Castor Oil - For Healing

Castor Oil comes from a plant, and is made from castor beans. It is an ancient therapy, time proven, and is perfectly safe - but you need to study it a little bit. Castor oil is sticky and can be messy if you are not careful. When you apply it topically, use very little, it will completely absorb in the skin after several hours, until then the skin may be "tacky".  If you use too much oil topically, it will destroy clothing, eat the paint off walls, and leave a gummy, sticky residue on anything you touch. For this reason, unfortunately, many people don't use castor oil. Castor oil packs are a different story, you'll read about them here.  

Unfortunately, if you do a Google search for "castor oil" you will only hit many medically oriented web sites, which do not list any of the healing effects, the amazing history,  or tell you how to use it. You'll get better results if you Google "castor oil packs". 

Many years ago, I attended meetings with a group of healers, and we all composed book reports of our favorite books, with many good ideas that any healer can use. Here is that report. 

If  you want more information, please visit www.earthclinic.com for a wonderful summary of uses for castor oil. That web site has a magnificent collection of alternative therapies for many conditions. Also, Dr. David Williams, the author of the weekly health newsletter "Alternatives" has written a wonderful summary of the healing effects of castor oil. I often share this with clients. You'd need to subscribe to his newsletter, which provides you with full access to his back issues. 

T H E   O I L  T H A T  H E A L S

A physician's successes with castor oil treatments

Copyright 1993
by William A. McGarey, M.D.


A BOOK REVIEW BY STEVE HAMLIN

Published by:
A.R.E. Press
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This book is a gold mine of information about CASTOR OIL, how to use it, practical tips, how it works, and speculations as to why.

It is written by a clinical M.D., and you find, as expected, careful medical language with none of the exaggerations or bold speculations found in many books by laymen. You also find much
about Edgar Cayce, the noted psychic, since Dr. McGarey has drawn on his ideas.

One is struck with admiration for the courage of a western allopathic M.D. who successfully uses a natural therapy like castor oil, and for many years! For a multitude of conditions!

But this book is about much more than castor oil - in it, you see an open minded allopathic M.D. assimilating and making practical sense of the Edgar Cayce medical readings. And then using it in a clinical setting. Quite a feat! Dr. McGarey has apparently devoted much of
his life to the study of the thousands of Cayce medical readings. I found this aspect of his book absolutely fascinating and long awaited! Although it is often difficult to understand he uses
many medical terms a layman might not understand.

So this book perhaps hints at the direction that medicine will take in the coming decades and centuries. Edgar Cayce's ideas are very different from what you find in today's medical schools.
It's a mix of what we would call medicine, metaphysics, astrology, philosophy, herbology, naturapathy, psychology, sociology, and who knows what!

But this report is about the practical uses of CASTOR OIL, so let's begin.

Castor oil packs are a natural, harmless and often very effective remedy for many ailments. Like other natural ways, it is not instant; it takes a day or two at least to begin to see results.
It is a therapy that works best early in the course of a disease. A preventative more than a cure.

In many cases it is astonishingly effective and quick in relieving symptoms and speeding healing. This is particularly true in colon therapy (see below). Some who have tried many commercial products over the years, laxatives, bulking agents, psyllium, etc, find that castor oil packs work as well or better than any of them. One might even say that colonics or enemas are a waste of time if you are able to use castor oil packs.

You can experiment as freely as you wish. The packs are absolutely harmless. Castor oil taken internally, however, is a very strong purgative! Care must be taken! Another caution is in the use of the heating pad. Commonsense precautions apply. And of course, a physician's guidance is a must for all conditions which may be serious, or where the diagnosis is uncertain.

TO MAKE A CASTOR OIL PACK:(see page 26 of the book):

First assemble castor oil, flannel (wool is best), clear plastic, scissors, safety pins, heating pad, towel (size of towel to match size of application). Soak flannel (wool is best, cotton is OK) in
oil. Wring it out WELL so it does not drip. It you don't do this, things get messy. You don't need as much oil on the flannel as you think. Apply oily flannel to the skin. Then cover with plastic cut to size. Then, if desired, heating pad or bottle. Then the towel.

