New diagnosis, and new hand/wrist issue..very painful!

[PlushPupsGirL337]

After being in the business for nearly 8 years (June will be 8 years) I've acquired a few medical problems all related to grooming.

Lower back pain is probably the worst issue I had for a long time, once I started sitting down to groom, the pain has drastically reduced. Now however, I've been having a LOT of problems with cold hands, no matter what I do, I just have horribly cold hands. I started nursing school last august, and learned of a test called the "allens test" to check for circulation in the hands...one of my instructors tried it out on me and said I needed to see a Dr. because my circulation was pretty bad for someone my age and at my health. Needless to say, went to multiple doctors and finally have a diagnosis....

Raynaud's syndrome. Its basically where I use clippers all day every day (not really anymore since i've been in nursing school) but the constant vibrations from the clippers have caused reduced circulation, reduced nerve transmissions and reduced feeling in my hands. theres really no cure other then exercises, and anti-inflammatory's but its been helping...

recently however I've acquired this new condition, ONLY with my right hand, a severe pain along the outside of my hand up through my wrist and near my forearm, only SEVERE when i grip something tightly or at least moderately, but it pretty much hurts constantly. I've found that if i rub the outside of my hand up against the edge of a hard surface (usually my table) the pain will subside for awhile and i'll be able to grip again, but its just gotten worse recently and before i spend boocoo's of bucks at the doctors, i wanted to see if anyone on here has had this problem? or knows what it may be?

[poodlecsigreen]

I had this on inside of my right hand 2 years ago. No money for doctors. I just assumed it was my carpol tunnel acting up. I used a wrist brace and over the counter pain killers. Took 3 months to loose the wrist brace and 6 months for total pain to be gone. I have been agroomer for 40 years. No job that I could get with my current level education would pay as much as grooming does so I just work through the pain. My problem is lack of feeling in my hands and not being able to hold on to things. Often I just drop things for no reason. I also get this awful and painful pins and needles feeling in my hands. If I put my hands above my head it will go away in a few minutes but comes back many times a day and even happens when I sleep. It wakes me up and I put my hands above my head to make the pain and numb feeling go away. I feel for you . Hope you get better and good luck with nursing.

[Emma123]

Luckily, at this time I do have good insurance, so when I experienced a tingling in my hand, I was able to to to a doctor who referred me to a neurologist. I had an MRI and some other tests involved sticking a needle in my muscle (not that much fun, as you can imagine.) In my case, the problem was some degeneration in the padding between the spinal disk. In other words, I'm getting older and these things happen. I had some physical therapy to learn exercises to strengthen my back. The doctor suggested acupuncture, which surprised me because he is the head of neurology at a leading hospital in this area. I assumed he would think acupuncture was wacky, but he doesn't. My discomfort decreased, so I never did try the acupuncture. Good luck. I do think that it's important to see a doctor if you can. I don't think doctors are always right, but they are great at using tests to identify problems. I consider them to be the auto mechanics of the body.

[Particentral]

Have to say that there are so many cuases to Raynauds, that the clippers seem to be the least of your concerns. I have a family history with it and yet do not seem to have ay symptoms.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ray...SECTION=causes talks about the many causes, including heredity, thyroid, carpal tunnel.......so many things it is hard to target JUST the clippers. Even your back injury (pain) could be causing the raynauds......

This is coming from someone with all the wrist and hand problems one could imagine! LOL

[plaidjaguar]

Grooming is one of those situations where spending a little extra money in the short term can save a lot of money and pain later on. I know repetitive motion injuries are always going to be a risk of grooming, but higher quality equipment can really improve your chances.
High quality, very sharp shears reduce the the number of cuts you have to make as well as the hand pressure required to cut. Higher quality clippers vibrate less, and the best blades reduce the amount of time you need to be holding those clippers.

I use (and love!) the Andis 5-speed Excel. I keep it on very low settings for nearly all my grooming. It's significantly lighter and lower vibration than my old Andis 2-speed. I also use the Wahl Li+ (basically a Bravura) whenever possible. It does sanis, pads, clean faces/feet, and in many cases the full groom (with the addition of stainless comb attachments). My blades are all Wahl Ultimate blades--the ones that look funny; they're black with vertical stripes across the cutting surface. I can get a smoother clip with half the strokes using those. I also use a hydraulic table (made fairly cheaply from a barber chair and a grooming tabletop), which has cut my back pain down to nearly zero.

I'm not saying your medical problems are caused by your equipment, or that equipment can solve your problems! But I really think it can help a lot. Even just upgrading my clippers to a model that's 8 oz lighter helped with my back pain. Since groomers often don't have insurance, and grooming equipment is tax deductable, the expense could very well pay off.