Numb
Well, that didn’t take long.
I had tweaked my wrist a few weeks back – no idea how, but it wasn’t too bad. Then, last week, I fell on it while snowboarding. I’m pretty sure I was doing something really awesome at the time – trust me. So, now it hurts more.
I bought and wore a wrist brace just to be safe on my next trips up the hill. Then, several days ago, my left hand just started going numb. Not good. After a few days I started to get a little worried and went to the local clinic. It’s conveniently located at the base of the ski lifts.
The good news (I guess) is that no bones are broken or fractured. The part that hurts is an injury to the ligaments and connecting tissue. It will take a while to heal.
The numbness is a little bit of a mystery, but it seems isolated to the ulnar nerve. Somehow, I damaged that too. The doc says it will take a very long time to heal – nerves are one of the slowest things in your body to recover. Or, maybe, I’ll need surgery. We’ll wait and see.
I now wear a brace full time (but can still snowboard and type one-handed). I even have to sleep with it. My wrist hurts. And, half of my left hand is numb and tingly.
So, another bump in the road. It could be worse. I get to claim the prize for the first one injured snowboarding this season.
This hasn’t been a very good year for me injury-wise. I think I’m ready to write-off the rest of 2013 and start 2014.
Getting old sucks.
-my dad
I suffered nerve damage when a loose longboard struck me ages ago. It hit me in my forearm and i had a similar loss of sensation and tingling in the blue shaded area. Although I remember it taking a very long time to heal, it came around 100%. Hang tough.
Steve
Sorry to hear that, Jason! I just had surgery on a nerve in my foot, and it’s healing up well after three weeks. You’ll be back to 100% in no time at all, my friend.
Look up compession of ulnar nerve through Guyon’s canal. There are amazing PT videos on youtube. There should be a decompression stretch – like rotating your wrist or similar – that won’t harm you and may help. Non invasive, non drug, FREE. IMHO always worth a shot.