Hello everyone,
I am new here. I found this website and thought I would share my experience with cubital tunnel syndrome.
I am 18 years old and was diagnosed with CuTS in October 2009, but have been having symptoms for 3 years. In 2007, I fractured my elbow. It was never treated properly and my elbow would constantly "lock" and make a "snapping" sound and be in pain. I was told repeatedly that I had tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and that it would heal with rest. However, after many weeks of rest and no sign of relief, I knew it was something more, so I did some online research only to find that my symptoms matched that of cubital tunnel syndrome. I had clawing of the ring and pinky fingers and moderate to extreme pain while writing, typing, playing the flute, saxophone, etc. and advil did not help at all. Playing the flute and saxaphone was difficult since my fingers were always lagging behind. Went to the doctor again and he told me that I was probably right. I was sent for EMG. It showed a little bit of compression, but not too much, so I was sent for an ultrasound. Ultrasound revealed potential compression of the ulnar nerve. Met with surgeon and he said that he wasn't exactly sure why I was experiencing the symptoms that I was, but said that he would perform surgery and go from there. He planned on moving the nerve whether it was compressed or not, just to cover the bases. I had ulnar nerve sub-muscular transposition surgery on my right arm on June 23rd, 2010.
Surgery went well. As soon as I woke up, the tension and clawing of my ring and pinky fingers was gone! My arm was wrapped in cotton padding, a splint, an ace bandage, and a sling. The surgeon said that he did not notice anything out of the ordinary during the surgery and was shocked when I told him about the immediate relief. I was sent home with Tylenol 3s (but did not use much of them – my pain was completely bearable!)
My incision was glued and held together with steristrips. It has healed considerably, but my only worries are: 1) There is a knot of stiches hanging out of the end of my incision...not sure whether that is normal or not, and 2) At my followup appointment with the surgeon on June 28th, the splint and ace bandage came off, and I was told that I should begin stretching it. I was also told I would not require psysiotherapy. However, as much as I try to use my arm and exercise it, it still will not straighten fully. The muscles in my arm feel too short to straighten my arm fully and my elbow feels like it is going to break when I attempt to straighten it. Anyone else have this experience?
I have my next follow up appointment on August 9th. The surgeon never told me that I should be able to fully straighten my arm by then, so I am not sure what he expects by then. I need to have full use of my arm by September, as I will be attending University. But as of right now, I am very impressed with my recovery, as I have just typed this with no pain!
Hope everyone else is doing well!
Thanks.

If the dr gives you the ok you can try straightening it just a little bit more each day. Please make sure the dr agrees, but with mine I could straighten, but not bend back. It hurt really bad but my dr said I could move it so I just had a plan to move it a milimeter more each day.

I'm about 9months post subcutaneous and I have full motion back.

Some of my steristrips took forever to come off; over a month.

My doctor told me that the swelling would take around 6-8 months to come down and he was right. I got full movement around 3 months after my surgery but complete straightening didn't start shaping up till 6 months after surgery. I'm no spring chicken though so my recovery was a little slower.

Take it easy to start and you will be able to gauge day by day how much you can push it.

Good Luck!

Hey CuTS ,

Welcome to the site. Glad to hear you're improving so quickly. Hmmm...a stitch hanging out. It's been almost a month since your surgery, so your incision is probably pretty well healed. Probably used disolving sutures and it will probably work it's way out eventually. If you are nervous about it call the surgeon. Gentle stretches to improve your range-of motion are important. I started working on my ROM right when the splint came off...Shoulder circles a couple times an hour, bending and straightening to the point it hurt, but not beyond about 10 reps 4x/day. Also post-op ulnar nerve glides to keep the nerve moving freely. I worked with OT for about 6 weeks post-op and was discharged w a home strengthening program.

Best of luck to you.

Chris

CuTS wrote:
Hello everyone,
I am new here. I found this website and thought I would share my experience with cubital tunnel syndrome.
I am 18 years old and was diagnosed with CuTS in October 2009, but have been having symptoms for 3 years. In 2007, I fractured my elbow. It was never treated properly and my elbow would constantly "lock" and make a "snapping" sound and be in pain. I was told repeatedly that I had tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and that it would heal with rest. However, after many weeks of rest and no sign of relief, I knew it was something more, so I did some online research only to find that my symptoms matched that of cubital tunnel syndrome. I had clawing of the ring and pinky fingers and moderate to extreme pain while writing, typing, playing the flute, saxophone, etc. and advil did not help at all. Playing the flute and saxaphone was difficult since my fingers were always lagging behind. Went to the doctor again and he told me that I was probably right. I was sent for EMG. It showed a little bit of compression, but not too much, so I was sent for an ultrasound. Ultrasound revealed potential compression of the ulnar nerve. Met with surgeon and he said that he wasn't exactly sure why I was experiencing the symptoms that I was, but said that he would perform surgery and go from there. He planned on moving the nerve whether it was compressed or not, just to cover the bases. I had ulnar nerve sub-muscular transposition surgery on my right arm on June 23rd, 2010.
Surgery went well. As soon as I woke up, the tension and clawing of my ring and pinky fingers was gone! My arm was wrapped in cotton padding, a splint, an ace bandage, and a sling. The surgeon said that he did not notice anything out of the ordinary during the surgery and was shocked when I told him about the immediate relief. I was sent home with Tylenol 3s (but did not use much of them – my pain was completely bearable!)
My incision was glued and held together with steristrips. It has healed considerably, but my only worries are: 1) There is a knot of stiches hanging out of the end of my incision...not sure whether that is normal or not, and 2) At my followup appointment with the surgeon on June 28th, the splint and ace bandage came off, and I was told that I should begin stretching it. I was also told I would not require psysiotherapy. However, as much as I try to use my arm and exercise it, it still will not straighten fully. The muscles in my arm feel too short to straighten my arm fully and my elbow feels like it is going to break when I attempt to straighten it. Anyone else have this experience?
I have my next follow up appointment on August 9th. The surgeon never told me that I should be able to fully straighten my arm by then, so I am not sure what he expects by then. I need to have full use of my arm by September, as I will be attending University. But as of right now, I am very impressed with my recovery, as I have just typed this with no pain!
Hope everyone else is doing well!
Thanks.

Glad to know you have an immediate recovery!