Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Carpal Tunnel & Ulnar Nerve Recovery?

Had surgery this past Tuesday on right side carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve. Wrapped up tight from fingers to above elbow in a splint for two weeks.

I shoot right handed compound and curious of anyone else’s experience.

No experience with that one but I wish you a speedy recovery.
what do you currently use for a release?

FWIW - a few years ago now I had bicep tendon repair surgery in the middle of June and shot a buck and a doe that October with my recurve so don't just assume you're out of the game for the year. Listen to your Docs and do the PT no matter how much you hate it.

Carter Quickie. Wrist strap

Following, I have to have the same surgery in December.

I'll have to do the left side in late December/early January, my right was much worse so figured I'd do that now.

I have a splint wrapped tight from above my elbow to my fingers and am quite limited now. One of the nurses in the recovery room told me this splint would stay on for 14 days then they might (depending on what the doctor says of course) put a FULL hard cast on, that would be disappointing.

Archery season starts 10/1 but I have no problem missing the first 3+ weeks as long as I'm OK by the end of October. That gives me about 12 weeks to get up to snuff. I think I'll be fine but was curious if others had the same slice n dice.

I aggravated my ulnar nerve many years ago shooting 80+ lb Hoyt bows with a Scott caliper release. I never ever had an issue shooting fingers.

I did not think it was worth the surgical risk so stopped shooting compounds .

I finally had normal feeling in my arm when I had acupuncture and a lot of anti-inflammatories.

Seeing the surgeon Wednesday in order to schedule the same. Should be back in action by the end of August. Trying to get my Win 270 on paper before this takes place. 👍

End of August would be optimistic unless they are only cleaning out the channel where the nerve resides.

I guess you never know but certainly not in my case. Lol

Holy crap... Guess I'll know Wednesday if it's just the wrist or more. That didn't look fun.

The ulnar nerve adds a bit more to it.

From all the people I know that have just had the CT done its usually not too big of a deal, the recovery depending on what you may or may not do for a living.

Dang, hope the recovery is a speedy one. Let us know how it progresses for you.

Hopefully it is just the wrist in your case. Mine was in the elbow where the nerve runs thru in a channel, There were two outcomes to my surgery. One was to clean out that channel and a few months of therapy. The other was to detach my bicep and reroute the nerve . I said that was not going to happen. I consulted 2 different Surgeons.


Surgical techniques and methods of treating it probably changed major league since I had the diagnosis many years ago.

I have/had both on my left arm. CT was done very carefully so it didn't make Ulnar problem worse. The Ulnar Nerve is the one that controls the rebuilding process in the arm. Not just the sense of touch in part on the hand. If it gets worse, you can slowly loose the use of the arm..... Do you remember Joe Montana the football star ? He had the Ulnar problem. After he had surgery, he faced a seven month recovery period. It didn't work. He had to retire from pro ball.
What ever you do, follow medical advice. Nerve damage conditions, if not addressed, can be very serious. E

Did you see the doctor??

Sure did, it's just the wrist for me. Can't get in till September 8th, but Doc said Id be back to normal activities in 10 days.

Sounds simple from what he described, local anesthesia and home in an hour. 😃

Good deal BigDutch, I'm sure it'll go well for you.

Update on my issue.....got the splint off after two weeks and nothing else was put on except at night I have to wear another type of splint while sleeping. 23 days after the surgery (yesterday) I had my first PT appointment. The Ulnar nerve transposition is more painful than the CT but neither is really too bad. I see the surgeon again on the 30th and we'll (he may have other things to talk about?) discuss shooting the bow and surgery on the left arm for what I'm hoping is January.

Archery season here starts 10/1 but if I didn't hunt till the 15th or so that'd be fine.

I don’t shoot a bow anymore but had a severed ulnar nerve reattached in ‘97. I’d be happy to tell you my long term experience if there is any interest.

I borrowed a Diamond Infinite Edge from a buddy who's father used it as he aged. Cranked it down to around 40lbs at my draw length and it's still difficult to shoot (in my basement @ 10') more than 4-5 arrows. It seems as though I've lost some strength in the left shoulder along with the right side issues, not sure why that would be?

PT continues and I use resistance bands at home. Optimistic......