Creativity may be needed for shaping the material to certain areas, such as the shoulder. Safety pins, surgical tape, elastic bandages may be useful. The flannel and plastic is cut to the appropriate size, depending on the application. In my own case, I like to cut the flannel and plastic to size, then use duct tape to secure the plastic to the flannel. That way things are more secure when applied to the skin, and the job becomes easier and cleaner. The pack is applied for at least 2 or 3 hours, or overnight, or for days at a time, depending the need and purpose. If a heating pad is used, it is only for several hours, and never overnight! For cleanup, use Baking Soda and water.

The following uses for CASTOR OIL were gleaned from this book:

** Muscle sprains? Castor oil packs will reduce the inflammation, calm the pain, perhaps as quickly as anything else can. Healing will proceed more quickly and with less trauma.

** Infections? Castor applied topically will clean it up quickly, usually without even any scarring! No other treatment is needed, even when the infection is deep and serious. Castor oil penetrates right down to the bone and through. As proof of this, it is often seen that people who are ingesting no oil, yet massage castor oil on the skin, will soon see oil in their stools. 

** Open sores, ulcers, wounds that are slow to heal, or will not close? Castor oil packs will often work when nothing else will. Daily packs for many days may be necessary.

** Sore feet? Due to standing all day? Plantar Fasciitis?  Soak your socks in castor oil and just slosh around in them all day! You need to find a pair of shoes you don't care much about. As the story goes in the book, one factory worker did this, told others, and soon the whole
factory work force was sloshing around all day, with happy smiling feet. I did try this and yes, it worked, but it absolutely trashed a pair of canvas tennis shoes. Sticky and gummy through and
through! You need leather shoes (better yet: boots) to keep the castor oil contained. After 3 days of "sloshing around", my feet felt like singing, after 10 hours standing each day. Usually, my feet feel like moaning an groaning! Personally, I am sold on this idea, no matter what the cost in shoes. This alone is worth the price of the book, many times over!

Or, before bed, simply soak a sock in castor oil, put it on, and on top of that place a couple plastic grocery bags - tie off the upper end with a large, long rag, to minimize oil leakage. In the morning, if there was an infected puncture wound the night before, the infection will absolutely be gong. Or  if your have chronic inflammation or mysterious foot pain, the pain will be at least slightly less. Usually, in a few days, whatever the source of the pain, castor oil will reduce the pain to 1/2 or so. But this can take up to 3-4 days continuously using the packs at night. 

I would like to add another personal note here. Castor oil smell is objectionable to some. You can mix with castor oil a small amount of any strongly scented essential oil, and that scent will
overpower the castor oil smell. It works. I use essential oil of lemon, orange or lime. 

** Constipation? Colon problems? If you have any digestive upset or elimination problem, try castor oil packs on the abdominal area, with or without heat. It lubricates from the inside out. Just an hour or two at night before bed is enough, for 3 days. Even just rubbing a little castor oil on the abdomen and chest for a number of days will transform the situation. Lots of old stuff can be gently loosened and sent on it's way. Or, as the book says, "impacted fecal matter" is softened and passed along. Castor oil packs before enemas or colonics will greatly facilitate things, so to speak...

**From my own experience, I know that just a dab of castor oil rubbed on the abdomen and chest several times a week does wonders. I do this before a shower, or before a run, or before a workout at the health club. Castor oil can otherwise stain good clothing, plus the smell is not ideal. If you apply castor oil before a shower or bath, use a paper towel (or better yet: use the socks you intend to slosh around in that day...) to wipe off the excess. Otherwise you end up with a soapy©oily residue in the tub and drain. You might think nothing would remain on the skin after soaping down in a shower or bath: not so. The skin has absorbed plenty, and the
effect can be felt for two or three days.

**In my experience, one feels sort of softer, the nerves calmer, sort of "well oiled". The whole body and nervous system feels "more closely knit" or "connected". There is certainly some mysterious, profound, softening and coordinating of the mind, body, emotions and nervous system, as Edgar Cayce claims. It is subtle and gentle, and easy to miss. In my experience, it will reduce stress, help calm violent emotions, and help settle disorderd thinking. It was not until after reading this book that I sorted this particular aspect out of my sensations. It is most noticeable after a full body castor oil massage, it is not so obvious with a localized castor pack. You have to try it to really understand. 

