Jeff Almeyda
Senior Consultant
As some of you may know, I had surgery about 6 weeks ago to address compartment syndrome in my left forearm.
For years, I tried every alternative therapy under the sun, trying to avoid the dreaded "knife".
I would get some relief from the constant tightness only to have it come back 24 hours later unchanged. Imagine being so tight that your forearms looked pumped and veiny every moment of the day.
Well, I wish I had done this years earlier. I am mid my rehab but the constant squeezing feeling in my left forearm is gone. My arm has actually gotten significantly larger and less veiny as a result of removing the tight fascia. It actually looks like a normal forearm now. It's even bigger than my right.
Surgery often gets a bad rap from the alternative therapy crowd but the surgical techniques of today are advancing so quickly that we often forget that things are not like they used to be.
In the "old days", they would have had to open my skin all the way from elbow to wrist just to get at the fascia. Now, they made a 4 " long incision and actually cut the fascia underneath the skin. This greatly reduces recovery time.
The moral of my tale is: Use the correct therapy for the issue. Simple tightness can be cured by massage and stretching. Long-term lingering issues usually are the sign of something deeper going on. If therapy does not handle the issue, then see an orthopedic surgeon that specializes in the hand.
Quick aside here: My wife is big on alternative therapies and organic eating etc. She always loves to spout on about how "American" doctors don't know anything and that natural healing is where they should be focusing on. Well, on the first day of my visit to the "American" Doctor, I was told he was going to be late because he was busy reattaching the arm of a construction worker that had had it severed earlier that day. The operation was a success and the man now has his arm back.
A chiropractic adjustment or some Omega 3's sure couldn't have done that, huh?
Right tool for the job.
For years, I tried every alternative therapy under the sun, trying to avoid the dreaded "knife".
I would get some relief from the constant tightness only to have it come back 24 hours later unchanged. Imagine being so tight that your forearms looked pumped and veiny every moment of the day.
Well, I wish I had done this years earlier. I am mid my rehab but the constant squeezing feeling in my left forearm is gone. My arm has actually gotten significantly larger and less veiny as a result of removing the tight fascia. It actually looks like a normal forearm now. It's even bigger than my right.
Surgery often gets a bad rap from the alternative therapy crowd but the surgical techniques of today are advancing so quickly that we often forget that things are not like they used to be.
In the "old days", they would have had to open my skin all the way from elbow to wrist just to get at the fascia. Now, they made a 4 " long incision and actually cut the fascia underneath the skin. This greatly reduces recovery time.
The moral of my tale is: Use the correct therapy for the issue. Simple tightness can be cured by massage and stretching. Long-term lingering issues usually are the sign of something deeper going on. If therapy does not handle the issue, then see an orthopedic surgeon that specializes in the hand.
Quick aside here: My wife is big on alternative therapies and organic eating etc. She always loves to spout on about how "American" doctors don't know anything and that natural healing is where they should be focusing on. Well, on the first day of my visit to the "American" Doctor, I was told he was going to be late because he was busy reattaching the arm of a construction worker that had had it severed earlier that day. The operation was a success and the man now has his arm back.
A chiropractic adjustment or some Omega 3's sure couldn't have done that, huh?
Right tool for the job.
