Testimonial:  Compartment Syndrome
Successful Treatment of Compartment Syndrome

"Mid winter 2003 my wrists started to get sore with use of a keyboard and mouse... Didn't seem like a big deal so I just learned to "live" with it. Over time...4-5 months... it wasn't something I could block out anymore. It affected my lifestyle as well as my performance at work. My wrist felt fatigued, sore, achy ...driving, eating, etc... I started wearing wrist straps when on a computer, but this was more of my uneducated attempt to address the situation. I then started to read up on different wrist injuries (carpal tunnel syndrome, myofascial pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, thoracic outlet syndrome, reflexive sympathetic dystrophy, etc.).

Reading about some of these syndromes puts a lump in your throat especially as you start to relate to a lot of the symptoms. First thing to realize is you are never too young to get a lot of these and everyone's physical make up is different; some people are more susceptible to them than others...the commonality between them is repetitive motion. My real eye opening event is when I woke up one morning and my hands where numb ... I then went in to see Dave Sollars at his clinic. He had me first meet with a chiropractor that works at Dave's office, Paul Schoonman. He did many tests to narrow down my symptoms and turns out I had the medical term... compartment syndrome ...this is where a section of muscle becomes so tense and hard that it squeezes the nerves so much it starts to inflame and make the nerves say ouchy ... So my wrist pain was actually being caused by tense muscles in my forearms.

Paul told me I was in his top ten hardest forearms category (I didn't know if I should smile or cry). From there I went for about 2 months, twice a week to see Dave and Paul...Paul would start by heating the muscles and then using some specialty tools...kind of like a skinny round bar that he would push and drag against my forearm muscles to
break up the muscle mass. Dave would then follow up after with acupuncture treatments. After just the first treatment, I noticed improvement...not perfect but a definite improvement. After the next months, I slowly saw improvement.

I no longer go to see them, but every night I lift weights concentrating on my wrists and forearms, followed by massaging my forearms and using a large wooden spoon to massage the muscles. I take many stretch breaks during the day. Ergonomics and posture are also very important...I noticed when I sit in front of my computer, my posture was horrible (still is until I catch my self sitting like a slob).

This is a lifestyle changing event. To me it was an eye opener as this was something I just took for granted. The most important thing is get help as soon as possible. The only thing waiting will do is increase the pain and with some of these other types of syndromes you can do more permanent damage. Being only 27 years old, I need these wrists for awhile longer. I still have some discomfort but seeing positive results and having a plan and understanding gives me the hope to have the wrists I used to have! What Dave and Paul did for me gave me so much more respect for what they do as a profession."


S.R., Nashua, NH