Now you’re probably thinking, “Double you…teeeeee….effffff……?”
One week after surgery
No, I didn’t attempt to slash my wrist. That scar is healing quite nicely after my DeQuervain’s release surgery a week after I got back from SHOT Show. (Yes, I am quite aware that the chronological order of my blog posts is whack. Don’t judge me.)
I’ve had DeQuervain’s Tenosynovitis since the second day of the US IPSC Nationals back in September of 2012 (yup, we’re going back in time some more). I remember waking up with my wrist being in pain and at first I thought, “Did I sleep on my hand or something??” Unfortunately, the pain didn’t go away but thankfully, I had some pre-wrap and athletic tape in my range bag so I taped my wrist up and continued shooting. It helped a little bit.
I went to the doctor when I got back home and he diagnosed me with DeQuervain’s Tenosynovitis. It progressively got so bad that I could barely move my thumb without any pain. He gave me two options. A cortisone shot or surgery. Surgery was definitely out of the question at that time because the Nationals was less than a few weeks away so I opted for a cortisone shot (I don’t want a cortisone shot EVER again) a few days before I flew out for the match.
The cortisone worked…for about two weeks. A marathon session with the Xbox 360 made the pain come back but now it was worse. There was pinching, clicking and lots of pain. Tying my hair, holding something on my hand and simple movements became too painful. So I went back to the doctor and finally scheduled my surgery. He assured me that the surgery would have minimal side-effects (the worse that can happen was numbness on the area where the incision was) and the effects were permanent.
Now why the hell would I post this? It’s definitely not for the lack of things to write about but because a shooter/PT friend of mine who was giving me exercises to do told me that we need to stretch our arms in order to prevent things like this from happening. I had asked my doctor what caused my condition and he said overuse may be to blame. I usually stretch before working out. But I’ve never considered stretching before or after shooting or dry-firing much to the chagrin of my massage therapist. I haven’t stretched my arms pre or post shooting/dry-firing since 1991. I shudder to think about all the repetitions I did when I’m on full dry-fire mode. Or when I’m playing videogames…
The hand is healing quite nicely now and I will soon hit the range again soon to practice for the 2013 season.
So, kids, the moral of the story is, STTREEEETTTCCHHHH!!! 😉
Athena Lee Shooting 