USD10 to cure my carpal tunnel syndrome is indeed true! Do come and visit me in Malaysia. Al-fresco dining here from USD1 a meal! You don't know how expensive food is in your countries (e.g. USA, UK and Europe).
David: Good advice you are getting here from all. However, this is obviously nothing to fool around with. I suggest that your friend do a little research and find who are the TOP RESEARCHERS AND DOCTORS in the country who deal with this. He should then contact them, no matter how far away they are. If this is a matter of his career, he should go straight to the top, whatever it takes. Local guys who don't know what it is or how to deal with it is not a good sign that you are in the right hands (pardon the pun).
Good luck.
Sandy Marcus
Greetings
B12
Jarrow Formulas- Methyl B12
The form is Methylcobalamin. It is better thanother forms such as cyanocobalamin.
www.Jarrow.com
Cheers,
Buri
$1 a meal could add up to a free vacation pretty quickly. You know, the high price of food here isn't by accident.
He is now in the care of Alice Brandfonbrenner, a world renowned specialist at the Rehabilitational Institute of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago.
David: Glad to hear that. The NW Rehab Institute one of the top such institutes with some of the best specialists in the world.
I think I'll go to Malaysia for health care and good cheap meals. We could have a v.com convention and concert there.
If you come to Malaysia, you still get cheap health care, cheap dining, etc. AND - you'll be able to see Akiko Suwanai, Sarah Chang, Pekka Kuusisto, Andrew Manze, Yuri Bashmet, Cho Liang Lin, Richard Tognetti, etc. Just check out this site:-
www.malaysianphilharmonic.com (Maximum price for tickets is RM210 (100 USD = 378 RM))
I have been working with people suffering from nerve impingement for 18 years, releasing the muscles that entrap the nerve and cause numbness. The impingement in the radial, ulnar, and median nerves can all begin in the neck, then go across the very top of the shoulder. Then the nerves split. The radial goes down the back of the arm (under the triceps) and the top of the forearm, ending at the wrist. The radial nerve innervates all of the extensor muscles, which are the ones that pick your hand up from a flat surface, and also the muscle that enables you to flip your hand over (a muscle called "Supinator").
The Ulnar nerve initially goes under the biceps, then through the "ulnar tunnel" at the elbow, and ends up in the hand. While this muscle can get trapped in the ulnar tunnel, I've found that releasing the tension in the triceps muscle will ease the impingement within the tunnel.
The median nerve also goes under the biceps, but then it stays on the inside of the forearm, eventually going through the carpal tunnel, ending at the thumb and first two fingers. You can read about each of the muscles that entrap the median nerve by going to www.aboutcts.com and then to the section called "Anatomy Lessons."
As for the foot numbness that was mentioned in the postings, that can start all the way at the first lumbar vertebre in your low back. There is a muscle, called "iliopsoas" that will trap the femoral nerve within the pelvis and cause the thigh to go numb. As this muscle goes into an isometric contraction from your sitting for hours, it will also rotate your pelvis, putting pressure on the sciatic nerve There are two nerves that form the sciatic nerve, and these will ultimately cause numbness in the foot. It's a bit complicated to put here, but I've written an blog (www.about-chronic-pain.blogspot.com) and I'll put the entire thing there so you can read it if you are interested. In fact, this is such an important topic to musicians that I'll work at putting it onto my website: www.julstro.com. That may take me a few days, so you can look for it around Dec. 15th if you are interested in learning which muscles can cause these problems.
Meanwhile, I've worked with many musicians, including professional violinists, and the nature of your passion will impact every muscle that can impinge on each of these muscles. I strongly suggest you find a good deep muscle massage therapist. Unfortunately, nice, relaxing, Swedish massage feels good, but it won't work for the muscles that are causing your problems, you need someone who is proficient at trigger point therapy. You can also learn how to self-treat each of the muscles that cause the problems that are common to violinists.
If I can be of any assistance to you in helping you find the treatment that can help you, please feel free to email me directly at: julie@aboutcts.com (watch for verification email).
Wishing you well,
Julie Donnelly
Thanks for the post Julie. Your site is quite helpful.
Nerve pain can lead to syndrome problems like myofascial pain and fibromyalgia, and worse. And I can, again, second your mention of Trigger Point therapy. When my myofascial pain syndrome went full tilt I was out of the picture on opiates for several months while tests and literally dozens of other techniques were tried: differents chiropractic techniques, accupressure, different accupuncture techniques (both Japanese and Chinese varieties with and w/o added electrical stimulation), getting a physical trainer with a kinesiology background, hundreds of drugs and natural medicines, naturopathy, massage... the list just keeps on going. But nothing worked. During that time my arms also became numb and I couldn't even do simple tasks with my hands, let alone play.
Trigger point therapy brought the use of my arms and hands back and totally banished the pain, that has never returned in my arms/hands. All in an amazingly quick time period too. My neck and head still get serious pain attacks on a fairly regular basis, but Trigger point therapy helps me cope.
There are several people that have mentioned that I should still seek out different massage therapists. The problem is I went to half a dozen of so different ones and they 'all' avoided any deep massage (most any massage at all) of my neck. Two of them said they weren't covered by insurance if something happened.
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November 24, 2005 at 06:09 AM · Greetings,
sorry I can`t answer the questions you pose. But, I have experienced (still am)severe nerve damage in the foot and leg and can tell you there are three things you can do which are extremely helpful.
1) Chomp huge quantities of B12 vitamin. 2000mg a day is not dangerous. Be careful what you buy. Some of the stuff on the market is dressed up road kill and pigs stomach. I will post the name of what is perhaps the best around later today. Incidentally, this is good for all string players.
2) On top of any other standard medical treatment you are recieving both shiatsu and acupuncture are extremely helpful.
3) Diet is really important. The most beneficial would be virtually idential with the anti candida diet which is basically cutting out stimulants, lots of green veggies, grains and so on. A nutritionist trained in this area is worth a visit. There is a major book on nutrition as medicine by Paul Pitchford.
Cheers,
Buri