**Be warned: if you have never done detox protocols, or used castor oil topically, or it has been a long time, you may get a mild (or strong!)  cleansing reaction, with all that that entails. Topical castor oil packs are great for detoxifying drug residues. One of my first clients had been using pain killers for many years - lots of them. I recommended castor oil. She almost sued me the next day. In the morning she had rashes all over her body - the drug residues were coming out of her skin. That was my first lesson in using caution, in what I told clients! The castor oil did not hurt her, but she looked horrible, and physical beauty was important to her. 

**Dr. Christopher, the American herbalist, recommends regular full body castor oil massage, followed by a sun bath, as a preventive health measure. 

**Dr. Vasant Lad's book AYURVEDA says that the lungs and colon are intimately related, and by rubbing oil onto the chest, the colon is lubricated more quickly than by rubbing oil on the abdomen. So it is good to cover both the abdomen and the chest area. I personally know of a man who avoided surgical removal of the colon using this method.

** Insomnia? Just do the abdominal castor pack, as above. It seems to always give much improvement, often curing the problem. Sometimes when nothing else will work. 

**Another book, PRAKRUTI, by Robert Svoboda recommends rubbing castor oil on the soles of the feet and the scalp before bed to counter insomnia. This book is also about Ayurveda, the ancient science of healing from India and  has many other practical tips.

** Anemia? Take one ounce of castor oil internally (mix it with hot tea, for example) every four days, for 6 weeks. Dr. McGarey speculates, from the Cayce readings, this works because the "Peyer Patches" in the intestines are designed (according to Cayce) to absorb iron; castor oil cleans them up. Abdominal packs would be useful in conjunction with this.

** Headaches after cervical chiropractic adjustments? Use castor oil packs, with a heating pad, along the upper neck and back of head, several hours a day for three days. Spinal castor oil pack(s) before seeing a chiropractor will make the adjustment easier.

** Joint injuries? Due to arthritis or injury, it does not matter. Castor oil packs will do amazing things. In my own case, a painful torn glenoid labrum in the left shoulder found great relief with castor oil packs. I have been leaving the packs on for days at a time to be sure I get the pain relief. I can feel why it has been named the "Palma Christi", or "Palm of Christ". You feel like someone is resting a hand there all the time, a sort of restful healing pressure. (yes, it does feel a little clammy, but you get used to it!). Castor oil penetrates deep, right through the skin to the bone, and relatively quickly. I could feel my joint change after about 15 hours of the shoulder pack.

** Sciatica? Or chronic low back pain? Seven days of castor oil packs, with heating pad, may be your cure. When everything else has failed. At least there is a case history to that effect....It seems that chronic problems require a longer application of packs, sometimes weeks to obtain relief.

** Infected or slow-to-heal puncture wounds? Regularly put castor oil drops in the puncture wound. Keep covered. It usually will quickly heal. 

** Gum irritation from braces? Brush your teeth with a few drops of castor oil. The case history indicates that not only did the irritation cease, but the teeth felt clean, and cavities and gum erosion stopped.

** ALSO: appendicitis, abdominal distension, hernias, essential hypertension, bursitis, abrasions, osteoarthritis, bloating, diarrhea, colitis, hemorrhoids, post surgical care, any disease of the digestive system, hepatitis, other liver trouble of any kind, gall stones. All these, and more, are mentioned in the book as  responding well to castor oil therapy, which means application of packs as described.

** Eye irritation from smog? Put 2 drops of castor oil in your eyes each morning. (check the book PRAKRUTI as mentioned above for details on this). I've tried this. It takes little spirit of adventure to put castor oil drops in the eyes! At first it feels thick and gummy in the eyes. But quickly it thins out, and the eyes begin to feel - how to describe it - wonderful, cool, protected, calm and nice. They will glisten.  

** Difficulties in pregnancy? Threatened miscarriage? History of miscarriage? Castor oil packs have a long reputation - throughout history in varied cultures -  for preventing and curing many such difficulties. The book contains numerous case histories to this effect. Dr. McGarey regularly uses castor oil for this purpose in his clinical practice and claims consistent, and
often amazing, success in nearly all cases. All the pregnant woman needs to do is rub a small amount of castor oil all over her belly and abdomen every day. That takes maybe 30 seconds. 

** Ear problems or hearing loss? Castor oil drops in the ears,regularly, for an extended period.

** Snoring? Castor oil pack every night works for at least one man. His family insists on the pack, or else everyone is kept up all night! The book, however, did not specify where the pack was placed! On the neck (probably)? Abdomen? One could experiment.

