Carpel Tunnel in your shooting hand. How do you manage it?

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Barbicatter

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Few years back my mother had Carpel Tunnel Surgery on her right hand. The surgery helped but she still has symptoms: numbness, weakness, or pain in the fingers and hand.

Recently she has purchased herself a Ruger LCR .38 spl with crimson trace grips for home defense. We went to the range to practice, after 30 rounds the light little revolver started to take its toll on my mom's wrist. It's not so much recoil but the short barrel seems to make it snappy (muzzle flip?). The upper ward action is what causes the issue.

Any of you shooter's coping with Carpel Tunnel Syndrome? Do you have any bracing suggestions that don't interfere with your grip on the gun? Any tips that might help?
 
I shoot with a couple of guys who have adapted to shooting with a wrist brace. (Pistol,Rifle & Shotgun)
I Shoot with a Over 60 Crowd and most of us have the problem.
We shoot most weekends in USPSA, IDPA & Multi Gun with
ample supplies of Advil , Motrin & Celebrex .
 
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Vitamin B6 has been successfully used to reduce swelling .This was documented back in the 1960s ! If that doesn't work an operation will .It's a simple operation to slit the tube [carpal tunnel] .
 
Lightweight, compact revolvers such as the LCR really don't work well for people who are recoil-sensitive. It's just about that simple. Move to a heavier gun, mabye even a semi auto which naturally absorbs recoil better than a revolver does. Since the gun is for home defense rather than concealed carry, it only makes sense to move up to a more friendly gun for her.

If she's absolutely wedded to the LCR, encourage her to practice with her non-dominant hand as well as her dominant one. That should lengthen her practice times and help her maintain proficiency.

Unfortunately, the CT grips on the LCR -- although they are absolutely marvelous for work in the dark or in indoors lighting conditions -- do very little to absorb recoil. Perhaps she might want to consider moving to the Hogue grips, although that does sacrifice easy sighting in low light.

Encourage her to do lots of dry fire and just a little live fire, by the way. That way she can build & maintain proficiency without hurting herself. Make sure her dryfire shots are as perfect as she can make them, with excellent sight picture, smooth trigger press, and complete follow through. Tell her she'll be tempted to be lazy in dry fire, because she doesn't get the immediate feedback of the shot placement, but the value of dry fire really only happens when people don't get lazy. Note that the CT laser works really really well for reinforcing good habits in dryfire.

When my own Carpal Tunnel flares up, I practice a lot of left-hand shooting. Needs to be done anyway, but it functions as a good reminder. Plus if I ever need the surgery, I'll be well prepared to cope during the healing period afterward.

Hope it helps.

pax
 
I think the idea of using a wrist brace for practice might be a good one.

Also, I wonder if she might rethink her choice of firearms. You mentioned that this was for home defense, so a steel framed .38 with a six or seven inch barrel would probably work well. The gun would be a little more accurate and have less “snap”.
 
Recently she has purchased herself a Ruger LCR .38 spl with crimson trace grips for home defense. We went to the range to practice, after 30 rounds the light little revolver started to take its toll on my mom's wrist. It's not so much recoil but the short barrel seems to make it snappy (muzzle flip?). The upper ward action is what causes the issue.
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Is there a reason she needed to shoot 30 rounds at once? How many attackers are you envisioning coming through her door? Try getting her a 22 revolver with an equal trigger pull - have her shoot one cylinder, maybe two of her HD stuff and shoot the 22 for trigger control practice
 
I take aspirin before I leave for the range, more when I return home. No, that doesn't do the trick, but shooting a lot more .22 long rifle than center fire calibers helps.
 
I am with pax that a medium sized gun will make shooting a lot gentler. Have her try something like a 3-inch Smith & Wesson Model 64. It's not a big revolver by any means, but is about 2.5x the weight and 50% bigger than the LCR and should be much more shootable for her.

When the round goes off, there is an explosion, and the less gun that is available to absorb the reaction the more that your hand and wrist have to absorb. Let a bigger gun take the punishment for her.

Specifically on muzzle flip, by the way, the most important place to have the mass, is out in front of the gun, furthest from the pivot point. That means a longer and thicker barrel are especially good things to reduce flip.
 
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The reality is this not a range gun, it is a personal defense gun. She probably only shoot it enough to proficient with it. As her daughter I want to be as comfortable as possible while she is doing it.

The dry fire exercises, wearing a brace during practice, and switching dominant hands are excellent ideas and are easy to implement.
 
