I was wandering if there are any kiters with medical experience out there. The bar (after a small incident/equipment failure/and violent release) hit my thumb which initially got swallen and a bit red. Bot not huge swelling, and now after about 40 hours it came down a bit. But what's concerning me is that i don't have full feeling within the surface of my thumb skin... it feels like pins and needles all the time, and the top bit is numb. Not sure if this is something serious or will the feeling come back eventually when the swelling settles down.
thanks
cut it off. you won't have to worry about pins and needles anymore. that is my professional medical opinion
look, for the sake of kitesurfing, it's worth loosing a thumb (as some of us would have experienced recently). But while it's still attached, i'm just curious if the loss of feeling is something temporary or something i should get checked out...
(i knew i was gonna cop it for posting this)
I got thumped into the sand pretty hard once back in the day and the front of one thigh lost feeling like you describe. I am pretty sure I crushed and killed the nerve endings in it in a patch about 6 inches long by 3 wide. They took about 18 months to grow back, that's how long it was before it felt normal again. It was a bit funny because I sometimes couldn't feel my phone vibrate if I put it in the pocket on that side, and missed a heap of calls.
I never saw a doctor about it, but that's not to say you shouldn't. GP visit works out to about $20 to $30 after you get medicare back doesn't it?
thanks GreenPat.
the issue is not the cost, but whether i miss the first half an hour from my session tonight due to having to see doctor first ... i'd rather miss it if i know the loss of nerves is temporary and nothing serious... but sounds like maybe i should check it out...
Yep - know the feeling (or lack of). I gumbied for finger in pretty similar fashion a couple of weeks ago (the knuckle between metatarsle and phalangie) and had tingling and numbness for the 1st week n a bit. It is still bl00dy awkward and painful for bearing any load.
It may be worth going to the doc but truly they can do fek all for these sort of things.. Ligament damage can sometimes be helped with surgery (big $$ and no garauntees - wifey came out worse after this option a few years back) but finger joint and bones can be splinted at best. Time is the healer.
BTW for comparison, after a few weeks my knuckle has gone from being at least double normal size to about 30-40% bigger than normal so it does happen pretty slowly. Hang in there fellow gumby 
as getfunky said, the medical people can diagnose, but not do much to treat what you describe. unless there are broken bones or severed tissues to be mechanically put back together they'll just prescribe painkillers/anti-inflammatorys and advise you to rest.
residual swelling will affect the nerves within your thumb. keep it as mobile as possible without causing pain, massage the area including your whole hand and forearm gently, nourish yourself well, and it should return to normal over a couple of days. if not, then perhaps the tissue damage is more serious than it currently seems, in which case it's either bad enough to warrant surgery and you can be glad of medical expertise and technology, or it's not bad enough to need surgery, and again, doctors can diagnose and drug you.
(i'm a former professional windsurfer and much experienced with minor and major injuries, and now alexander technique teacher, supporting prevention and rehabilitation)
You guys crack me up
As far as the thumb goes, use your gut instinct and if it feels good do it, and if painful stop. I love ice, heat and stretching. Got a real sore back at the moment and am at home getting better. If seeing a doctor makes sense, then check out the costs for your options as a first step....then go kiting.
makes me wonder just how much secret beige i actually miss, quite a lot i'm guessing.
You probably don't need to see a doctor, i've wacked my hand in a projector screen handle and damaged some nerves, bones, ligaments etc. jeeeze it hurt!!Doctor said "you've damaged some nerves bones ligaments etc" no-one wants to hear that.
So you`ve hurt your thumb a bit. Don`t understand what`s the big deal? Can you move it as normal? If so then what`s the problem? Before the summer season kicked in I stumpt my toe running for my kite. I`m sure I broke it cause it`s a bit out of shape and even now it hurts even if I hold it. But not once has it stopped me from doing stuff.
Take a Dr Chopper pill and HTFU.
Well, it's not a big deal. But i've heard of cases where people were told "sorry we'll have to cut your limb off, if you came a bit earlier maybe we could have saved it". And since i'm not a doctor, i just wanted to find out if it's something that could further down the track have complications. Imaging kiting without a thumb... you'd have problems gripping the bar properly... get it now. Secondly i still need all my fingers to play my instruments... and maybe few other things... if i needed to HTFU i wouldn't even post questions here, but went to see the doctor straight away...
cheers
^^^^^If you play your instrument too much you will go blind
I fell off a ladder 4 years ago,landed hard on my hip,still have no feeling for a 3 inch x 3 inch spot over my hip bone.Not to mention the broken ribs,arm,2 operations ,screws , metal plates,lots of fun.
Great party trick,sticking pins into myself without feeling it.
Im no doctor,but I guess maybe I squashed the nerves and they havent repaired themselves???????
When I told the Doc,he said the feeling would come back in time,4 years later,still nothing
signed..... the human pin cushion
Well there has been some great advice on this thread for you mate... i particularly like the HTFU ones... :)
I am a chiro, so yes I am a quack and no i not a 'real doctor' but I am sure 8 years of univeristy science training has to account for something.
Bottom line is you want to firstly make sure that it isn't broken or unstable as you would need to splint it to allow it to heal properly. If you can move it ok and the joints don't move in strange directions and its just swollen then you won't have a fracture or ligament instability. This is good.
If you literally 'stubbed' your finger on the bar then you most likely injured superficial nerve and nerve endings in the area, plus as was also said the resultant swelling will also cause a comrepessive neuropathy - that is numbness and tingling. It is also possible that you bruised the periosteum which is the soft covering on the bone and this can take months to heal - the good thing is this is on your hand and not on, say, your heal, where alot of people get it which on the foot is often called plantar fascitis.
So if it all seems ok then do as has been suggested - rest, some gentle movement and massage (pushing the fluid back toward the heart), and ice... are mainstays for this sort of thing.
I would recommend to stay away from the antiinflammatories as they are nasty on your gut and most likely your thumb isn't bad enough to warrant it. Also there is a fantastic natural healing cream called arnica cream which you can massage into the area - i still cannot get over how good that stuff is. You can also take Vit B complex for the nerve damage as nerves utilise VitB12 for healing and growth.
Hope that helps.
Jans.
Good advice. Better than just "HTFU!"
I`m gonna try some of that cream on my toe. Hope it straightens it out.
