Alyssa Ritchey has clean and jerked double bodyweight, a feat only a few American women can say they have done. Ritchey, who made the successful transition from CrossFit to Olympic Weightlifting, did this while dealing with numbness in her hands and fingers at night.
“Over the past 2-3 years as long as I can remember I have woken up in the middle of the night due to numbness in my hands & fingers (not my pinky fingers though),” said Ritchey via an Instagram post. She continued, “The past two months things got worse. I was waking up every night and every 2 hours to shake out my hands and I would even do a 3am mobility/stretch session.”
After Ritchey’s boyfriend urged her to talk to a neurologist about her condition. The doctor diagnosed her with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. According to the website, carpaltunnelcured.com, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome is when “extreme pressure is placed on the median nerve of both the hands.”
To treat bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, carpeltunnelcurred.com says that exercise, massage therapy and/or changing the position of the hand throughout the day (or night in Ritchey’s case) can be effective. Severe cases might require surgery.
Ritchey was give wrist splints and has “had two solid FULL nights of sleep since.”
Let’s hope Ritchey can work through this and heal her nerve issues so she can keep attacking the bar on the platform. Ritchey is on the 2017 Team USA World Championship Squad in the 48kg weight category.