Dr. McGarey makes it clear that he does not fully understand why CASTOR OIL works so well for all these conditions. He refers back  to Edgar Cayce, who says (paraphrasing): "Castor oil can improve every body system, and coordination between systems, stimulating, relaxing, balancing, dissolving, coordinating, releasing as needed, when appropriate."

Dr. McGarey does speculate that CASTOR OIL:

> enhances the immune system
> helps drain the lymphatics
> dissolves and lubricates © helps waste, toxins to eliminate
> calms the nerves
> acts as a channel for divine healing forces
> aids in the coordination between the central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system, particularly the sympathetic (according to Cayce, lack of such coordination is a root cause of many disorders)
> It somehow facilitates the action of positive thinking upon the physical body, through the channel of the nervous systems(s). Without a positive attitude on part of the patient, castor oil may not be effective! Dr. McGarey's clinical experience has shown this! It is a necessary ingredient. Edgar Cayce has much to say about the damage negative emotions can cause to our health.

Health requires proper thinking, proper behaving, proper diet, and more. Our thoughts and feelings create electrical and chemical activity in our nervous system(s). The nervous system(s) act upon or regulate all other body systems. Bringing our thoughts and feelings into order should be priority one. Dr. McGarey asks whether castor oil in some mysterious way, facilitates this. It would explain so much.

Castor oil has been used therapeutically in the west for many centuries. It acquired the name "Palma Christi" sometime in the middle ages in Europe due to its many unexplained ("miraculous") healing properties. It had, and has, a prominent position in the ancient science of healing from India, Ayurveda, going back many thousands of years. An ancient Ayurvedic text is quoted in the book PRAKRUTI by Robert Svoboda: "Only the lion of CASTOR OIL can destroy the rampaging elephant of rheumatism in the body". It has only been since the
advent of western allopathic medicine that it has gone out of vogue in the west.

Reading this book will certainly stimulate interest in castor oil therapy, as Dr. McGarey intended. If you are scientifically or medically oriented, there is much there for you to ponder. If you are metaphysically oriented you will find your view well represented. If you are the impatient type, and could not stand waiting 2-3 days  for this natural therapy to work, this book is not for you!  

If you have some serious health problem, you might find practical suggestions, but not easily, since this book is not designed as a self©help reference work. Probably other sources would be better for that purpose. But all in all, this book is well worth reading!

Curing and Preventing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Some of the ideas here are unique; I think you'll find them useful to prevent and cure Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS).  They come from my own experience, from  long mentoring in the method by many patient teachers, and from my pleasant memories of many hours doing Awareness Through Movement in my Feldenkrais Training.  

Maybe I am spoiled, but I like to be comfortable, and during my Training, I did get very comfortable in my body. That was new for me. I wanted to hang on to that delicious feeling. So, many times, as a spontaneous natural event, I've found my body has prompted me to invent numerous little gestures, movements, stretches or isometrics in response to some less-than-comfortable body sensations. I've made note of these - my body has been my teacher -  you'll get all the details here - those related to CTS. I am quite sure that for me, at least, they have a subtle corrective, soothing and long-term healing or prevent-trouble effect. I think they'll speedily take you out of trouble (if you do everything I recommend in this post) and keep  you that way. You'll really enjoy them. Each of them only takes a few seconds, and can be done practically anytime, anywhere.  

First some perspective. We no longer walk on all fours. If we did, our hands would be flatter, not so curled-into-the-center from all the gripping and holding that we do with our hands, especially our dominant hand.  If you were to walk on all fours, your body weight would flatten and widen the hand.  From my Feldenkrais Training, I remember how good that felt for the hands. And one thing I have learned, for sure: if a movement or a "body-idea" is grounded in developmental movement (early childhood, toddler, etc) and if additionally it feels really good to do it, for sure there are tremendous healing benefits in exploring that approach. But who has time to spend an hour a day walking on hands and knees gardening or doing ATM lessons? So, I invented shortcut exercises for myself -  they have become habitual and feel SO good and they counterbalance what happens while using a mouse or typing at a computer keyboard, to a certain extent.

