2nd CTS decompression

Martin Michael
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I had CTS decompression surgery on my left hand 3 days ago. The surgery was performed by Dr Michael Nicholas at the QVMH in Herne Bay and he suggested I post my experience to this forum.

I had decompression surgery for my right hand at Reculver in June 2019. The hand tested at level 4. The recovery from the surgery was a lot faster than I expected with good use of the hand within a couple of weeks, and now 2 years on the improvement is just about 100% with almost no pain, tingling or numbness in any digit and complete mobility in the hand.

At that time I had a steroid injection in the left hand which also had significant CTS symptoms. The injection made a huge difference for over a year but since the start of 2021 the symptoms came back and in the last couple of months became quite problematic particularly at night when getting more than a couple of hours of continuous sleep without waking from pain in the hand and arm has been a treat.

Again testing at level 4, I was offered surgery at my assessment appointment at the Canterbury clinic late last month and accepted most willingly. Now 3 days after surgery I'm pain free except some minor twinges from the surgery wound. I still have some tingling in two digits but the hand is already very much improved compared to pre-surgery and best of all I can sleep at night!

One interesting feature of both surgeries I hadn't expected: coincident with the CTS in each hand I had quite severe trigger finger on the ring finger. There is no reason why CTS decompression should have any affect on this condition as far as I am aware. However, the trigger finger in my right hand has almost completely resolved, and I'm already noticing a good improvement in the left hand trigger finger in the last 3 days. I call that a bonus.

So there it is: two very positive experiences of CTS decompression from Dr Bland's team from a very impressed and immensely grateful.patient.

jeremydpbland
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The trigger finger thing is interesting. CTS and trigger digits are linked together in some way so that the two conditions occur together more often than one would extect  by chance. It is not altogether impausible that one would respond to treatment for the other, though I think we see this more with steroid injections than with surgery. JB

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