# Anyone have Ulnar (funny bone) nerve damage?



## Bobo (Feb 5, 2009)

Just been diagnosed with this  Been living with it for awhile, but probably went to the doc a little too late. The pain is in both elbows and also in my wrist and pinky/ring fingers. He said it doesn't look to be affecting my muscles yet, which is good. 

He said we should probably do a surgery at the elbow to move the nerve and relieve the pressure on it. I want to know the most I can about all this before I make any decision. 

I'm sure my activities through the years - playing guitar/bass, painting, my job, lifting weights, maybe even long periods of typing - have caused the problem, but the kicker is there's one activity I can't give up.....guitar  Well and my work lol, but I don't think it's that bad. I have cut down on my guitar playing to ease the pain, but I don't know if I could ever play a 2-3 hour show again or even practice that long if I ever got back in a band.

Anyone have any experience or suggestions on this deal? Thanks a lot for any thoughts


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## canuck brian (Feb 5, 2009)

Bobo said:


> Just been diagnosed with this  Been living with it for awhile, but probably went to the doc a little too late. The pain is in both elbows and also in my wrist and pinky/ring fingers. He said it doesn't look to be affecting my muscles yet, which is good.
> 
> He said we should probably do a surgery at the elbow to move the nerve and relieve the pressure on it. I want to know the most I can about all this before I make any decision.
> 
> ...



Lemme ask you if you've done a lot of squats while working out.

You sound like you have the EXACT same issue I have, and it's not in your arms, it's in your neck. Have your doctor explain why there is a nerve issue, identical in BOTH arms. I've done every single test you can imagine on your arms (MRI, CT scan, Bone density scan, xray, blood tests, EMG, ultrasound....) and they all come up with fuck all. I've been recently conversing with another guy in my city who has also the same issue. Have your doctor check out your C6 - C7 and your T1 vertebrae for nerve pinching/crushing.

If you do have what I have, what's happening is that your nerve is pinched in your neck, causing pain to travel down the entire nerve. Between the c6 - c7 is the nerve point for your wrists and elbows. If it's pinched in there when you work out, when your body heals the damage you did (cuz that's what working out is), it heals wrong and subsequently sends the wrong signals to yer nugget. This also shows that you dont' have nerve damage on all tests.

Get more tests before surgery and ask him to disprove the following:

squats injuring spine

Cervical radiculopathy - this is what I have. I have had 3 nerve specialists, a plastic surgeon, a muscle specialist and a slew of normal doctors miss this. The only one who actually thought it might be in my neck was my pain therapist who's been injecting me with marcain for the past two years. I'm currently waiting for the results of my CT scan.

Drop me an email at [email protected] if you need any more information regarding this. I'd advise you do because it's seriously going to suck if you have what I think you do, and I'm not trying to be all doom and gloom. Get tested ASAP on that thing i told you about.


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## Bobo (Feb 5, 2009)

Thanks a lot for the info Brian! But I never did squats, or much leg stuff at all (bum knee). I stopped working out a year ago too. I did try to do just some curls a few weeks ago, and the pain came pretty quickly and did not go away for 3-4 days.

When I had the EMG test the other day, the doc did something with my neck and asked if I had pain....no pain. Not sure if that tells much though. 

Damn I want to be 21 again :-/


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## canuck brian (Feb 5, 2009)

Bobo said:


> Thanks a lot for the info Brian! But I never did squats, or much leg stuff at all (bum knee). I stopped working out a year ago too. I did try to do just some curls a few weeks ago, and the pain came pretty quickly and did not go away for 3-4 days.
> 
> When I had the EMG test the other day, the doc did something with my neck and asked if I had pain....no pain. Not sure if that tells much though.
> 
> Damn I want to be 21 again :-/



Hmm....it could be you just slept wrong too. When it initially hit me, it basically paralyzed my arms with pain. I couldn't even open a door. It's livable now without issue, but i'd like to have it gone. I've been able to play guitar for extended sessions, but it took me a long time to work up to it.

The doc was probably looking in the exact spot I posted - it's right at the base of your neck. EVERYTHING pain related for your arms goes right thru that point of your body and the pain can start right there. Go for a CT scan if you can and an MRI if you can push him into it, but seriously make him DISprove what i posted for you. It's exactly what I did and low and behold, it's what I have. Don't put up with doctors blowing you off either - make them do their job.


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## Bobo (Feb 5, 2009)

Have you had any surgery or treatments? I'm going back to him, and I'm going bring up what you've said. I'm actually thinking about getting a 2nd opinion elsewhere. Thanks a lot again Brian.


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## Zepp88 (Feb 5, 2009)

Take Brians advice, and go visit a good chiropractor first. You'd be surprised what a healthy spine can fix.


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## All_¥our_Bass (Feb 5, 2009)

I don't have funny "bone" damage, but that doesn't sound fun at all.
I hope you get better soon.


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## Nick1 (Feb 6, 2009)

I had the Ulnar Nerve Transposition on my left arm in November 2005. Took most of a year to recover. Yea it was quite painful for about 2 months after the surgery. It probably would have healed sooner but I fell down a flight of stairs  I had my guitar case in my right hand and I held the case up so it wouldnt hit the ground and in doing that I landed right on my left elbow 
The doc said that set me back about 3 weeks or so. Yea Id say do it if its effecting your strength as it did mine. Prior to the surgery I couldnt play a barre chord. So Im glad I did it. But fuck was I in pain for a while.

