TargetTalk

I've been shooting pistol a lot lately... besides uncounted dry-firing, I've been shooting three full matches every day. And I'm developing quite a pain in my palm (see photo). I'm guessing it's either a nerve or tendon.

Is this a known issue? Do many suffer from it? I'm hoping to find a solution before the pain gets so bad that I won't be able to hold the pistol anymore. Could it be my grip? The way I'm holding the pistol? Or what? Am I just one of the unlucky ones to suffer from this? I have no pain in my hand when shooting (even a lot) my match rifle.

The pain is towards the bottom middle of my wrist:



Is there something I could do to make this less painful? (I haven't made any changes, filing or filling my stock grip.)

Thanks!

does the edge of the grip go into that place? in other words does your thumb thenar carry a considerable amount of weight? Like if you remove the palm shelf, the weight will mostly be on the thenar and this could' be the case. To counter that, move the palm shelf up to take the pressure off the thenar.

Other than that I don't know. I've had bigger issues and to solve them I simply stopped shooting a lot.

I've never heard of any cases of this before. I suspect it's tendons, because there are actually very few significant muscles in the hand. Most of the real action is in the wrist & arm, pulling on tendons going to the hand & fingers. I suppose it's possible you are pinching a nerve, but that would be more likely to produce a tingling feeling. If it's a nerve, it could be anywhere from the hand all the way to the neck. If I curl my 2nd finger, it feels like there may be a tendon running through that area, but it's buried pretty deep.

General treatment for tendons suggests heat it before you shoot, ice it afterward. Ibuprofen will probably help. If it is some form of tendonitis, it can take a LONG time to heal. The tendons don't have a very good blood supply, and once they get inflamed, it doesn't take much activity to get them increasingly upset. There may be some stretching exercises that would help, but given that I have never heard of anyone having pain there, it's difficult to say what sort of stretches might work.

How hard are you gripping the pistol? If you are shooting air pistol, you don't need a death grip, and it's counterproductive to having the best fine motor control of your trigger finger. The physical grip on the pistol might also be the problem. Some of them have a ridge there, but I would think if that was hurting you, it would be pretty obvious. Does the pain go away as soon as you let go of the pistol, or does it linger for minutes, hours or days?

Don't try to "tough it out". If it's getting worse, you run the risk of doing some permanent damage. I pinched a nerve in my elbow doing too many pushups, and kept at it until I'd built up scar tissue. I had to give up shooting anything but air pistol for about a year and a half, and there are a lot of normal activities that will now tick it off. I used to fence as well, and I had to switch hands completely.

Do a search on "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome".
This can be caused from over use of the hand that allows the hand angle to sit below the straight of the wrist.
Had the surgery done years ago on my left hand.
Mine was caused from shooting many thousands of rounds when I was shooting Skeet competitively.
It was my forearm support hand on a heavy over/under tubed shotgun.
It was worth it though, made AA across the board(12ga, 20ga, 28ga, .410 bore and doubles :)

Bottom line is go see a doctor before it gets worse.
You could avoid the surgery.

Clarence

3 full matches per day? For how many days?
What are you trying to do?

TAKE A BREAK!!!!!!
No wonder you're in pain

Really just take it easy and give it some time

My area of medical practice was a few feet higher up the human body (check my username :) ) but you've circled the exact area the Median nerve goes though the Carpal Tunnel.

By the looks of your hand you are a few years past the age of puberty so an element of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is most likely as someone else has pointed out.

First and foremost, take a break, how much...... your body will tell you.

Also, looking at your user name....... the years of holding onto to a Harley throttle will increase your risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from the transmitted vibration.

Heddok wrote:Also, looking at your user name....... the years of holding onto to a Harley throttle will increase your risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from the transmitted vibration.

You wouldn't be able to get me on a Harley!!! No way! Not my style at all. It's BMW GS all the way! :)

(Your point is of course valid, but I also have cruise control for those longer stretches. And I've never suffered until now.)

hundert wrote:does the edge of the grip go into that place? in other words does your thumb thenar carry a considerable amount of weight? Like if you remove the palm shelf, the weight will mostly be on the thenar and this could' be the case. To counter that, move the palm shelf up to take the pressure off the thenar.

Other than that I don't know. I've had bigger issues and to solve them I simply stopped shooting a lot.

I hadn't head of "thenar" until you mentioned it. I'm researching that now, but I don't really think that's the problem. At least not yet. Thank you.

Gwhite wrote:I've never heard of any cases of this before. I suspect it's tendons, because there are actually very few significant muscles in the hand. Most of the real action is in the wrist & arm, pulling on tendons going to the hand & fingers. I suppose it's possible you are pinching a nerve, but that would be more likely to produce a tingling feeling. If it's a nerve, it could be anywhere from the hand all the way to the neck. If I curl my 2nd finger, it feels like there may be a tendon running through that area, but it's buried pretty deep.

General treatment for tendons suggests heat it before you shoot, ice it afterward. Ibuprofen will probably help. If it is some form of tendonitis, it can take a LONG time to heal. The tendons don't have a very good blood supply, and once they get inflamed, it doesn't take much activity to get them increasingly upset. There may be some stretching exercises that would help, but given that I have never heard of anyone having pain there, it's difficult to say what sort of stretches might work.

How hard are you gripping the pistol? If you are shooting air pistol, you don't need a death grip, and it's counterproductive to having the best fine motor control of your trigger finger. The physical grip on the pistol might also be the problem. Some of them have a ridge there, but I would think if that was hurting you, it would be pretty obvious. Does the pain go away as soon as you let go of the pistol, or does it linger for minutes, hours or days?

