hands and feet pain after surfing in cold water

Welcome to getting old. That's just gonna be your thing. Thank God you can still paddle!!!

 

Sounds like a nerve or circulation issue. However, I am not a doctor. You might want to talk to a neurologist.

 

Can you connect this to a specific wetsuit? It could be that the wetsuit you use in these conditions is cutting off some circulation. If it still happens when you wear proper gloves that leads me to believe it's not actually the water temperature that's causing this. Just a thought...

 

Have you been checked for carpal tunnel? Or Pinched nerves? Not that i'm a doc or anything, but it sound like something in the nervous system. Do you get this in warm water too? Or just cold water?

 

I'd check with a regular physician first, chiropractors want nothing more than for you to come back to them every week or sometimes more often just to keep the money flowing. I'd get a physical at your primary care, then get a recommendation / referral to a specialist (depending what he thinks), never know, might be blood flow thing, it's happening at your extremities which is what happens with hypothermia, so i'd skip the chiro at first and get a real doc's opinion, THEN if he says to check a chiro I would. That's my .02, good luck figuring it out.

 

Hey what do ya do for a job. It may be work related. Like if ya been in construction, sports, computer work etc. ya getting old sucks. It may be years of abuse. Is it just your hands or other parts of the body as well? I suggest see a sports doctor. These guys are on the forward end of healing athletes. I know a lot of guys who ride motorcycles a lot deal with some issues like you are describing when they surf. Well good luck n happy trails.

 

Have you ever worn a crown of thorns?

Sounds like stigmata.

 

It could just be that you have small muscles between your fingers and the extra strain during paddling causes them to be painful for a period of time after surfing. I know the tops of my hands can get sore from a lot of hard paddling and keeping my hands cupped. It happens to me more when I have thicker gloves on. I know you said it happens less with thicker gloves, but it may not be completely temp related.
Its in your feet too because you probably point your toes a lot while laying on the board/ paddling.
You have tired hands and feet. You may need to get out more and get them conditioned. I might be wrong, but its just a thought.

 

Practice surfers yoga if you dont already. It combines strength, flexibility, better circulation and how to focus your body during high end activities. I'm 53 and always have to adjust and be flexible to the conditions.

 

I have gloves that are too narrow and cause hand pain for a day or two. Maybe this? When I use gloves that accommodate the full width of my hands I have no issue.
Lack of use with your hand cupping muscles could cause soreness when used.
Sounds like an excess of lactic acid and limited oxygen and h2o to filter it away from those areas. How's your circulation, wind, water consumption?
I'm no doc, these things just came to mind. Good luck on the relief

 

I was once out too long, in freezing water and air temps, and when I got my suit off, my wiener had inverted. My (massively huge) outie was an innie. had to get mt wifey to warm the li'l feller up to get him out.

 

Hand pain after surfing

Hey Testrada,
I know this forum is over two years old so my chance of a reply is probably zero. I googled this and it brought me to your forum. I have the same problem. I surfed about 4 hours this past Saturday. The next day I woke up with the pain in both hands and could barely straighten my hands out. It's now two days later and my left hand is somewhat better but my right hand feels like it's broken. Same as you described, the pain and swelling is on the back of the hand between the knuckles and wrist. However, I don't have the pain in my feet. This is the first time this has ever happened to me. The water was about 57 degrees and I was wearing my 3/2 with 3mm gloves and boots. I have been surfing for 43 years. I'm 59 so I know I'm getting old but this is weird. Just wondering if you still have the problem and if you ever figured out what it is.

 

Never expected a reply let alone that fast. Glad to hear you are doing better. You are doing all the right things with your health. There are a lot of tendons that run across the back of the hand and I'm thinking that they became inflamed from overuse. I have had other tendon issues over the last few years i.e. shoulder and elbows. I know I overdid it for my age. Hoping I'll be back to normal in a couple more days. It's good to know we are not alone with these strange problems. Thanks for your informative replies.

 

Yet another medical advise tread & discourse. This palce is nothinge shorte of awesome!