i had deQuervain's surgery, that's alot like carpal tunnel except the
problem is at the base of the thumb. if i had it to do over again i
wouldn't have had the surgery. i really think that if i had been sent
to an occupational therapist before that, i would have recovered. but
i had a doctor who didn't believe in therapy, so he did the surgery 8
months ago. i'm in worse shape now than i was before the surgery.
because he didn't send me to therapy until 9 weeks after the surgery
all of the scar tissue has grown attached to the tendon. i feel every
bit of the tendon. i only have about 50% of my range of motion. if i
had to put my hand down to catch myself from falling i couldn't, the
therapist said that it would probably break my wrist if i had to put
any pressure on it. i spent 7 months in therapy. which didn't help
much. my point in all of this is, and this is an extremely important
point (Jenny) is that everybody heals differently and each case is
different. i don't want to discourage anybody else from having surgery
though, when i was in therapy i met a few people who had the carpal
tunnel surgery and they were sent to therapy a few days after the
surgery and in a couple of weeks they were doing great. when i had the
surgery the doctor told me in about 4 weeks i would be good as new. i
still can't go back to work and have such limited hand motion that i
don't know what type of work i will be able to do now. so jenny if you
do decide to have the surgery just make sure you get into therapy as
soon as possible. an occupational therapist is more trained working
with hands than physical therapist are.