We spend lots more time gripping, typing, sitting motionless than people did 150 years ago. It goes along with increased industrialization. We need to strike a balance between flat, open hands with moveable wrists and gripping hands with tense wrists.  When our forebears built log cabins, knitted, cleared land, fought battles, carried water, did gardening, hunting, rode horses, they did many more things with their hands than just grip or type or mouse with stiff wrists.

The exercises that follow can become just like any other little habit, like licking the lips or swallowing or blinking the eyes. I don't think you'll ever have trouble again with your wrists if you take time to do this. They don't take long - except for the few minutes it takes to initially read the description, puzzle it out, and learn to do it the first time. It takes many words to describe a simple movement. 

How to to flatten/widen the hands (in lieu of crawling on the floor on all fours) - little habits to make part of your every day life:

• Put your hands in prayer position (open palms, lengthened fingers, not clasped) between your knees. Squeeze your knees together strongly. Especially direct the pressure of the knees to the butt of both palms - that is where the opening and flattening is most needed. That can be done anytime you are sitting in a chair. It's also great exercise for the internal hip rotators. Press and release with a 2 or 3 second rhythm, or whatever is comfortable for you.
  
• When lying in bed on your side, place your bottom hand between your knees. Again, direct the pressure to attempt to straight or flatten the butt of the palm - where the palm meets the wrist. You can even fall asleep this way. 
  
• Widen and open your fingers to the maximum comfortable stretch (as if carrying a tray of food and you wanted to make your hand as flat and bent back and wide as possible) - hold for 3 seconds and release. Particularly emphasize pulling the thumb as far back - in the opposite direction from gripping - as you can comfortably. You'll see many piano players do their version of this little "gesture" just before playing a piece on the piano. For sure, those folks need supple and comfortable hands and wrists. Well trained piano players can teach us about avoiding CTS. They know a lot. Please notice, for starters, they sit on a hard, flat bench with minimal cushioning. That is no accident. This little stretch can be done anytime, anywhere, and if you want to be unobtrusive, do it under the table when you are sitting, say waiting for lunch. 
  
• When getting up out of a chair, bend back your wrists and fingers somewhat as part of the process of coming up to sit. 
  
• Sitting in a chair, place both palms face down (fingers of either hand pointing at each other) on top of your thighs so that your thumbs are about 3 inches below your belt-line. Press both your hands into the mid-line, stretching back your wrists and fingers while flattening your palms. To increase the stretch bring your hands more towards the outside of the legs as you press towards mid-line. To increase the intensity, use your legs to press outwards against the hands; this strengthens the external hip rotators while stretching back the wrists and fingers. 
  
• Use one hand to press the other hand back, stretching back one or more fingers and the wrist as well. Particularly press the thumb backwards. This can be done anytime you have free hands. 
  
• When standing next to a wall, lean with one hand - palm flat, fingers widened - on the wall. You can create a great stretch this way, and you have tremendous leverage, the entire weight of your body. Get used to stretching the wrist back. If you persist, every month you'll gain about 1/2 inch or more range. It is a great way to stretch those over-tight flexor muscles in the forearm.
  
• Consider taking Bikram Yoga classes (the type of yoga I know best). It is very intelligent. The very first exercise - it's not only a breathing exercise because for 20 slow repetitions of 6 seconds each you are taking your clasped hands under the lowered chin, and opening the elbows up to create a tremendous stretch of the hands and wrists - such as we have been discussing. But, the Bikram way  is much more powerful and quicker than any of my methods. Really, I don't think you'd get CTS if  you did Bikram regularly. And it is never too late to start. I did have one guitar player with thumb and wrist trouble, but because he did Bikram just once a week, his situation quickly resolved.  
  
• When you sit in the "thinker pose" with chin  cradled with bent hand, take that opportunity to press the chin  into the hand, bending back the wrist even more.
• Stretch back the fingers or your right hand, one-by-one, for 3 seconds each, as you also bend back the palm. Be sure to include the thumb. Pull back on the fingers hard enough so that you feel a definite stretch  in the belly of your forearm. Repeat for the left hand.  
• When you are lying in bed, or on the floor, face up (supine, on your back) place one or both palms face down under your buttock or sacrum. The weight of your torso will compress and flatten the hand(s). Adjust the position of the hand so that the thumb, particularly, is flattened relative to the hand, or even bent backwards somewhat. 
• While sitting in a chair, place one or both hands under your sitting bones. This is one of my favorites. Lean left and right, a little front and back; this gives a good massage, while powerfully stretching out, the palms, thumbs and fingers. This is my current favorite. 

