Fingers no longer working…

Neal said:
Finally, a topic in which I have enough experience to be an “expert”.

I have had a total of six trigger finger surgeries, with two more on the horizon. Only the pinkies will probably not need intervention.

All had injections first, to no avail. My ortho refuses to do more than two injections per finger before recommending surgery.

Here‘a the good news. After surgery, I am totally fine! Fingers work perfectly, and I can play guitar without pain.

it does take several months to rebuild full strength and flexibility, especially barre chords, so I recommend going with lighter strings for a while. But surgery has been totally worth the minimal pain and inconvenience that comes with it.
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This is pretty interesting to me Neal. I'm sorry you've been through all of this, but it's interesting to me because I have had trigger finger surgery. There is still some discomfort after a couple of years, and I've been wondering if my issue might be carpal tunnel? Sometimes it seems other fingers are affected, so I was leaning towards thinking I had carpal tunnel. You've demonstrated that one can indeed suffer trigger finger in multiple fingers and carpal tunnel might not be the culprit in my case as I'd thought.

Glad you're faring well.

West
 
Neal said:
Finally, a topic in which I have enough experience to be an “expert”.

I have had a total of six trigger finger surgeries, with two more on the horizon. Only the pinkies will probably not need intervention.

All had injections first, to no avail. My ortho refuses to do more than two injections per finger before recommending surgery.

Here‘a the good news. After surgery, I am totally fine! Fingers work perfectly, and I can play guitar without pain.

it does take several months to rebuild full strength and flexibility, especially barre chords, so I recommend going with lighter strings for a while. But surgery has been totally worth the minimal pain and inconvenience that comes with it.
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As mentioned before, I had a trigger finger surgery a couple of years ago being quite proactive about it. No side effects with either the three steroid shots.

After the first one, I've been experiencing the same symptoms in several other fingers (as well as the original) but I've been less proactive, waiting until they truly become an issue.

The surgery definitely works, and has minimal issues , but I've chosen to put additional surgeries off, because I'd rather have it fix as bad as it will get, rather than redo it.
 
West R Lee said:
This is pretty interesting to me Neal. I'm sorry you've been through all of this, but it's interesting to me because I have had trigger finger surgery. There is still some discomfort after a couple of years, and I've been wondering if my issue might be carpal tunnel? Sometimes it seems other fingers are affected, so I was leaning towards thinking I had carpal tunnel. You've demonstrated that one can indeed suffer trigger finger in multiple fingers and carpal tunnel might not be the culprit in my case as I'd thought.

Glad you're faring well.

West
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Ahhh, the OTHER thing I am an expert in…carpal tunnel surgery, both hands!

If you have numbness or tingling in any of your fingers, especially at night, see an orthopedist. Mine got so bad on my right hand, I had lost all feeling in my middle finger, and half of my fourth finger. Don’t wait that long.

i had an excellent outcome from both surgeries.
 
Neal said:
Ahhh, the OTHER thing I am an expert in…carpal tunnel surgery, both hands!

If you have numbness or tingling in any of your fingers, especially at night, see an orthopedist. Mine got so bad on my right hand, I had lost all feeling in my middle finger, and half of my fourth finger. Don’t wait that long.

i had an excellent outcome from both surgeries.
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Mine (hand surgeon) thinks mine is neck related. But the tingling and discomfort isn't severe and comes and goes. Biding my time.

After my trigger finger surgery, I went back to see him and was conveying I thought it might be carpal tunnel, as I was having pain in my wrist. He discounted both trigger finger, and carpal tunnel, but did send me to the carpal tunnel test with the electric shocks running up my arm. He did say I had moderate CT, but thought the main culprit was my cervical fusion.....or I should say the adjacent discs.

West
 
Neal said:
Ahhh, the OTHER thing I am an expert in…carpal tunnel surgery, both hands!

If you have numbness or tingling in any of your fingers, especially at night, see an orthopedist. Mine got so bad on my right hand, I had lost all feeling in my middle finger, and half of my fourth finger. Don’t wait that long.

i had an excellent outcome from both surgeries.
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I could be wrong but I think quality of results is directly proportionate to the skill and experience of your medical providers. Please forgive me if you said and I missed it, but where did you have your surgeries done? With the multiple successes you have had, it sounds like the place to go.
 
Dr. David Nielsen, Charlottesville Orhopedics. Every time. He also repaired a severed bicep tendon on my left elbow, and did rotator cuff/labrum/AC joint/bicep tendon repair on my right shoulder.

Ironically, as a long-time distance runner, it should have been my legs that wore down, but they are just fine!
 
Yes. I drove an hour to the shop that had the 00 17 for six months. It had sold that morning. But I found a very good 74 D 18 I'd given up on. See, I'd played two that just had a special sound and had just bought other guitars so wasn't in a position to buy them. So after ten years of looking for another one with THAT sound, I'd given up. Turned out to be a dandy consolation prize. Intonation was spot on.
 
Hey @West R Lee , ain't that electrode test the most comfortable thing you have ever done? LOL I had to have it done (year ago September) to prove that the fall that injured my wrist did not include nerve damage at the elbow. I didn't THL, and was lucky that the doctor conducting the test was also a guitar player, so he was a sympathetic and "gentle" as possible...
 
Bill Ashton said:
Hey @West R Lee , ain't that electrode test the most comfortable thing you have ever done? LOL I had to have it done (year ago September) to prove that the fall that injured my wrist did not include nerve damage at the elbow. I didn't THL, and was lucky that the doctor conducting the test was also a guitar player, so he was a sympathetic and "gentle" as possible...
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It was absolutely shocking Bill.:oops:

West:)
 
I had some kind of nerve test done. The test itself was not uncomfortable but for days after I felt like I had a sunburn on both arms.
 
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