Folks with Hand/Wrist Pain

[orichalcum]

Hey, way too many people I know,

For the past several months, I've repeatedly been waking up with the fourth and fifth fingers of my right hand very stiff; it's painful to bend them at all. After a shower and some time awake, the sensation mostly disappers, although they still feel tense.

Is this tendonitis? Should I be worried? Does this sound familiar at all?

I think the worst thing about growing older (echoing foldedfish today, though he's got a few more grey hairs than I do) is the whole "body not working as well as it used to" problem. I can't manage as well on little sleep, my lower back hurts, I find picking up my baby (admittedly, he's 24 lbs) to be quite heavy . Thankfully, I still have my vaunted endurance and pain tolerance, so I can manage, but it was so much easier when I could abuse my body willy-nilly, ten years ago or so.

I remember back in Quest, when folks were playing older characters, we used to look vaguely silly adding penciled-in laugh lines and crow's eyes and putting baby powder or spray on our hair. Now there are a bunch of folks, including likely myself, who I'd hesitate to cast as a child or young teenager character. Faking grey hair, meanwhile, is less of a problem.

Comments

[ex-greythist387.livejournal.com]

Thirding this (ulnar pinching). The physical therapist I saw recommended that I avoid wearing braces, though, since she wanted me to build muscle to support my annoyed tendons and joints; for me it was secondary, and the primary cause was in my upper spine.

It is a good idea to see a doctor--this sort of thing doesn't ever go away completely, thanks to possibilities for reinjury. Also, having a high pain threshold can make it pitifully easy to incur (further) damage unawares. (I've accidentally combined a good threshold with the ability to ignore pain, since it's chronic, and as I get older I wish I could undo it.)