I don't do these things systematically; I invent ways to press the wrist and fingers back, and these are just a few examples. I do them because it just plain feels good.  At first, though, it may feel strained - so go easy, take your time. Eventually you will crave that nice open feeling in palms, fingers and wrists, and you'll seek it out like I do.   

Quick, Easy Isometrics to Prevent and Cure Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:

• To isometrically strengthen the shoulder external rotators: While sitting in a chair place both hands between the knees, palms together as before. This time push the legs apart with your hands, as you resist with your legs. You arms are attempting to widen the distance between your knees, but you don't allow it. This isometric strengthens the external rotators of the shoulder joint. We do too much internal rotation when typing or writing and this isometric can balance the muscular development in the arms and shoulders. This will absolutely help prevent pain and trouble in the arms, hands or wrists. 
  
• To isometrically strengthen the external rotators of the forearm: With your left hand grasp your right forearm, just above the wrist. Rotate your right hand so that the right thumb moves in a clockwise circle - but prevent that movement with your left hand. In other words, you are attempting to externally rotate the right forearm, but your left hand prevents it. After doing the isometric, release your left hand and "follow through" or continue with the movement of your right forearm rotating into external rotation (thumb going clockwise) to the very limit of it's range. This isometric strengthens the external rotators of the forearm. This is very important, since when we type we are continually internally rotating both our forearms. This will balance that severe imbalance. It will also feel very good, a nice feeling. Do with both arms once or twice a day, at odd moments while sitting at your desk or work station. It only takes a few seconds.
  
• To isometrically strengthen the finger, thumb, palm and wrist extensors: With one hand make a gentle fist, and bend in the wrist so the fingers and wrist come closer to the inner belly of the forearm. Place your other hand on top of the soft fist, holding the fingers, thumb and wrist bent as they are. Now, attempt to straight out the clenched fingers and fist, the bent thumb and wrist - but prevent it with the other hand. Experiment until you find a comfortable gripping style with which to do this. Here,  you are strengthening the exact opposite hand and wrist muscles that you use to type and write and grip objects with.  Do both hands. This exercise may feel difficult or painful - so start off very easy. These muscles in most of us are very weak, and under-utilized. It will take time to strengthen them to normalcy (when that happens, as antagonists they will release the flexors). After 4-8 weeks your hands and wrists will have much more balanced musculature; the joints will be more aligned and not pulled only in one direction, which is an invitation for trouble. Please try this before you submit to CTS surgery! Here is a hint: You can do this same exercise by placing the "soft fist" over one knee, gripping the knee, and resist with your other hand. This actually makes the exercise easier to do. 

How to Have More Relaxed Hands, Softer Hands, to Encourage Softer Grip:

If your hands are too tense 24/7 as is the case with so many people, just getting massage or doing the things listed here won't be enough. You need to do something during the day to reprogram your nervous system to have softer hands, to use less effort, to be able to have "quiet hands" when you are not using them. They should not be always "ready to go". 

The movement is called "The Bell Hand" in the Feldenkrais work, and there are many variations and many ideas related to this. It is best learned from an ATM lesson, but you can still benefit from simply doing this:

When sitting, standing or lying down - at any time - softly open and close your right hand. The movement is very small, minimal, and effort is also minimal. Do very little, easily,  and the actual movement can be so small that you don't even see any movement. Two variations that I like: a) first do just the opening of the fist voluntarily, and let the closing (such as it is, it will be a very small movement) be involuntary and b) close the hand into a soft fist, but ever so slightly and slowly and easily - rhythmically- and then allow the opening to be passive. Do the left hand also. 

Even 5 minutes a day of this can work wonders. Like many somatic ideas, this one is so powerful that if you do nothing else than this, in time you might completely reverse your troubles.  

