Joel M Heiser

Until recently, the only thing limiting your active lifestyle was the number of hours in the day. Lately, however, instead of choosing between jogging or cycling, you're faced with the choice of enduring the hip pain you feel from these activities or refraining from physical activity completely. Even simple things like bending down to pick up your child or kneeling to enjoy time in your garden have become troublesome. Almost as difficult as coping with these challenges is the fact that you are far too young to be faced with chronic hip pain.

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and your friend calls, asking you to come for a hike. The invitation sounds tempting, but you pass, remembering how bad your knee felt after your last outing. Lately, your knee pain has become so troublesome that activities like jogging, cycling, or playing in a pick-up game of basketball just don't seem possible anymore.

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and your friends ask you to join them at the park for a game of volleyball. Though the invitation is enticing, you also begin to worry about the pain you're certain to feel in your shoulder when you return home that evening. Lately, it seems that almost everything you do - even reaching for a glass in the cupboard - causes you to feel pain in your shoulder.

For millions of people who suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, the symptoms start gradually. It usually begins with frequent numbness, tingling and burning in the palm of the hand and the fingers, especially the thumb, the index fingers and middle fingers. Some carpal tunnel sufferers say their fingers feel useless and swollen, even though little or no swelling is apparent.