Fight Against Pain

I have been dealing with this pain on my right shoulder and arm for so long that I have quite forgotten when it started. A couple of years perhaps. I would wake up every morning with excruciating pain on my entire right shoulder, deltoid and arm. It would feel as if I had fought an intense battle the whole night. I would feel tired in the morning. 

The range of motion was restricted for the shoulder joint and neck. Even reaching for the seat belt in the car was difficult. And I had almost come to accept it as part of my life. I thought it was the indirect result of my left wrist fracture sustained in February 2016. And it would go the moment the left hand was perfectly cured. But when after almost 3 years I realised that the left hand had become normal and yet the pain in my right hand was not going, I decided to take some remedial action. 

Of late I have started winning the battle against the pain and minor disability caused by it. I want to write down what all I did and what I learnt about this entire experience. If you benefit out of it, I shall be very happy.

Why This Pain? 

I thought this was an indirect result of the left wrist fracture sustained during my Chadar trek of February 2016. While the fracture healed in no time (my left hand was in a cast for four weeks), the muscles were seriously compromised. There would be severe pain to move my fingers and wrist of the affected hand. I thought this caused an overall weakness in the body and because I was possibly forcing my right hand to do a lot of things, it gave way. I thought exercising to bring back strength was the only solution. But it was a Catch 22 kind of situation. You feel weak because you haven't done exercise. But since you are weak you cannot exercise. I didn't know how to escape this trap.

But this was not the case at all. What had happened is years of sitting hunched over the computer for hours on end was finally taking its toll. The muscles of the upper back, triceps, deltoids etc had given way. This also caused the ulnar nerve to be entrapped. It took me a couple of years to realise this. 

A Fat Mattress 

One of the first things I did in this battle against the shoulder pain was to change my bed. Earlier we used to sleep on the floor on a thin mattress. I would sleep on my right side and this meant the shoulder was resting against a hard floor. My typical sleeping posture was shoulder on the mattress and the corner of the pillow would be between my cheek and deltoid putting additional pressure on it. My logic was - I have been sleeping like this for a long time. It never was a problem. Why did the problem strike now?

I went to Chandni and bought a thick foam mattress. This helped things a bit but soon the pain was back in right earnest. It had never become pain free in any case. By the way, earlier I had also bought a special pillow with a dip in the middle. A cervical pillow. It was totally useless. 

Sleep Like A Corpse 

Now, I decided to change my sleeping posture. I decided no more sleeping on the right side. Very consciously I would sleep straight on my back with my arms on the two sides and the palms locked over the belly. The hands crossed over the belly caused a problem. I would get numb in the wrists in half an hour. I realised this is a symptom of ulnar nerve entrapment. I would now sleep with my hands straight next to me. I would probably look like a corpse while sleeping. 

I also started doing ulnar nerve flossing exercises. This gave relief. I started doing moderate exercises also, particularly the Dands (Indian style push ups) and push ups.

There was a significant improvement with this. I felt so good to wake up in the morning almost pain free. Very soon I started feeling strong enough to be able to step up my number of repeats. Even a few days ago doing just one full push up was unimaginable.  

Towel For A Pillow 

But the pain would soon be back. Now I decided to do away with the pillow. First I experimented with a thin traditional pillow instead of the cervical pillow. There was a marked improvement. After a few days I rolled a towel into a pillow and use it even now (about two weeks). I also consciously stopped folding my hand at the elbow while sleeping. Apparently this puts pressure on the ulnar nerve. By this time I am fully convinced that my pain is entirely due to a trapped ulnar nerve.

After this I started waking up pain free in the mornings. This felt so very good. After a long time I was free. The pain is still there. I have yet to completely win the battle. It comes back during the day. It comes back if I sleep on my side. But there are small victories. For example, even if I sleep with the two palms crossing each other over the belly and the elbow folded a bit, I don't get the tingling sensation.

If I lie on the right side for even half an hour I would still get the pain back. But today (7th March 2019) I think that is history. Possibly the hand and deltoids are getting stronger. 

A Daily Exercise Regime

I do the following exercises on an almost daily basis. Let me write it down lest I forget. Also, when I read it ten years hence (7th March 2029) I will feel good.

First, about 10x3 pulling of a blue Theraband resistance band to open out the traps. After this I do a stretch for my hands. I stand with one arm stretched out, palm facing up. Like a beggar. Then with the other hand I hold my palm and pull it down, with fingers pointing to the floor. I hold this for 30 seconds. Do at least 3 times on each arm. This has done wonders to mitigating my arm pain.

After this I do another stretch for the triceps. I try to touch the base of the nape of my neck on the back side with my palm and push the elbow back gently with the other arm. This gives a stretch to the triceps. Three on each hand for 30 seconds. I also hold the hand on my back side just above the waist line and pull the wrist with the other hand. This stretches the shoulder muscles and the deltoids. Doing this was inconceivable even two weeks ago.

Next 8x3 dands (Hindu Pushups) on the floor. Here is a video of one of the sets. I did this video to see if my form was correct. There is a slight error here which I have since corrected.

Next 8x3 pikes on the Swiss ball followed by 6x3 knee tucks on the same ball, followed by 8x3 push ups from the same ball. These are for my core with the last being also for the triceps and . After this I walk over the ball. I have no idea what it is called. Essentially I kneel down on the floor with my chest resting on the ball and the hands on either side of the ball. Then I start crawling as the ball rolls under me, going forward. By the time I reach the toes on the ball, I start crawling back. This is an intense exercise, particularly the coming back. I cannot do more than three right now. I hope to do 8x3 one day.

After this I often go for bicep curls with a dumbbell. Can't remember the weight. But I don't do that every day or even every other day.

After this I go for Zwifting. At least half an hour. Sometimes one. After that I do stretches for the legs, particularly of the quads and glutes.