Cubital & Carpal Tunnel in a 14 year old Rower
This is an image of a 14 year old girls hand. She is an avid rower. She has had a Carpal Tunnel Decompression and was referred to hand therapy for the management of left upper limb and hand pain, numbness, altered sensation and poor functional use of the left hand. She now has signs and symptoms of Cubital Tunnel Syndrome. In addition to rowing, she does Archery. The Archery movement pattern has created changes in the flexibility and strength in her left shoulder compared to the right. The first image demonstrates the Carpal Tunnel Decompression scar, the wasting of the Adductor Pollicus muscle and the changes in the first CMC joint as a result of rowing.
Young rowers have not completed growth and maturation; thus they have open physeal plates (including endplates of vertebral bodies), comprising cartilage tissue that in some rowers cannot withstand supraphysiological stresses placed by too frequent and/or too intense training. This has resulted in the changes in the CMC joint #HandConsultSA #HandJournal
