Coban — Stretchy Stuff for Carpal Tunnel issues
Monday, January 21, 2008 16:38If your wrists are feeling sore, swollen, stiff, or your hands are tingly, you might want to try this stuff. It’s a self-adhesive elastic wrap called Coban, and it’s used by athletes for joint support, and prescribed as a treatment by doctors, vets and physical therapists. It helps relieve the swelling and stiffness in small joints, like a finger or your wrists.
You can find it at any drug store in various widths. Just wrap some around the joint. It needn’t be tight at all, just against the skin. Cut just enough so that it sticks to itself and doesn’t have extra that hangs around. Over time it will tighten slightly, and help reduce the inflammation. Just try not to get it wet, as it ends up leaving adhesive junk behind. You can leave it on a few hours, or even overnight.
Since it’s flesh-colored it’s also fairly unobtrusive so you can wear it at work all day –without people running over to you and saying, “What did you do to your arm!” like they sometimes do with arm braces. Or, if you want something bright and noticeable, pet stores have brightly colored Coban available.
My introduction to this magical elastic wrap came when I broke my pinky finger a few years back. I took a spill off my bike in the middle of the night, on a pot hole. Luckily I was wearing gloves, so my palms weren’t skinned up, but my finger was dislocated in both joints and I had a bone fracture.
Once the brace came off several weeks later, my physical therapist had me using Coban on the finger. It brought down the swelling noticeably and was comortable to wear. I was curious, so I tried it on the wrist, and have been using it ever since, whenever my carpal tunnel area feels swollen. My PT said it wouldn’t work on larger joints like the elbow, but wrist use was fine.
If you try it, let me know what you think!
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