Radial Nerve

YamahaDrummerAus

Senior Member
Hey everyone,

Well around 2 months ago I had an English exam. I hold the pen really tight and the exam went for almost 3 hours with two Essays to write.

Not a good mixture.

This in turn has caused my right arm to be very painful when I exert it in nearly any form, including drumming.

GP (General Practitioner or Physician in America) said it was Tendonitis and prescribed some drugs (Mobic tablets anti-inflammatory and Voltaren anti-inflammatory cream).

However I have gone to the physio and she thinks that it may not be tendonitis but a compunded radial nerve.

Has anyone else had issues with this nerve or other similar problems?

280px-Gray818.png


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radial_nerve

Tom
 
I got tendinitis 2 months before my college recital. Bad timing. As a massage therapist, I was able to pin point the location of the inflammation and treat it with alternating heat/cold and also do some self-myofascial work on it.

Does your physio know where the impingement/inflammation is? If so, you can probably get it treated by a massage therapist who specializes in similar issues. In the meantime, take a break. Drumming, writing, typing, etc., will only prolong the symptoms and might make the problem a permanent fixture.
 
Take this potential injury seriously and see a doctor who specializes in nerve injury as soon as you can. I speak from personal experience. Although I have never posted about this issue before, I suffered a nerve injury in my left arm a little more than a year ago. I woke up one morning with no feeling in the left hand side of my left hand - including my pinkie and the finger next to it. After seeing several doctors who told me just to wait as the feeling would come back, I finally went to see a specialist who stated that I had a trapped ulna nerve and that it needed surgery. I underwent surgery last September - about two months after onset of the lack of feeling.

The surgery was longer and more complex than the surgeon expected because of the accumulation of scar tissue caused by more than 25 years of drumming. I was also told that the two month delay between onset of the problem and the surgery would lead to a longer recovery time. During that period, I had significant muscle loss in my left arm.

The surgery was now nearly 11 months ago and I still have no feeling in the pinkie finger on my left hand and three quarters of the finger next to it as well as the side of my hand below the pinkie finger. I have been told that the feeling will "probably" come back but it could take as long as two years. It is possible, however, that the feeling will never come back at all. Only drummers understand the effect that such a seemingly minor injury has on the control of your stick!

While I realize that the problem caused - when viewed next to the problems of others - is a small issue it has nevertheless been very troublesome. I have burned my hand several times, I still have less muscle mass and my playing has suffered because of the lack of sensitivity in my fingers.

I am, however, very lucky in other ways: I am lucky that I no longer play the drums to put food on my table and this injury does not interfere with my profession or with my involvement in the music business. I am also lucky that I have some great friends in the music biz who have offered advice and support. In fact, I have received drum advice from some of those folks (many of whom are listed in this site) as if I were a player who was even close to the same level as them.

So - the purpose of this overly long story is act now in getting this resolved and hopefully you won't end up in the same situation as me.

Take care - and keep us updated.

Paul
 
Take this potential injury seriously and see a doctor who specializes in nerve injury as soon as you can. I speak from personal experience. Although I have never posted about this issue before, I suffered a nerve injury in my left arm a little more than a year ago. I woke up one morning with no feeling in the left hand side of my left hand - including my pinkie and the finger next to it. After seeing several doctors who told me just to wait as the feeling would come back, I finally went to see a specialist who stated that I had a trapped ulna nerve and that it needed surgery. I underwent surgery last September - about two months after onset of the lack of feeling.

The surgery was longer and more complex than the surgeon expected because of the accumulation of scar tissue caused by more than 25 years of drumming. I was also told that the two month delay between onset of the problem and the surgery would lead to a longer recovery time. During that period, I had significant muscle loss in my left arm.

The surgery was now nearly 11 months ago and I still have no feeling in the pinkie finger on my left hand and three quarters of the finger next to it as well as the side of my hand below the pinkie finger. I have been told that the feeling will "probably" come back but it could take as long as two years. It is possible, however, that the feeling will never come back at all. Only drummers understand the effect that such a seemingly minor injury has on the control of your stick!

While I realize that the problem caused - when viewed next to the problems of others - is a small issue it has nevertheless been very troublesome. I have burned my hand several times, I still have less muscle mass and my playing has suffered because of the lack of sensitivity in my fingers.

I am, however, very lucky in other ways: I am lucky that I no longer play the drums to put food on my table and this injury does not interfere with my profession or with my involvement in the music business. I am also lucky that I have some great friends in the music biz who have offered advice and support. In fact, I have received drum advice from some of those folks (many of whom are listed in this site) as if I were a player who was even close to the same level as them.

So - the purpose of this overly long story is act now in getting this resolved and hopefully you won't end up in the same situation as me.

Take care - and keep us updated.

Paul

I too had surgery to correct an ulnar nerve that kept slipping out of it's cradle, and getting pinched in my elbow, (Same as nailing your funny bone). My ulnar nerve had to be moved 3" to the front of my arm. And at the same time repair my carpal tunnel syndrome. Nerve issues can be very serious, so as Paul stated, don't mess around. get it fixed quickly.
 
The Physio therapist is treating it with these electric pad things (two just before my elbow and two on my wrist). They run a current through the arm.

She is also massaging it etc and think it will be better in 6 weeks. But it feels like it is getting worse. Tricking thing is I cant stop typing and writing because this is my final year of high school :(

I have spoken to my friend (this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Griggs) and he has suggested 3 Nerve Specialists. I asked him after reading you post Paul.

Thanks guys,

I hope this isn't as serious as your issue Paul, I want to play drums professionally.
 
Hey everyone,

Well around 2 months ago I had an English exam. I hold the pen really tight and the exam went for almost 3 hours with two Essays to write.

Not a good mixture.

This in turn has caused my right arm to be very painful when I exert it in nearly any form, including drumming.

GP (General Practitioner or Physician in America) said it was Tendonitis and prescribed some drugs (Mobic tablets anti-inflammatory and Voltaren anti-inflammatory cream).

However I have gone to the physio and she thinks that it may not be tendonitis but a compunded radial nerve.

Has anyone else had issues with this nerve or other similar problems?

280px-Gray818.png


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radial_nerve

Tom

I had a bad nerve problem on my right wrist a few years ago. I went to physio and discovered it was due to back posture. I was squashing the part of the nerve in my neck through slouching and I was experiencing the pain in my wrist. I was confused at the time because I didn't realise your nerves are really long and start from you spine, back to school for me!. If you slouch it could be that. It took me a while to get used to sitting and standing straight all the time but it's worth it because I have no problems with it now and feel a lot better in myself knowing I'm doing my body some good.
 
Well I went to the GP and I am going to see Dr Mike Sandow who is an Orthopeadis Surgeon. He is also a lecturer of that topic at the University of Adelaide.

However the earliest I can get to see him is on the 12th of Sept. I am going to try to drum for the first time in 2 weeks tomorrow night, we shall see how it goes.
 
Well I went to the GP and I am going to see Dr Mike Sandow who is an Orthopeadis Surgeon. He is also a lecturer of that topic at the University of Adelaide.

However the earliest I can get to see him is on the 12th of Sept. I am going to try to drum for the first time in 2 weeks tomorrow night, we shall see how it goes.

Good luck dude and take it east. Don't overdo it.
 
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