Which razor for carpal tunnel?

[Half Bee]

Have lent a friend a Merkur 23c and a Slim. He is getting hand cramps and pain due to carpal tunnel. I wonder if a fatter handled razor would work better. (Just like those Good Grips fat handled kitchen tools.) Any ideas? The only slightly fatter razor I have is a Red Tip. Given his state of newbeeness I am hesitant to loan that to him.

[MrGuy]

You could go for a 1912 model GEM with the large plastic handle. They pop up on E-Bay fairly often and can stay pretty reasonably priced. The handle is about twice the diameter of a red tip. Most guys agree that the 1912s are the kindest, most forgiving GEM available, so they're not a bad choice for a newbie.

[ctakim]

I wonder if a longer handle would help more than a fatter handle. This would mean a long handled super adjustable or a Lady Gillette.

Reminds me of an earlier post about an eBay seller that stated they had Car Pool tunnel syndrome!

[Emmett]

Reminds me of an earlier post about an eBay seller that stated they had Car Pool tunnel syndrome!

Well, I imagine if you didn't like your car pool, being stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel with them might cause you to develop a syndrome!

[BigFish]

I think a longer and fatter handle might work good if he's got carpal tunnel. I had it in both hands pretty bad and the only things I ever dropped was beer bottles. It was weird, they'd slide right out of my hand and I never even knew I'd lost my grip on them until I'd hear them hit the floor. Tell him to have the surgery, just not both hands at the same time. They wanted to do that with me and I wouldn't let them. The hand they operate on will be totally worthless for a few days. $0.02

[Jim]

As someone who has CT I would suggest an experiment for your friend, try wrapping the handel of the razor with some packing foam and rubberbands to increase the thickness.
I use a some of the EJ razors with good luck.

[TSWebster]

http://www.dovo.com/pdfs/kap2_neu2009.pdf

No idea what the thickness of the handle is but check out the new razor in Merkurs catalogue.

[Half Bee]

Thanks for your replies.
Will get him a copy of your responses. I personally cannot say if longer is better than fatter. Ain't got the tunnels myself but the 23c is fairly long and he still gets cramps with it.
Used to have a rubber grip that went around pens, that may work temporarily.
Thanks again.

[82R100]

What about handles like these? http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=92411

You can't beat the price of admission.

- Chris

[BarryR]

The other issue with CTS is to avoid too much wrist flexion. He should have wrist splints to keep his wrists in a fairly neutral position. If he gets symptoms with shaving then he should try the splint(s) while shaving.
As mentioned above, Carpal Tunnel releases are the only real treatment.

By the way: are you sure it's Carpal Tunnel? It usually causes numbness/tingling, weakness in more severe cases. Cramping (like writers cramp) can be due to "dystonia" and is muscular as opposed to nerve-related. It's much less common and sometimes treated with botulinum toxin (Botox). A fat handle might help.

[Luc]

As someone who has CT I would suggest an experiment for your friend, try wrapping the handel of the razor with some packing foam and rubberbands to increase the thickness.
I use a some of the EJ razors with good luck.

+1

Trying a homemade thicker handle would be good before spending money...

Also, it might be a bit of a pain, but doesn't have some kind of bandages to keep his wrist straight? I know that wearing those + water isn't good but maybe that would be the only solution...

[instpasr]

If he finds that fattening up one of the handles works perhaps Bob could be commissioned to make a custom fat handle.

[dpm802]

I've seen pictures of new Merkur razors with gi-normous handles in red or blue ... they look like a blimp on steroids. I just went looking to post a link, but I can't find it. Maybe someone else knows what I mean and can find it. I don't know if these are commercially available yet.

I've been having good luck with my recently acquired Merkur FUTUR ... the handle is large, the razor is hefty, but the indentation in the middle makes it extremely well balanced. While some people complain about the FUTUR being "slippery," I find that that instead of trying to grip it tightly, I just let it float in my hand and it finds its own angle quite nicely. Maybe your friend can beneit from something like that.