Don't try to "tough it out". If it's getting worse, you run the risk of doing some permanent damage. I pinched a nerve in my elbow doing too many pushups, and kept at it until I'd built up scar tissue. I had to give up shooting anything but air pistol for about a year and a half, and there are a lot of normal activities that will now tick it off. I used to fence as well, and I had to switch hands completely.

Thanks very much! From what others have said and from what I've been able to research, it's probably carpal tunnel. But caused by what? Very likely I've been gripping the pistol too strongly, and I've been using all my fingers to do so. Even the tips of my fingers were wrapped around the grip and holding firmly. I've now been told by a coach that the tips of the fingers shouldn't be gripping much at all, that it's mostly the ring and middle fingers which grip and then mostly by the second (middle) joints. And that those joints, in a proper hold, should be perpendicular to the barrel.

And the biggest cause of all is probably the excessive use with lack of recovery periods that I've been doing. I'm going to lay off pistol for a few days and see how/if I recover, and then will take extra care not to overdo it again and will work on my grip.

Cheers!

C. Perkins wrote:Do a search on "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome".
This can be caused from over use of the hand that allows the hand angle to sit below the straight of the wrist.
Had the surgery done years ago on my left hand.
Mine was caused from shooting many thousands of rounds when I was shooting Skeet competitively.
It was my forearm support hand on a heavy over/under tubed shotgun.
It was worth it though, made AA across the board(12ga, 20ga, 28ga, .410 bore and doubles :)

Bottom line is go see a doctor before it gets worse.
You could avoid the surgery.

Clarence

Thanks Clarence. I think I caught this early enough that I don't need to go see a doctor. I HAVE been overdoing it lately and more than likely not using the correct grip pressure either. I'm going to give it a good rest and then work on my grip and not overdo it again.

jerber wrote:3 full matches per day? For how many days?
What are you trying to do?

TAKE A BREAK!!!!!!
No wonder you're in pain

Really just take it easy and give it some time

Your reply is probably bang on. Thanks.

I'm going to give it a few days total rest and see how the hand feels. In the meantime I'll work on my rifle skills.

Heddok wrote:My area of medical practice was a few feet higher up the human body (check my username :) ) but you've circled the exact area the Median nerve goes though the Carpal Tunnel.

By the looks of your hand you are a few years past the age of puberty so an element of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is most likely as someone else has pointed out.

First and foremost, take a break, how much...... your body will tell you.

Few years past puberty? Heck, I'm already in my second childhood! (Or is it my third?) :)

I'm going to give my hand a good rest and see how it feels. Then I'll start back (much less strenuously) and will pay more attention to how I grip the pistol and the pressure I use.

Thanks very much, Doc.

William graciously reminded me to comment on this subject:

Stop it or you'll go blind and grow hair on your palm!

Rover wrote:William graciously reminded me to comment on this subject:

Stop it or you'll go blind and grow hair on your palm!

Can I just keep on doing it until I need glasses? :)

BTW, as much as it hurts to say this, you were right... Those RWS Diabolo Basic pellets are really rather good.

And they're working equally well in both my match rifle and pistol. Certainly more than adequate for training.

"Can I just keep on doing it until I need glasses? :)"

Why do you think there is so much interest in glasses on this site?

Mtl_Biker wrote:

Heddok wrote:Also, looking at your user name....... the years of holding onto to a Harley throttle will increase your risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from the transmitted vibration.

You wouldn't be able to get me on a Harley!!! No way! Not my style at all. It's BMW GS all the way! :)

(Your point is of course valid, but I also have cruise control for those longer stretches. And I've never suffered until now.)

That was my first thought, "Look at the Handle!", but I was misreading MOntreal Biker to be Mountain Biker....but if you are a cyclist, this resonates, upper body weight forward on the heels of the hands can produce symptoms like this.
Would also suggest seeking out a good physical therapist in addition to prior advice.
Finally, and strictly FWIW, and YMMV, my massage therapist/acccupuncturist put me on to a homeopathic remedy, rhus toxicodendron. Extract of poison ivy, the idea is to set up a counter -inflammation to the inflammation, which mitigates the pain. In my case, it is arthritis, at the base of my thumb, and up into my wrist. Mostly I ignore it, but when it really flares up, the rhus can offer relief.
But I would not treat the symptoms, as advised above, better to let it heal, and that can take a while.
btw, shooting 3 matches a day, plus dryfire, that may be a little OCD...just kidding....:-)

homeopathic remedy, or water as the scientists call it.

TenMetrePeter wrote:homeopathic remedy, or water as the scientists call it.

Hey, mister, don't start bringing up facts.

TenMetrePeter wrote:homeopathic remedy, or water as the rest of us call it.

The memory of the water that once was. The magic somehow transfers to the little lactose sugar pill as the water evaporates off it.

Homeopathy is based on magic. Magic water memory (it is scientifically impossible for even one molecule of the original substance to be present in a homeopathic dillution), magic stirring (dillutions need to be stirred a specific number of times in each direction, and magical transferrence (the magic memory is transferred to the water by being hit on a leather pillow known as "succussion ", at one time it was required to be a bible).

Ed333, don't mean to mock and I have close family members that have suffered from extreme arthritis most of their lives. But any relief the pills give you is illusionary. I suggest saving the money and using it on something constructive that takes your mind off the pain.

There's a reason all the homeopathic hospitals shut down long long ago.