You’ve probably heard the name Alyssa Ritchey. The tiny-but-mighty Olympic weightlifter competes in the 48kg weight class, she’s on the Team USA World Championship squad this year, and she’s one of the few women who can say they’ve clean and jerked double bodyweight. Ritchey managed all this and more while suffering numbness in her hands all these years; and a doctor recently diagnosed her with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome.

The condition is a result of pressure on the nerves in your hands; and it’s woken Ritchey up in the middle of the night for the last few years. With the support of her boyfriend, she spoke with a neurologist, who solved the mystery. Ritchey started wearing wrist splints on both hands, and now she’s sleeping like a baby.

Read her full post below.

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). 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. Two nights ago I almost had a break down, I thought there was no hope. I had gotten PT, needling, massages, I took extra rest days, I did extra stretching…you name it, I did it. Except one thing…ask a neurologist. . . My boyfriend started getting a little worried/irritated because I was moving so much it was affecting his sleep as well. So he decided to ask the neurologist that he works with at the hospital. That day I found out I have ‘bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome’. I went to the store & bought two wrist splits and I have had two solid FULL nights of sleep since. The wrist splints put my hands in the proper position so I don’t compress the nerve at night. Now I can sleep on my side, and my belly! . . I have been battling this issue for a while and I would never want to see someone go through this, that is why I am sharing this story. I thought it was in my neck & shoulders but it turns out I have nerve compression in my wrists. This is due to repeated trauma to my wrists from ALL the sports I have done in the past. Do I regret doing them? No not at all. I am going to heal this and move on. It will not affect me anymore. And that is why I am smiling.. #BittyStrong #MCR #ilovedoctors #unstoppableevenwithweakwrists

A post shared by Alyssa Ritchey (@alyssaritchey1) on Oct 17, 2017 at 6:04pm PDT

Elite athletes like Ritchey make everything look so effortless; but this goes to show that they, like most of us, have challenges they must overcome.

Main image: Alyssa Ritchey/Instagram