I played a live poker tournament on may 3rd. I had my elbow resting on the table for hours on end. When I was about to get up, I felt my pinky finger and ring finger were numb or "sleeping". After some research I found out its most likely ulnar nerve damage due to the compression. I didnt see a doctor because I was in a foreign country on holidays. I'm back home now and got a doc appointment in a couple hours. I just wanted to ask if anyone here has experienced this? if so, how long did it take to heal? and did it heal by itself? or did it require surgery? or stretching exercises? I am a little worried as my fingers are still numb

Thanks!

Hmmm... I had a period of time where my left pinky would go numb quite a bit. Was a bit worrisome because I play guitar. It never really bothered me though and the symptoms have completely disappeared since then.

Had it, had the surgery, still not fixed completely. It is way better though, maybe I just got used to it. Took about 2 years after the surgery for some of the feeling to come back. It is also give you a huge gnarly scar.

Oh yeah, enjoy your appointment they are going to shock the hell out of you through needles to test the reaction of your nerves. That's probably the second appointment though.

I have the same problem on my left hand. My thumb and 2 fingers next to it are numb and also has a burning sensation. Mine started at work due to repetitive motion and slight lifting . I work at the VW production plant in Chattanooga. The wellness people say it's from the ulna nerve causing the nerves to burn down my arm into my hand. It also got worse on vacation while driving. I ended up driving right handed only because the pain sucked in my left hand.

That sounds like good ol' fashion Carpal Tunnel syndrome, Offsuit.

cubital tunnel syndrome sucks and I advise against getting it.

Are you reading this while using one or both of your elbows to support some of your body weight? You won't be by the end of this.

Symptom onset began 4 days ago. Woke up with tingling in left arm, left pinky, and part of left ring finger. Figured it was just the normal pins & needles feeling you get from sleeping on your arm sometimes, similar to sitting on your leg for a while and having it "fall asleep" due to restricting blood supply.

It pretty much feels like when you hit your "funny bone" except the sensation doesn't cease.

When symptoms continued the next day I started researching the them, concerned that it could be a blood clot that was restricting blood flow.

Turns out these symptoms are very specific:
- tingling "pins and needles" feeling along outside of arm
- same tingling along outer edge of hand and palm
- same tingling in entire pinky finger
- same tingling in the outer half of ring finger

to cubital tunnel syndrome, or more accurately - ulnar nerve entrapment.

The cubital tunnel is a part of the elbow that the ulnar nerve traverses, and it is this location where it is most commonly trapped (though not always there), resulting in the name cubital tunnel syndrome:




What happens is that the ulnar nerve (which runs from your spine down thru your arm) becomes entrapped (resulting in nerve compression) somewhere (usually the cubital tunnel), and this entrapment results in signals being sent to your brain that make you feel the tingling (and/or pain) here:





How does it happen? Per wikipedia, the most commonly cited scenarios include:

Sleeping with the arm folded behind neck, elbows bent.
Pressing the elbows upon the arms of a chair while typing.
Resting or bracing the elbow on the arm rest of a vehicle.
Bench pressing.
Intense exercising and strain involving the elbow.


the second one should probably say "pressing the elbows upon a hard surface"

Definitely engaged in the top three quite a bit lately, especially the elbows on a hard surface thanks to doing a bunch of research using a laptop on a hard surfaced table the last week.

So what happens next?




claw hand, great.


There are exercises (nerve flossing aka nerve gliding) to try and un-entrap the nerve:




Failing success there, surgery is another option with a decent success rate and a sweet scar:





Hopefully the exercises (or surgery if need be) resolve this and I don't end up with lol claw hand.


So yeah, stop leaning on your elbow.

I got cubital tunnel syndrome in both arms from playing guitar. After a year of all sorts of physio didn't help, I had ulnar nerve release surgery, and when that didn't work, I had an ulnar nerve transposition, which also did nothing. I had to give up playing guitar seriously, and can only click buttons for a couple of hours a day, which prevented my meteoric rise through the ranks of online poker.

Here's my cool scar:

Sweetness of scar: C- (that may well just be a large elbow crease)

Supportive positive everything's gonna be fine don't worry you won't get claw hand attitude: F

Scar is 25+ years old. That was the first time I've looked at it in years, and I was sad to see how much it's faded. I need to get stabbed or something.

I was originally diagnosed with medial and radial tendonitis, and I always suspected the nerve damage was done by the physios who were doing myofascial release (back then she just called it pressure point massage) where it hurt the most, which was at the nerve, so I'm pretty sure she was just pressing really hard on the nerve at least some of the time. Do not recommend.

My surgeon is now at the Mayo clinic, and the two doctors I saw were the Medical Director of the Musicians’ Clinics of Canada, and some sports medicine orthopedic guy who was the Canadian ski and tennis team doctor, and had two doberman's that were a gift from Ivan Lendl. They were all sure they could fix me. I just ran bad. I blame the physio.

