Unleashing The Beast :: FitBob

Did you know that the cubital tunnel is the medical description of your funny bone? I didn’t. I knew the ulnar nerve passed through the elbow, but didn’t realize that it was the cause of my tingly fingers. Sure enough, I pressed on my elbow and zzzzzzinnngg!!! The exact point. And there I was thinking that spot I had been stressing was halfway up my arm.

“Well, NO WONDER…” I thought. That elbow rests on so many things in my daily life – the arm rest on my chair, the edge of my desk, on the door when I’m driving my car… duh. I knew the position of my arm to desk is what was applying the aggravating pressure, but didn’t realize it was my elbow. Thanks so much Mister!

From what I’ve ascertained thus far treatment is pretty straightforward: rest the elbow (change typing & driving positions) and improve my bodily circulation (workout rather than lay around.) I’ll also be upping my antioxidant intake. It can take a few months for symptoms to go away. If they persist longer, surgery is an option. Personally, I prefer to let the body heal itself whenever possible.

So I have to change the position I type in. Keyboard is now on my lap and elbows off the arms of my chair. And I HAVE to exercise. No choice but to get the blood pumping and get rid of this annoyance. I don’t know when I’ll be able to lift hard and heavy again. Will re-evaluate after a week or so of elliptical and aquatics.

Time to rearrange the office again!

After taking a month off for the holidays and dealing with a pinched nerve, (annoying as hell) I finally made it back to the gym today for a light workout. Call it a sign from the universe or whatever, but there was an extended citywide power outage today. No internet, so I couldn’t work. No television, so I couldn’t distract myself. The result? More productivitiy!

I cleaned up a pile of bills, made some calls I had been putting off, and went to hop in the shower only to discover/realize that tankless water heaters require electricity to run their temperature control… doh! Since I was beginning to smell a bit ripe, I figured I would go take a shower at the gym. I called them to see if they were affected by the power outage and happily they weren’t.

I had let my training fall off long enough that, as happens to many I suppose, I wasn’t overly eager to jump back in. I had replaced the habit of training with the habit of not training. Work seemed more important. Holidays seemed more important. I had let the workout priority slide.

Since I was powerless (all pun intended) to use any of my usual distractions as excuses and really needed that shower, I knew it was time. And there was no way I could justify paying the gym for a shower. So off I went.

I did the usual 10 minute warmup on the spin bike and some light stretching before moving on to the weights. My hand is still tingly so I wanted to take it easy, plus I wasn’t feeling particularly energetic, so I rotated through some high-repetition/low weight upper body exercises: cable rows, pulldowns, barbell shrugs, incline bench press, dumbell shrugs – my own little “mini-circuit”.

Next it was off to the pool. The rec center has several pools for aquatic therapy, one of which is essentially a small indoor waterpark ride. It’s fun to float around with the current, but I turned against it – using the water pressure as gentle resistance against my pseudo swim strokes. By changing the angle of my hands I could control how much resistance they were getting while letting my legs and core work a little harder.

After 10 minutes of that, I went to soak in the outdoor hot tub for another 10 minutes. Those few steps from the door to the tub, dripping wet, in the winter mountain air… that’s BRISK baby!

As luck would have it, one of my fellow soakers happened to be a physical therapist. I explained I was doing some light rehab work on my pinched nerve, he asked me a few questions and showed me the location of the cubital tunnel on the elbow, which is where the ulnar nerve passes through the bone. We chatted for a few minutes and he said he thought my self-diagnosis of a pinched nerve coupled with carpal tunnel was spot on.