wrist brace

[redbird]

I tried sleeping without the brace on my right wrist last night, and I think it worked: my wrist didn't hurt when I woke up, and hasn't been noticeably tender during the day today.

The occupational therapist has been saying that getting me out of the brace is a goal. For me, that's secondary to being able to use the wrist (and hand, and arm) without pain, and to lift heavier things, like tall juice glasses, comfortably. If they go together, as they seem to, that's good, but the brace isn't the problem.

On the other hand, if I don't have braces on both wrists, I'll be less likely to overheat when I'm going to sleep: the wrist braces are like fingerless gloves. I've been sleeping with one on my left wrist for years, to avoid a recurrence of tennis elbow; I hadn't noticed it keeping me warm until I had them on both wrists at the same time.

I'm going to do this for a few more days and, if it continues to go well, try increasing the weight for one of the strengthening exercises.

ETA Friday morning: I woke up around 6 a.m. with my wrist hurting slightly, went to the bathroom, came back to bed, and put on both wrist braces. I may wear both braces tonight.

Comments

[sine_nomine]

Can you say more about the use of a wrist brace to avoid tennis elbow?

[redbird]

What I know, as a patient:

The symptom was tennis elbow, and the doctor did some tests -- I think this is when I had the nerve conduction test, which I'd been told would be incredibly painful and wasn't -- and then sent me for occupational therapy (which is hand/wrist/forearm physical therapy), because while the pain was in the elbow, at least part of the problem was at the other end of that muscle.

I wound up with some putty to use to exercise the hand; and advice to sleep with that hand propped up on a small pillow, and to wear a brace at night. When I asked, they said that the "small pillow" could be a small stuffed animal; I used a stuffed panda for years, and now have a stuffed turtle that is flatter and thus more useful for this purpose. I do this basically every night; skipping one night now and again is fine, skipping a week can lead to pain, and I don't feel like experimenting to figure out what fraction of the time I need to wear that brace.

My impression is that "tennis elbow" as a symptom can have more than one cause (I'm basing that on the nerve conduction study). I don't know whether there's any reason not to try the brace and/or propping that hand up without going to a doctor or trying to find an OT who takes your insurance and treats adult outpatients.

The specific kind of brace I'm using has handedness -- I have one for the right wrist for the current problem, and a left-handed one for the tennis elbow, and they aren't interchangeable.

[sine_nomine]

That's quite helpful; thanks. Sweetheart is dealing with something similar.

[adrian_turtle]

You were concerned about the wrist brace being too warm, so perhaps sleeping on the chilly side of the apartment made a difference?
(Our apartment usually has a temperature gradient. The direction is different in winter and summer.)

[tarasacon]

As someone who spent a significant portion of my life navigating wrist braces for assorted reasons, there’s a big difference for me between braces to wear while awake and functioning, and braces for sleeping. I need softer, less rigid and scritchy braces, in order to sleep with them. When all else fails I’ve sometimes wrapped my hands with elastic bandage. That’s an awkward process but sometimes sufficient to keep them mostly aligned instead of crooked at stressful angles. Obviously ymmv!