Pics of 1 week after the surgery............





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The swelling got worse later. The bruising went on to half of my chest! I looked like I had a skin deficiency or something!


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## dpm (Feb 6, 2009)

I've got an ulnar nerve problem that effects my left arm. It's proving _very_ difficult to track down. Tests to the wrist and elbow found nothing (although my new neurologist say that doesn't rule them out), an MRI revealed a bulging disc in the neck but it's not hitting the nerve, so now I'm waiting to get the results of the shoulder area MRI.


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## Wi77iam (Feb 6, 2009)

Nick1 said:


> I fell down a flight of stairs  I had my guitar case in my right hand and I held the case up so it wouldnt hit the ground and in doing that I landed right on my left elbow




May I ask what guitar were you holding?


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## Nick1 (Feb 6, 2009)

william93 said:


> May I ask what guitar were you holding?



Fender YJM


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## Bobo (Feb 6, 2009)

Nick1 said:


> I had the Ulnar Nerve Transposition on my left arm in November 2005. Took most of a year to recover. Yea it was quite painful for about 2 months after the surgery. It probably would have healed sooner but I fell down a flight of stairs  I had my guitar case in my right hand and I held the case up so it wouldnt hit the ground and in doing that I landed right on my left elbow
> The doc said that set me back about 3 weeks or so. Yea Id say do it if its effecting your strength as it did mine. Prior to the surgery I couldnt play a barre chord. So Im glad I did it. But fuck was I in pain for a while.
> 
> Pics of 1 week after the surgery............
> ...



Holy crap. I _think_ that is what the doctor recommended. He was saying they would reposition the nerve in both elbows. But he said it'd heal in about 3 weeks, and I think there'd be rehab afterwards. He would only do 1 arm at a time. Big question is how I'd keep my job if I went through with this.

Do you feel 100% better now? I can play bar chords, it's really just playing for even short periods of time starts to hurt in the wrist and elbow. The elbows have only been like this for a few months though....but it all seems to be getting worse :-/

Thanks a lot for the info Nick and everyone


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## Nick1 (Feb 6, 2009)

Bobo said:


> Holy crap. I _think_ that is what the doctor recommended. He was saying they would reposition the nerve in both elbows. But he said it'd heal in about 3 weeks, and I think there'd be rehab afterwards. He would only do 1 arm at a time. Big question is how I'd keep my job if I went through with this.
> 
> Do you feel 100% better now? I can play bar chords, it's really just playing for even short periods of time starts to hurt in the wrist and elbow. The elbows have only been like this for a few months though....but it all seems to be getting worse :-/
> 
> Thanks a lot for the info Nick and everyone



Well like I said I was losing strength and I was in lots of pain. Not as much as after the surgery. But Id say 1 full year for recovery. Pain completely subsided in about 4 months.


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## TREYAZAGHTOTH (Feb 6, 2009)

The classic symptoms of a cervical disc prolapse which cause radiating pain to both upper limbs are:
1)Exacerbation of pain on coughing..
2)restriction of movements of the cervical spine..esp extension and side flexion
3)'classic ' weakness of deficit of the areas supplied by that nerve ROOT.

On the other hand symtoms of ulnar neuritis are

1) dull aching pain in the medial (inner) side of forearm.. there will NOT be any pain from the neck radiating downwards.. This pain will NOT worsen on extension and side flexion of the neck. The pain from a prolapsed disc is like a shooting/electric type of pain.. as if u just got an electric shock, while that from ulnar neuritis is a burning aching type of pain.
2) the weakness will be that of the ULNAR nerve.. and NOT of the nerve root.
(the ulnar nerve has got 4-5 nerves roots within its composition.. think of it like the roots of the tree,, the nerve roots(8 in the neck) join to form the TRUNk of the tree (in the upper limb the Radial Median And Ulnar nerves)
thus the weakness of the ulnar nerve will manifest as weakness of the corresponding 4/5 nerve roots

For a disc prolapse,the investigation of choice after an XRay is MRI..as better soft tissue delineation is obtained in the t2 weighted images..CT is Useless unless we suspect a bony lesion .
Nerve conduction studies /EMG's can narrow down the lesion reasonably well after around 21 days after the initial symptoms have started.
try one thing out.. when u flex and extend your elbow.. do you feel your ulnar nerve jumping out and back in?put one finger in the groove medially and gently flex and extend your elbow..
Cheers!


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## Bobo (Feb 7, 2009)

Nick1 said:


> Well like I said I was losing strength and I was in lots of pain. Not as much as after the surgery. But Id say 1 full year for recovery. Pain completely subsided in about 4 months.



I've talked to people who have had various surgeries that didn't help them. I myself have had a few bad experiences with doctors not getting it right and in one case making things worse. It's good to hear about something working.



TREYAZAGHTOTH said:


> try one thing out.. when u flex and extend your elbow.. do you feel your ulnar nerve jumping out and back in?put one finger in the groove medially and gently flex and extend your elbow..
> Cheers!



I'm trying to look at pics on the net to see exactly where the ulnar nerve is. The pain in my wrists has been there for awhile, and this info on a page about "cyclists hand's" looks like what I have. 
Google Image Result for http://www.hughston.com/hha/b_15_3_2a.jpg

The pain at the elbow has just started within the last few months. It comes and goes with my activities/work. I know it's near the tip of the elbow, but it's kinda hard to pinpoint exactly where it's at. Thanks for the help Trey! And MA rocks!


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