Support Hand Pain?

[spydersmom]

Hello fellow revolver shooters,

I'm a newbie, so please forgive me if this is a dumb question.

I recently switched from semi-auto to revolver about a month ago and up until now things have been great with that. I've been shooting roughly one match a week and dry-firing (with dummy rounds) six days per week as well for about 20-30 minutes per session. Two days ago while on a mountain bike ride, I noticed my left hand (I'm right-handed) felt very weak and somewhat painful across the back of the hand from behind the fingers to the wrist. I didn't give it much thought until I started my dry-fire practice last night and noticed that same pain and weakness interfering a lot with my support-hand grip. My question is this: Could this be related to the revolver or my grip, or is it more likely to be something else unrelated to the gun? My current setup is a 686 with a smallish (I have small hands - ring size about a 4) rubber (Hogue?) grip with the finger grooves smoothed down. Up until this current situation, I haven't had any problems or concerns with this grip setup and it always felt comfortable to me. I've never heard of revolver shooting causing this kind of issue in the support hand, but again I'm new to all this. I don't know if I just need to do some hand strengthening or if my grip needs adjusting, etc. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

tammy

Edited July 2, 2010 by spydersmom

[GMM50]

Hi:

Way too much practicing.....Just kidding

Perhaps you getting old.....Of course I'm kidding.

Loads are too powerful......See, I clearly don't know what I'm talking about.

Old war wound kicking back up....Now I'm just wasting ink.

I would make a change (just change one thing) and see if it gets better.

Nerves can get tweaked (a technical term) and stay inflamed for a long time.

I use weight lifting gloves (cause shooting gloves are too expensive) and that softens the pounding.

I don't think helps much. But don't give up. We certanily need more revolver shooters.

George

[Matt Griffin]

Yep, you're developing tendonitis or nerve issues. (Of course, go see a real doctor for a real diagnosis)

Ease off the dryfire schedule, you need to have breaks between sessions. Make sure you aren't sitting at a computer grinding your arms against a hard desk or edge, that locks up nerves. I've had to fix both of my arms with PT and tons of ibuprofen, once for computer-related nerve problems (weak hand) and now for tennis elbow (strong hand) from too much golf, shooting, moving house, and weightlifting all at once.

The good news is that you can easily get back to 100% with the proper regimen of stretching, drugs, massage, and whatever else the therapist tells you. Get thee to a doctor. Trust me on this, I lived with it for 7 years thinking it was just an inevitability of life, then fixed it in a month.

H.

[underlug]

Yep, you're developing tendonitis or nerve issues. (Of course, go see a real doctor for a real diagnosis)

Ease off the dryfire schedule, you need to have breaks between sessions. Make sure you aren't sitting at a computer grinding your arms against a hard desk or edge, that locks up nerves. I've had to fix both of my arms with PT and tons of ibuprofen, once for computer-related nerve problems (weak hand) and now for tennis elbow (strong hand) from too much golf, shooting, moving house, and weightlifting all at once.

The good news is that you can easily get back to 100% with the proper regimen of stretching, drugs, massage, and whatever else the therapist tells you. Get thee to a doctor. Trust me on this, I lived with it for 7 years thinking it was just an inevitability of life, then fixed it in a month.

H.

Any advice for arthritic/pained thumbs?

[buckaroo45]

+1 on the lifting gloves. I use them for all my guns. Some have different padding and may change the length of trigger finger insertion. Since they are so cheap, usually around $10, it's easy to tune the glove to the gun.

__________________________________________________________________

Ah that I were young enough to have focus now that I see the use of it. - Me

Edited July 3, 2010 by buckaroo45

[Matt Griffin]

Yep, you're developing tendonitis or nerve issues. (Of course, go see a real doctor for a real diagnosis)

Ease off the dryfire schedule, you need to have breaks between sessions. Make sure you aren't sitting at a computer grinding your arms against a hard desk or edge, that locks up nerves. I've had to fix both of my arms with PT and tons of ibuprofen, once for computer-related nerve problems (weak hand) and now for tennis elbow (strong hand) from too much golf, shooting, moving house, and weightlifting all at once.

The good news is that you can easily get back to 100% with the proper regimen of stretching, drugs, massage, and whatever else the therapist tells you. Get thee to a doctor. Trust me on this, I lived with it for 7 years thinking it was just an inevitability of life, then fixed it in a month.

H.

Any advice for arthritic/pained thumbs?

No, that could be much more serious than tendonitis. What does the doctor say? Also, shooting really shouldn't involve your thumbs at all, you might want to check your grip mechanics.

H.

[gcambi]

Tammy

i'm a physical therapist with both hands having been through the surgeons, so i feel your pain

post a pic of your grip, and also a pic of your hand w/ the painful area marked

revo's are my passion, so let's make sure we keep you in the fold

g