Numb hands, swollen forearms from intensive physical training

by Tamara
(Toronto, Canada)

Hello Dr. B,

I have recently started experiencing numbness in all the fingers in my hands and occasional swelling of my forearms. It is particularly bad after an intensive weekend of physical activity. To be more specific, I started a Yoga teacher training last April and for 8 months we would meet once or twice a month for weekend long intensives where we would be doing at least 8-12 hours of physical practice (on top of our individual daily practices). During these intensives, we would often workshop a lot of inversions (handstands, shoulder stands, forearm balances) and backbends (wheel pose, dropping back onto our hands from standing, etc). I didn't notice it until after one particular weekend although I have had similar numbness ten years ago when I was in University and doing a lot of writing. They suspected Carpal Tunnel and I wore a wrist splint and it went away.

I have consulted my GP as well as a Naturopathic Doctor of sports medicine who is himself a seasoned Yogi. My GP is sending me to a specialist (I'm in Canada so this takes a couple of months) to be scanned by a neurophysiologist and the ND told me that it was common, gave me some physio shoulder/wrist/supraspinatus exercises to strengthen the supporting muscles (?) and both told me to stay off my arms (which I have been doing and it went away - until I did two practices of front-loading poses and it was back immediately).

My questions for you are:

do you think this is the result of something in my cervical spine, my muscles squeezing nerves - brachial plexus/ulnar or is it just carpal...and do you suggest that I consult a chiropractor or an osteopath?

Thank you kindly.

Hello Tamara,
It sounds like a typical case of the "Weekend warrior" - suddenly a huge increase in activity compared to what your body is used to.

Think how your bod would react if you jogged 3 miles daily, and then twice a year you tried running a marathon. It's not healthy to suddenly up your activity like this.

Specifically, I'm not sure. If it's affecting the pinkie, then it's definitely not a Carpal tunnel syndrome which affects only the median nerve.

For tingling in the hands I always check out the carpal tunnel, the pronator teres muscle, the first rib, the scalenes and the cervical spine obviously. The problem could be anywhere there, and of course other less common conditions.

Trying to reach the Yoga Olympics this year? Your body is trying to tell you something. Listening?

Dr b