Pain in fingers
 

Hi Vickie,

I do not know if this has been covered earlier... Every morning since 2 months when I wake up, I have difficulty closing my left hand fingers and feel a very slight pain especially in the fore and mid fingers. The pain will disappear completely after two repetitive slow closing movement and never reappear during the day or at night. I am 53 yrs old play to 8 hcp right handed and play three times a week. Any idea what could be the cause and further investigation?

Thanks for your dedication to all our ailments and getting us to enjoy better golf thru a fitter body.

Paul

Sorry I haven't responded earlier plgolfer. I will be on tonight and give you the skinny on phalange health. Vik

Hi Vickie,

This post just to remind you of your much awaited reply.:???:

Thanks

Well, I don't know what happened to that post but I'll try again. Your hand problem could be neurological, coming from your cervical vertebrae, or it could be a short palmaris longus between your elbow and your hand or it could be short hand muscles. So . . . start with positive postural alignment, do some hand stretches with a ball and lets open up your wrist. Stand facing a blank wall. Turn 90 degrees so that you can place your hand flat on the wall just above head level. Your fingers must be completely stretched out. In short increments, holding for 20 seconds or more in each slide your hand down the wall. You will eventually be able to keep your hand flat to the hip area.

Good luck with this one and let me know how it's going. Vickie

Thanks Vickie for your reply. I can do the slide of the hand with fingers stretched up to the hip without any problem. As I said in my earlier post, I do not have any problem during the day and can play my usual game. I am just concerned that this could deteriorate later prohibiting me to play. I do hit 150 balls twice a week. Could this be the cause? In your first post you mentioned phalange health. Is the stretched fingers sliding an exercise to be done regularly? I do not feel any stretching difficulty while performing.

Regards

Paul

Be sure your wrist is completely bent and then in a negative position to feel any stretch. Also be sure you are standing straight as in the standard form position I have listed so often. If you are stooped then your arm will just function as well as it always compensates. Since you wake up with this it is probably neurological and you need to look closely at your cervical health. I don't want to be an alarmist but this is one of the first complaints I hear from people with carpal tunnel syndrome. If you don't address it , it will get worse even if you manifest unique symptoms. You know that Homer says you need to have intelligent hands and you have put me to task on this issue.I have had many clients in their ninties and have yet to see them have the strength or dexterity of their youth.In each of these cases we were dealing with some significantly rounded shoulders. There is truly little that can't be corrected by finding your most perfect alignment; hips, heart and hands. Vickie

Can you provide a link to the standard form position? I am new to this. I do not quite understand your last two sentences. Thanks a lot Vickie for your time

Paul

Paul, I went on the thread with the exrcises I gave to Martee. They are just the barest beginning and really promote postural perfection. Your symptoms are in your hand but the origin of the problem is else where. So by correcting your skeletal structure you can insure that there is no pressure on the nerves to aggrivate the information. Hope this provides some clarity. Vickie

Standard Form (Basic safety position for all exercises)
Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, weight evenly distributed
between your hips.
Let your weight move back to your heels which will encourage you to
bend your knees slightly to keep your balance.
Your back should still be straight .
Lift your shoulders straight up toward the ceiling as high as you can trying to touch your ears.
Push your shoulders back as far as you can still keeping them raised.
Draw your neck back and up (pulling your chin under) to be even with
your shoulders.
You will feel your neck lengthen as you keep your chin down.
Note: You will feel your back and your chest stretch in this effort. Do Not let your head rock back to hyperextend (your chin would lift to the ceiling in this inappropriate position).
Deliberately bring your shoulders down allowing your chest and back to
expand to full breadth.

Key: In this position your chest will feel forward and 'soldieresque' .This does not feel natural! But we all know exercise is NOT natural, but it works.


Shoulder Stretch Deltoid / Rotator Cuff Joint
Lie on the floor on you back, with your feet flat and your knees bent,
arms byyour side with the palms down
Your shoulders should be down and your lower back will have a natural
curvature, in some cases keeping your low back off the floor.
Do not allow your back to change position through out the movement.
Lift one arm completely straight up, around, and over the shoulder to lay
it along the side of your head with the palm facing the ceiling.
Keep your arm straight through the elbow and hand and only stretch as
far as the shoulder joint will allow. Never force it or just let the hand
fall to the floor.
In the early stages (or on tense days) your arm may not go to the floor
but with time it will comfortably rotate around.
Hold for 20-45 and then engage your shoulder to lift the arm around
to the starting position.
Check to be sure your torso is flat and relaxed. Repeat on the other side.
Key. Your goal is not to lay your hand on the floor, Your goal is to create enough flexibility capability in the shoulder joint that the arm bone can smoothly complete a 180 degree rotation that results in your hand being on the floor.

Read one exercise, try to do it, then read it again to see which little piece you didn't get. Since they are not normal nor familiar they will be hard to impliment in the beginning. But you will get the feel quickly if you give yourself several tries.

Repeat the Standard Form exercise several times everyday to encourage better neck and shoulder alignment. You can do it seated also. I would encourage you to do it in the mirror initially to give yourself some reinforcement.

Repeat the Shoulder Stretch slowly and with great attention to keeping the elbow straight three times on one side before moving to the other side. Initially just do these once a day and after a couple of days try to do the in the morning and again later in the day. By then I will have more movements to incorporate the rotational aspects of your problem.