Gettin old

[wildwood]

Just found out I have carpel tunnel in both wrists might be needing surgery, any of you folks had to deal with it? if so how long before you could shoot again? Turkey season starts end of March here and I have a bow coming from Mike Mercredy hopefully in a few weeks. Its job related so wont be able put it off. also a side note, whats the lowest poundage one should hunt deer with? In case I have to start backing off.

[Gun]

I feel for ya. I'm there myself. Don't know about carpel tunnel. But I don't think I'd go below 40#s for hunting. I know a women that shot thru a doe with 32# (compound). We had a guy kill a P&Y Moose a few years back with a 42# Recurve. Its a matter of your set-up too. Good luck with your sugery. Hope your shootin again soon.

[Mudd]

I'm sorry to hear your having troubles.

I'll be praying for immediate relief and healing.

Growing old isn't for the faint of heart...lol

God bless,Mudd

[Gray Buffalo]

Carpel tunnel in both wrists is not fun, I know. I was stupid and let them do both hands at the same time. Not knowing I would have both hands in a cast for a week. I found out my wife really loved me having to wipe my butt and such. The good news is I was shooting a light bow in 3 weeks and back to normal weight in 6 weeks. Good luck

[Rob DiStefano]

contact member "Wapiti Bowman" terry boyer - he had both wrists operated on for carpal about 2 weeks ago.

[arrowslinger22]

I had the surgery on one wrist in late Feb of last year.  I had some complications with the incision but I was shooting in mid May.  The one thing I've found is that I still have some pain on the scar when shooting a high or med gripped recurve.  If I stick with my self bows or HH type grips it's fine.  No way I would do both at the same time.

[LBOW]

I had both wrist done some years backthe repair is great. I wish i would have had it done sooner I wouldhave saved myself a lot of pain. Listen to your doctor and follow up withthe therapy.  MIKE

[saltwatertom]

Surgery was recomended to me for my CTS but I did not do it. I don't like the idea of being cut. I looked for alternatives and got advice from people that had had the sugery (almost all advised against it) and decided against being cut. I am not 100% now but close to it. I just worked thru it and found non-invasive therapy.

JMHO

Good luck with it!

[Mitch-In-NJ]

Tom,

What was the alternative?  I too have CTS and don't want surgery.  My releif comes from wearign a splint for a while and taking Advil, but it keeps coming back.  Most of December I had tingling at a minimum constantly.

[JEFF B]

had surgery on my left wrist it clicks every now and then just to let me know its there but other than that no prob.

[wildwood]

Thanks for the response, I hear pro's and con's about the surgery from friends/co-workers but not able to fully close right hand, and fingers lock up so probably will have to go with surgery. thanks again

[cbCrow]

I had carpal done on my left hand about 15 years ago due to an work related injury. Since then it has been a constant pain in the butt. It feels as though it is always cold,it tingles 80% of the time, goes numb on lower half,and does alot of cramping. I ignore alot of it and have met quite a few people who have had them and it seems that you have my problems or it feels ok after the surgery. I truly hope you are in the second group and everything turns out just fine.

[Stumpkiller]

This may or may not be of any help, but I find the higher grip easier on a wrist.  I have girly wrists (my Sensi told me never to do a closed fist strike straight on as I'd come out worse than my opponent) and a rectangular style longbow grip kills me.  The higher the grip style the better it feels to me.  Maybe keeping that wrist straight could help you maintain a higher draw?

As far as how light for deer?  NY mandates 35# as minimum.  That's pretty low.  If you have the patience to wait for an ideal angle - that's all it takes.  Personally, I would say 45# or thereabouts with a suitable arrow of 500 gr on up (modern thinking says over 600 gr) and a small single blade will do it.  You'll get better penetration with a 1-1/8" wide head and hopefully two holed lungs with the advantage of an exit hole.

[Duker]

Good luck with your sugery and may you have a speedy recovery . God Bless  

[Herder]

A friend of mine had CTS. Four weeks after his operation he shot the first arrow again.
You can take Vitamin B6 preperation, drink a lot of water, that`s harmless.
Diclofenac can help, it`s better as cortison.
But when it`s chronic the best way (for the future) is a operation.
Good luck to you !!!

[LPM]

I used to gut hogs for Hormel Foods in the Austin MN plant,back before the great local P-9 strike in 1985.

Three of us would remove the guts from up to 6000 hogs per day................easy math.

That's two thousand hogs each.  After a couple of years of that, I had the nerve problems associated with carpal tunnel syndrome.

It was my left (bow) hand and the pressure exerted on my lifeline during shooting would cause two fingers to go numb.

I believe it was spring when I had surgery done and I was worried about long lasting effects.

I work with my hands alot besides on the job.  and decided that once the stitches were out I would not baby it.

Within a few weeks after the stitches were out I was shooting my 80 lb hoyt finalist split limb two wheel compound......Yeah I couldn't tell a lie it was wheels but.....non sight and it realy was 80lbs draw.  A little pain...It was more of a hot sensation...not bad.

The point is that you have to just set your mind to using your hand like you always did.  Eventualy you will get to the point where you don't think about it any more.

I have never experienced problems post surgery and I've held many hand labor intense jobs including extensive aircraft sheetmetal work, riveting holding bucking bars against rivets driven by an air hammer.

Bow shooting has never been a problem since.

Hang in there and use that hand when your stitches come out.  Get a rubber ball or something to squeeze.  It will help you get used to the new sensation you get when those nerves and finger control cords move without the tendon that used to form the "tunnel".  It will feel diffrent at first, but soon you're used to it.

You will be alright!

[Buckhorn3380]

Good luck with all!

[Huntschool]

Best of luck with it. Its not "getting old" we just did not know what else to do but work....

Follow the PT's guide lines and do the ball squeeze thing.  Everyone I know who had it done did the ball and it helped.

[sweeney3]

I feel for you.  I just had back surgery to remove a ruptured disc this morning.  AND I'M 30!!!      

Hope you get it managed well quickly.  I will say this though: Getting older sure beats the alternative!!  :D    :D

[Ranger44]

I had both wrists done at the same time about two years ago.  One was much worse than the other before surgery.  I was way too stubborn to allow my wife to help with the necessities of life and although it was painful I took it slow and got by without help.

I have absolutely no numbness in either hand any more but have some arthritis in the wrist that was previously injured that causes some discomfort.  Mine was bad enough that it would wake me up several times at night.  Thanks goodness no more of that.

I do seem to be weaker in the wrist that was not bad before the surgery but I'm fighting that age thing too!  Things are not perfect after surgery but much better than before.  

Get the best advice you can on PT and it doesn't hurt to check out your doctor's reputation on this surgery.  I had mine done at a small hospital but the surgeon came very highly recommended and had done a lot of these surgeries with great success.