Rowing Machine or Exercise Tubing Exercise - the most essential exercise:

Because we all reach forward so many times a day, we need to strengthen the muscles that pull the arms back into the body. These are "rowing machine" type movements. If you have a rowing machine, use that for at least 10 minutes a day. Keep your shoulders well-down and your chest slightly lifted as you do rowing exercises - this is crucial. If you go to the gym, do all kinds of rowing movements, use the rowing machines instead of the stationary bikes, etc, and include lat pull downs, rowing with one arm, various angles (use cable machines for this), etc. Personally, I use a chin-up bar in my kitchen (very well secured to the doorway!), with 5 exercise-tubings hanging over the bar. I grab these, fall backwards as I resist and pull back with my arms. I'll rhythmically fall half-way backwards, then bounce up. I suspect the benefits are similar to a rebounder.  I'll stand at different angles and use one arm, both arms, then the other arm. I'll get on my knees to get a different angle of pull.  It is a wonderful, relaxing, rhythmical way to do the rowing movements, low tech  and low cost. Because it is so close-at-hand I can do this several times a day, at any time, and I do - whenever I start to get neck pain, that is my fix. These exercises will keep your head from being protruded forward, help you maintain erect posture, and insure that the mechanics of your head, neck and shoulders stay in the normal range. I'd say there is nothing else better for staying out of pain and trouble of any kind while working many hours at a computer keyboard and monitor. 

If you build this into your lifestyle you'll be most pleasantly surprised at the benefits. Granted this may not seem directly related to CTS, but in the Feldenkrais way of looking at things, it is. 

Here is another thing you'll want to do if you are eager to cure carpal tunnel by yourself. Michael Young is a Massage Therapist who has produced a DVD on curing carpal tunnel syndrome. As soon as you can, buy  his DVD, from mrtherapy.com, and do what he says, it only take five minutes twice a day. He claims this will prevent and cure carpal tunnel. I agree; he is a smart man (and courageous, to go public with his experience, that flies in the face of much medical dogma), and his techniques really do work. He states that he has never failed to completely cure carpal tunnel, with over 60 some cases, except once when a person failed to do the 5  minutes twice  a day homework, using the natural self-help method he describes (plus private sessions in extreme or stubborn cases). Be patient when you see that DVD, he does stutter a little bit, and the good stuff, the "how to do it" is all at the very end of the DVD.  If you are determined to go the natural route, listen only to people like Michael who have had experience curing this condition - there are numerous people out there like that (including me), you need to search them out; unfortunately you don't find them in the medical community, as far as I can see.  

Also please read what I have written about chair sitting posture, thumb pain, castor oil and shoulders and start making a few changes. At least just read those articles - it will change your perspective on the whole issue, and it will begin to become clear what changes you need to start making.  It can make a huge difference. You might want to privately see a somatic practitioner like a Feldenkrais Practitioner to get guidance as to what steps to take first.  Carpal tunnel syndrome is not only about the wrists - it has to do with our whole body organization as we sit and work at a desk or do our job.  How do you hold yourself as you work? How is your breathing? What is going on with your pelvis to help or hinder you? Are you holding your shoulders too tight? Is  your belly relaxed? Why not? What is the carriage of your head as you work? Are you mostly staring with your eyes as you work? What kind of chair do you use? How is your ergonomic set up?  What movements are available to you as you sit and work? These are some of the issues that a somatic practitioner will look at with you. While they may not seem to be directly related  to wrist or thumb pain, you might be very surprised at the results you get.  

Please see a nutritionist - or at least do research on the net, or read a book about diet and carpal tunnel -  to be sure your diet is helping and not hindering your situation. Certain B vitamins  (Vitamin B-6, 200 mg three times a day, according to Andrew Weil, MD) can help carpal tunnel, and a low-inflammatory diet can never hurt. Before you agree to surgery, at least give these harmless, alternative ideas a fair trial. There are many good books and internet resources for ways to help carpal tunnel with diet and supplements. Again, do a little research.

If  you are not able to see a Feldenkrais practitioner, at least do a weekly ATM class - if there is no local teacher, then use the free  "The Open ATM Project" for free AMT downloads you can use at home, at your convenience. Any of the ATM lessons will help you become more body smart, and help you organize yourself  at your desk so you don't create more trouble for yourself while typing and working.  If your trouble is really serious and you are determined to cure it by non-invasive means (no surgery or injections) try to see at least an experienced chiropractor, osteopath, personal trainer, and massage therapist (at least three of the four) at a minimum. Get their opinion, and ask others - friends and co-workers - if they know of anybody who is curing carpal tunnel with alternative methods. Granted, your insurance may pay for surgery, and perhaps you will get some paid time off - but if you go the natural route instead, you'll be far ahead in the long run. 

