I’ve been upping my swim distance over the last few weeks, I’ll be to 17.5k (5 x 3.5k) per week by the end of this week. The fingers on my left hand (pinkie and the ring finger) have been slightly numb all week, I’m 28 so I’m unlikely to keel over but has anyone had anything like this before. Have had issues with my shoulders before (left shoulder tires on the longer swims), but this is weirding me out a bit.
Yep, sure have. But I bet it has more to do with cycling than with swimming. The ulnar nerve serves those two fingers and my guess is you have irritated that nerve. I had an ulnar nerve compression last summer after a 500-mile bike week. (Nerve irritated by the hoods of my road bike).
I wore a night splint to keep the elbow straight while I slept. Not sure that was what “cured” it. I also was on a high dosage of Naproxen Sodium (Aleve), but this was under a physician’s care. Its not the safest stuff, but it was better than a steriod shot, in my opinion.
See a PT or a physician. It won’t kill you, though, so don’t worry too much.
Thanks, I haven’t been doing a whole lot of cycling but did a 120miler with plenty of elevation about 10days ago, might be what set it off. I’ve been trying to ignore it but it’s starting to get to me now.
Was worried it was the swimming, trying to put in some big weeks to get back up to speed.
My be time to give the doc a call alright.
Sometimes the inflamation goes down by itself, but if the nerve is impinged for too long, it can cause long-term damage and potentially loss of strength in your hand.
See now it’s definitely bothering me;-)
My only concern is that my shoulders hasn’t felt right the last while too, was worried that the two might have been connected.
Either way I’ve booked in with my Doc for the morning hopefully he won’t come up with anything too drastic that might affect training.
Thanks for the heads up though.
For what its worth, I no longer have any numbness or tingling, so it doesn’t have to have long-term effects.
Good luck!