Ulnar Neuropathy

[FarmerJustin]

Hey rip, any time I sleep with bent elbow on my side or sit in a position with bent elbows my pinky side of hand to the elbow get numb and painful. When arm stretched out it quickly goes away. It’s symmetrical as in both arms do it now. I have progressed in getting stronger and am the biggest I’ve ever been in my arms muscle wise. Should I worry? Just something I have to deal with? I have a small frame but have managed to a lot of muscle onto my very narrow hands, elbows etc

[Mark Rippetoe]

Do NSAIDs help?

[JFord]

Hey rip, any time I sleep with bent elbow on my side or sit in a position with bent elbows my pinky side of hand to the elbow get numb and painful. When arm stretched out it quickly goes away. It’s symmetrical as in both arms do it now. I have progressed in getting stronger and am the biggest I’ve ever been in my arms muscle wise. Should I worry? Just something I have to deal with? I have a small frame but have managed to a lot of muscle onto my very narrow hands, elbows etc

Joke I heard before med school:

Patient: “Doc, it hurts when I do this.”
Doc: “Don’t do that.”

For this clinical scenario, that’s actually good advice. Ulnar neuropathy is a real disease, an impingement syndrome. You can get localized steroid injections or take NSAIDS but the real solution is removing the stress on the elbow… by avoiding hyperflexion which you yourself discovered by keeping your elbow straight. If you DON’T, the neuropathy can become chronic… and permanent causing sensory loss and motor weakness. If this is too difficult when you sleep, try fashioning some kind of splint to accomplish this that you put on when you go to bed. You can go to an orthopod and have his casting tech do it but then you’ll have to see an orthopod first and no good can come of that.

I occasionally get a twinge of it myself when I squat using a narrow grip. But in that case, the stress is transient. I don’t hold the position overnight so it’s not a problem. This brings me to my next bit of medical advice:

Stop working out because you’re getting too muscular.

Here’s a bonus “orthopod” joke I heard when I was IN medical school (from a friend who was an ortho intern at the time): Where’s the best place to hide a hundred dollar bill from an orthopod? In a book.

There are lots of ortho jokes. I think they’re the drummers and accordion players of music jokes.

[Jdcuth]

Whats the difference between an orthopod and a carpenter? The carpenter knows more about antibiotics

I was making these jokes until one of them fixed my ruptured patella tendon. Then I carried on anyway