Frankly, after working some years with people who were receiving Worker's Compensation, I became a little bit discouraged. There is never a resolution. There are MDs and lawyers, and monthly checks to contend with. Often there  are heated emotions, of fear or anger or anxiety about being unable to work again. These may not be obvious, but they are under the surface. So there may be a subconscious tendency to not want to fully recover - sad, but true. That means they usually find ways to block full recovery, they are invested in staying disabled. That is not a habit you want to cultivate. 

To put it more bluntly, people on Worker's Comp or SS Disability often will take on a victim mentality, that perpetuates their trouble and blocks healing. They are nice, sincere folks, and if you tried to tell them this, they would emphatically protest - and they really believe this - that this description does not apply to them, that they are really and truly an exception, that what the Doctors have told them must certainly be true, "My Doctor is really good and special", they have a true disability, and I have an MRI  or X-rays to confirm my diagnosis, etc etc. It is only after many years of working with all types of clients, that I can see clearly the contrast between those folks and "normal" clients. 

It is quite amazing the quick healing progress and transformation that can be had if you take the opposite attitude: I do not have to accept a diagnosis. OK, maybe I have to slow down awhile to recover; It is just temporary -  I am a healthy not sick and this trouble has "come to pass".  I take responsibility for creating or allowing this injury or trouble, and what I create I can un-create. It is just an opportunity for me to be proactive, learn new things, and take back responsibility and use my own internal healing gifts."

If  you approach trouble with this attitude, trouble will run from you.  It really does all start in the mind and spirit. That's not philosophy but clinical observation, from seeing all types of clients for over 14 years. I have never seen anybody, if they are taking money for a disability, with this positive attitude. I've seen numerous people - it is fairly rare - with that upbeat attitude, and for them, their troubles were all quickly resolved, or if not, it did not rule their life.  Granted it may not always be feasable to stay out of that system, but at least minimize your time there, work on natural healing methods, and prolong surgery at all costs - even if you have to go into debt. 

I agree with Michael Young that carpal tunnel is fully reversible and curable, and there is no justification for surgery. I agree with Michael that the prime cause of CTS is knotted, extremely tight muscle fibers in the belly of the forearm (and the shoulder and neck, often)  - not so much the wrist itself or the thumb and fingers.  To release this tightness, while stretching the muscles, is very intelligent - that is the technique that Michael will teach you on his DVD. 

Really, you can't even notice or sense how tight some muscles are until you stretch them - then you know how many painful knots and tight muscles are really there.  So please, get his DVD ( and study it. I have not had the extensive experience he has had, but what I've seen confirms that view.  Personally I have found it can take many weeks or months of regular sessions and client cooperation to get that complete resolution. That's partly because I work with habits that may be slow to change, instead of with a "quick-fix" attitude. Feldenkrais work will teach you how to type and write without creating those knotted muscles in the forearm, in the first place. And Feldenkrais, alone, in time will work wonders. But when you have serious pain, and need help fast, Michael Young's DVD is a great resource in addition. 

I also recommend to clients using castor oil on their hands every night, 2 or 3 days on and 4 days off for several weeks. Before going to bed, use a cotton glove saturated in castor oil (from the health food store - no hexane or solvents) and put it over the hand in  trouble. Then put over that a larger kitchen plastic glove, and seal off the end of the glove by tying a long rag around the top of the glove where it meets your forearm. Using castor oil like this will take the pain way down (at least 60% or more, in my experience. But, it takes 2-3 days of using castor oil before you get the pain relief) , reduce inflammation, eliminate any infections, reduce swelling, detoxify drug residues, speed healing and calm the nerves as well. It is an ancient and time proven remedy. I would never be without a large bottle of castor oil in my refrigerator. 

Please see my post on Castor Oil where I describe the benefits and protocols in more detail. 

All this may seem too much to do; But actually once you learn these things just 20 minutes a day will suffice. If your alternative is surgery and the possibility of many months or years on Worker's Comp without work at half pay, 20 minutes a day is nothing, if you can avoid it. Granted, it will take you a week or two to put all these things in place, and that will take more than 20 minutes a day. If you are really serious you could be out of trouble and back to work with no pain, in an unbelievably short period of time - especially if you incorporate castor oil as a regular part of your routine. (Of course, I am assuming you have a traditional case of CTS and not some additional serious medical pathology).