Went down that road a few years ago .Had both hands done.With in a short span did a lit of DRY FIRING with SNAP CAPS with CT LASER GRIPS . Still have the numdness but that'spart of getting older :(
 
It sounds a little goofy and may make your Mom look like Rambo to some, but for my bad wrist/hand/arthritis days I like to use a pair of those fingerless wheelchair gloves. They're actually short open fingers and they have palm padding. They can be picked up at most pharmacies a whole lot cheaper than "shooting" gloves. The ones I have have a mesh type material back side which keeps them cool, and for some reason, the velcro tab that tightens around the wrist feels good when it's tightened up pretty tight. I dunno, maybe it's like those orthopedic straps people used to wear about 2 or 3 inches below the elbow for tennis players and such. But anyway, it helps to extend my shooting times on those bad days.
 
have your mom rent a S&W K frame or equivilate 4 inch barrel revolver at the range and load it with .38 special 148 gr double end wadcuuters @ 750 - 800fps. if she is comfortable with this set up....it may be the answer.

she should also start practicing using either hand.for SD this necessary with or without C.T.
 
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Hand strength, single action, DA/SA revolvers...

About 10mo ago, I started to develop a lot of pain in my shooting/strong hand. I had problems bending my index finger and noticed I had trouble with my other fingers. It started to clear up after a few months on it's own but I considered buying a single action 9mm 1911a1 or SIG Sauer SAO for duty use/concealed carry. A Taurus Protector .357 or S&W 638/49 with a shrouded hammer could have worked ok also.
I think it was Pacmeyr(check spelling) who makes S&W J frame grips that cover the hammer area.
A smaller caliber may be needed too if she can't fire & hit center mass. A .32 or .22lr that she can use is better than a .357magnum or .38spl she misses with at 20 or 30 feet, ;).
 
Depending on your situation, some kind of hobby that exercises your hands/wrists can help condition you or simply targeted work outs when you're not shooting and once you've gotten over any major CT episodes with oversight from your doctor. The key to working your body is, of course, moderation and common sense. Moderate weight dumbell wrist curls or squeezing grippers a little at first, then increasing, will condition your muscles.

Besides working out, I also play guitar (sometimes quite fast :D ) and get lots of targeting training of my hands and wrists. After doing both of those activities for many years, shooting my mere .357 Mag is a cake walk.
 
Sorry to come in late, without reading all the post's, is it recoil, or pulling the trigger the problem?

Because I think both can easily be remedied.

If it's recoil, go to a gun with less recoil. If it's the trigger, get a lighter SA trigger.

Is it me, or is that just to easy?
 
laser aimers, semi auto pistols..

I'd add that your mom's plan to use a Crimsontrace lasergrip is a good idea. More gun owners or CWP holders with illness or injury issues should plan to use lasers or white lights.
If she can work a semi auto pistol and fire it safely, she may want to check out the new Walther .22LR with the factory built in laser, ;). .22LR isn't the best caliber for protection but the light recoil, ease of reloading and laser-sight could work better than a .38spl or .357magnum that she can't practice with.
 
for my bad wrist/hand/arthritis days I like to use a pair of those fingerless wheelchair gloves.
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I will ckeck some of these out.

have your mom rent a S&W K frame or equivilate 4 inch barrel revolver at the range and load it with .38 special 148 gr double end wadcuuters @ 750 - 800fps. if she is comfortable with this set up....it may be the answer.
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Unfortunately not rentals in the area. However I did work up target load for her 158gr SWC, @ 700-750fps. Hopefully these will be a little softer than the factory ammo.

I'd add that your mom's plan to use a Crimsontrace lasergrip is a good idea. More gun owners or CWP holders with illness or injury issues should plan to use lasers or white lights.
If she can work a semi auto pistol and fire it safely, she may want to check out the new Walther .22LR with the factory built in laser, . .22LR isn't the best caliber for protection but the light recoil, ease of reloading and laser-sight could work better than a .38spl or .357magnum that she can't practice with.
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It's so much recoil as the muzzle flip. The angle it flips her wrist back is what hurts. She is no stranger to firearms and it's been 15 + years since she has fired a pistol. A little discomfort will not scare away from using a firearm. I believe she can correct this with practicing a better grip, a little strength training, and softer loads.

Nice little .22LR Plinker would be a fun range toy though. Maybe Christmas.
 
Weightlifting gloves work for me, when I get a flare. I use the type that have the strap of velcro that circles around your wrist as tight as you want. Made by Harbinger, they are about 20 bucks a pair. I need them for working out, as doing dips with added weight caused my CTS, and my neurologist told me I must keep my wrists as straight as possible. Dips and straight wrists don't belong in the same sentence, so I found these helped immensely. So then I started useing them in shooting, only for the heavy kickers, and thus far, they are stellar in their ability to ward off the pain of CTS.
 
no joke

I've had two surgeries on the left wrist, one on the right, and two on the right elbow. Things tingle, ache, or hurt all the time.

I shoot crappier.
 
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