Arthritis Nerve Block

[joyfulalice]

Due to an arthritic wrist, I am scheduled to have a nerve block in my arm. If anyone reading this has had the treatment could you tell me if 1) if it was successful 2) how long the arm is in a sling after treatment 3)any tips or hints to aid recovery.

[kiwitaramerlin]

Is it a nerve block in your wrist ? can you hold glasses or anything else on that hand !

[joyfulalice in reply to kiwitaramerlin]

I haven’t yet had the nerve block but I had a a temporary numbing injection to see how I coped with movement and pain control and I had a 94% improvement from the 30% (approx). before the injection. The sense of touch remains but hopefully the pain is much reduced.

Thank you for contacting me.

[johnsmith]

Need more details before I can give a full comment. If the arthritic wrist is due to muscle control reasons then the nerve block is going to make it worse. See a sports massage therapist to check the arm for tight and over contracted muscles thato need to be loosened.

Then if it is a muscle control problem you are going to need to learn how to fine tune your muscle control. A yoga class may help in this.

Hope this is helpful.

[joyfulalice in reply to johnsmith]

Thank you John for your reply. I probably didn’t give enough info. on my wrist. It’s my dominant hand and wrist that is the problem, many years of heavy lifting, my X-ray shows this. In 2016 I saw Mr Paul Smith, Hand & Plastic Surgeon, who adviced me to see Mr Rupert Eckersley in London, which I did. His advice was a nerve block. I attended the Trauma Hand Clinic and had a temporary injections to numb my wrist which resulted in a 94% improvement in mobility. A delay of 18 months occurred and I now have an operation date for 26th of April.

I have the advice on aftercare from Chelsea and Westminster hosp. but I was hoping to hear from anyone who had been through this treatment to know their experience i.e; how long to wear the sling, pain control or simply any advice.

Kind regards.

[johnsmith in reply to joyfulalice]

Thanks for the reply. There is another reason why you have increased mobility. The numbing in the wrist numbed the feedback nerves in the wrist. One of the issues you can get is that the muscles surrounding the tendon sheaths are too tight. When this happens there are feedbacks to the spine which then reduces strength and muscle mobility to protect the sheaths from damage. This is an airy fairy explanation in order to keep things simple.

Before you go for a nerve block see a therapist to check your wrist for tight muscles and get them to loosen them. This could give you massive improvement in function. I suspect that a nerve block will cause you to do you a lot of damage to your wrist following it.

I broke my wrist several years ago. The bone healed and I was left with weak fingers and restricted movement. It took months of physiotherapy exercise before I got the full range of movement back. Even then I was left with weak fingers. I did not get full strength back in my fingers until a McTimony chiropractor worked on the wrist to loosen the tight muscles around the tendon sheaths.

It is a fact of life that Surgeons know very little about muscle function and the interplay of nerve and muscle. They don't need to. They give physiotherapists the instruction to fix the problems after their operations.

[joyfulalice in reply to johnsmith]

Thank you very much for your vital information. I will definitely make an appointment with a therapist I have used before and it must be very soon.

I did have a carpel tunnel op. on both wrists in 2000 but this may make no difference at all.

I am most grateful to you.

[joyfulalice in reply to johnsmith]

Hello again,

I took your advice and visited my local physiotherapist and he quite agrees with your information on tight muscles. Today, after consultation, he worked on my wrist, which at the time was uncomfortable but now feels far less taught, he also used gel and some machine to ease the tendons/nerves. He has given me simple but useful exercises to do twice a day to begin with and then to increase. I have also to use hot and cold wraps.

He, like yourself, feels that the nerve block may not work or it may be a temporary 'fix-it'. I am aware of this because in my first consultation with the surgeon, he indicated that this is worth trying before invasive surgery.

I will be exercising my wrist religiously until 25th April and if I can still cross my fingers, hope for the best on 26th.

My thanks to you for your help and advice and if I may, I will contact you at some time, to let you know the results.

[johnsmith in reply to joyfulalice]

Thanks for the reply. I hope the regime works. When I had the problem it took several months to get full movement and strength back. So hopefully you will have some improvement by 26th, but don't expect full improvement. It takes time for things that have shortened to stretch out again. You will need a few more massage sessions.

Hope all goes well.