I don't have claw hand, btw, and I can still post on the internet all day long.

Chop,

Spoiler tags for grossness tyvm!

Good news, Chop. I just dug up my copies of the referral reports to my GP, and there was never any mention of cubital tunnel syndrome. First doc just referred to it as overuse myofasicial pain of the left and right flexor and extensor carpi radialis and ulnaris. Second doc said ulnar neuritis or tendonitis at the flexor muscle insertion at the medial humeral epicondyle. So my situation is nothing like yours. I'm sure if I'd had cubital tunnel syndrome everything would have been fine.

ok you can have a do-over I guess

Supportive positive everything's gonna be fine don't worry you won't get claw hand attitude: C+

but if I end up with claw hand your grade is getting dropped right back to where it was.



All of that stuff is inside you RIGHT NOW! You're probably also carrying around a piece of poop inside you RIGHT AT THIS VERY MOMENT. Do you feel it inside you? Better get to the toilet asap. There might even be two pieces. jeez Rexx you are so gross!!



B-

Chop,

I am indeed gross and promise if I ever post a pic of myself I will put it in spoilers! Double spoilers if I post pics of my poop.

Late to the party but a steroid shot helped alleviate my ulnar nerve problems.

This was close to 15 years ago and while I do have occasional discomfort and numbness, it's not been bad enough to entertain the thought of surgery.

My cousin recently had this diagnosis and he immediately requested the surgery.

He might have ulterior motives, tho...he figures with this diagnosis he's able to get painkillers easier.

I don't get how that would work,but he claims that's going to be a benefit.





Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

Just an occasional OOT lurker but I'm always in for some scar swinging.

Put my hand through a window air boxing to school is out for summer in my kitchen after 2nd to last day of 8th grade getting excited to bring in my boom box into school again and blast it in my back pack walking down the halls after/in between classes. Completely severed a main artery, 9 tendons and 3/4 of ulnar nerve. Was home alone and got 911 "please hold as all our operators are currently busy." Then called grandparents who lived next door to get busy signal. Then tried going outside trying to open door with my defective blood soaked hand. Eventually was ambulanced to hospital where Dr. Mitten sewed it all up. All healed well but still have the lack of feeling/tingles in ring finger/pinky you guys describing since then.

The forward slash starting at the hand is from the glass, scar on hand above and back slash underneath from surgery.

Claw hand (and much worse) can be caused by peripheral Neuropathies such as HMSN (a form of Muscular Dystropy), Diabetes, other diseases - and also by elbow & neck whiplash injuries from accidents. I know because I have HMSN. Plus, the existing ulnar nerve Neuropathy was made even worse from a car accident several years ago. Surgery didn't help, and seldom does from everything I've read. And exercise not only won't help, it can further aggravate the condition. Just like your tasteless "lol claw hand" remark has agrravated my mood. Maybe you could do a reenactment of Trump mocking that disabled reporter during his campaign. Now that would be a real lol, wouldn't it?

fdevny - my apologies for the aggravation. I was trying to feel better about my imminent lol claw hand status by injecting some humor in the writeup. Didn't consider how that comment would be received by someone who was already there. If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty much guaranteed to end up with lol claw hand now that I've made fun of it and confirmed jinxed myself.

Also just shipped a small donation to the National MS Society's DC/MD/VA chapter in your honor to make this a more-than-just-meaningless-words apology:

Chop,

If you end up with lol claw hand, which I am thinking karmically it's a given, if you post a pic (in spoilers) I'll donate too. I'm sure others would also. Now I am off to the hunchcap thread to find some sucker willing to give me action on your imminent lol claw hand.

I had that surgery years ago. First few months was tough because at first you cant move your elbow at all, and it feels like your arm will never straighten out again. Then the physical therapy to make sure you regain your range of motion. After a few years my scar faded so much it is hardly noticeable at all. Numbness is gone. Glad I got it as it was my R hand and I'm right handed, and didnt want to let that numbness remain or get worse.

Woke up with pins and needles in my hand and instantly thought of this thread. Am trying to sleep in a better position but it's a little difficult as you get used to sleeping a certain way.

I dislocated my elbow and ****ed up my ulnar nerve. My pinky and ring finger clawed up for months and eventually had surgery to repair/ relocate the nerve. It was not pleasant

If it's minor you can do rehab and get a weird cast splint thing to sleep in and it might get better

Rexx,

If you end up with lol claw hand, which I am thinking karmically it's a given, if you post a pic (in spoilers) I'll donate too. I'm sure others would also. Now I am off to the hunchcap thread to find some sucker willing to give me action on your imminent lol claw hand.

Chop,

I agree! I was all like "Freakin karma is coming to get me, learn to keep your mouth shut after you have had a few wines". Lol. Hope you get good odds!