Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: And Other Repetitive Strain Injuries: A Self-Care Program

by Jacqueline E. Freeman and Sharon J. Butler

Book Overview

A great read for any enthusiast. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 188686702X
• ISBN13: 9781886867024
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Advanced Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.4" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Release the Pain

This book was written by a massage therapist who no doubt has had a lot of experience dealing with repetitive strain injuries such as carpal tunnel. A key idea of the book is that tight tissues, particularly the fascia, are responsible for your pain and symptoms. The cure then, is to stretch them out and get things back to normal. The book intends to accomplish this goal by taking you through a series of stretches for your particular symptomatic area. A major strength of this book is its sheer ease of using- in other words, its laid out extremely well. The stretching technique is very well explained and the bulk of the book consists of pictures of stretches that you can do for your troubled areas. Additionally, I like the fact that the author discusses the topic of your posture- which is very important because it could be contributing to your problem AND correcting it will help keep you out of trouble! All-in-all a great resource for people suffering from repetitive strain injuries- and not just for the infamous carpal tunnel- I could see this book being of good use for a lot of other aches and pains as well. Also recommend Treat Your Own Tennis Elbow for those looking for a good resource on that particular condition.

Excellent Gentle Stretches But Not Enough For The Very Injured

First I would like to say that Sharon Butler's description of how to stretch gently and effectively is fabulous - her book is probably the best resource for stretching available and I actually think everyone who uses a computer should have this book. It is incredible for prevention I think, healing up to a point, and for body awareness in general. However... I want to warn that if you are injured so severely to where you actually can't function (like I was) these stretches are probably not going to be what you need at first & you might be misled into thinking they will cure you. I think that to truly heal yourself from this kind of malady there are two other books that I would say are REQUIRED reading along with this one (ideally, I would recommend reading all 3 at the same time): IT'S NOT CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME! by Suparna Damany and Jack Bellis - to understand the problem from many different angles and THE TRIGGER POINT THERAPY WORKBOOK by Clair Davies. This book is amazing! Absolutely amazing because it shows you exactly how to get rid of these things called trigger points (yourself) which are usually at the root of MUCH of the pain and dysfunction of RSI's and Carpal Tunnel. He even says that if you have active trigger points, stretching of any kind can actually do more harm than good. I found this to be true, and it looks like some other readers have as well. Once you have those other two books, Sharon Butler's would be the 3rd I'd recommend (and I think it is essential). I also at a certain point got her online book for healing the thumb injury called DeQuervain's (she has a 6-week stretching program aimed at different injuries) and I thought it was even better for me than CCTS because it was geared towards my particular unremitting problem. Oh, be warned that if you do get one of her online book one of your first assignments in the program is to order a particular CD. Some might find this irksome, having just purchased a book - but mostly I was just glad to be given such a good program for stretching. I do recommend both this book as well as her online programs. Well, good luck. Take this SERIOUSLY and save your hands. Go to Barnes and Noble and look through these books there if you're not ready to buy them - but INFORM yourself from all angles because otherwise this can become an incredibly serious problem.

A Must Have Book for Those with RSI

This book was carefully written to be a lay person's treatment guide. It allows one to logically pinpoint their pain and suggests reasons why you have this pain followed by stretching exercises to get rid of the pain. It is terrific for those with repetitive strain injuries. The results are immediate and dramatic after performing the stretches.

A Good Book

I live in Brazil and experienced for about 5 months pain im my right forearm, wrist and hand. In just 15 days doing these exercices I got free from these aches. Now I'm doing these stretches as prevention and recommend this book for every one who uses computers daily.

Book replaced anti-inflammatories and gave me my life back.

Carpal Tunnel and related stress injuries struck me in mid-August and left me practically helpless for nearly 3 months. After 3 days of doing the stretching exercises in Butler's book, I was back to doing simple activities and completely off the high dosages of anti-inflammatories recommended by my doctor. I cannot recommend this book too highly. The exercises are super simple and can be done throughout the day whenever you have a moment - in front of the TV, while laying in bed, in the car at a stoplight. The exercises deal with the entire upper body, including arms and wrists. You can choose those appropriate to you and your activities. If you are not sure, Butler has a list of which exercises apply to certain lines of work. An excellent - and inexpensive - book.