Hi guys

Me again. Just fancied hearing your opinions. Just to recap half the story as I'm only writing this in relation to one arm. Few months ago I woke up and my right hand little and ring finger was very painful. No numbness or tingling. I can only assume I was sleeping on it badly.

Anyway the pain in my fingers went but I was left with pain in my ulnar nerve running upwards from the inside of my arm from above the elbow but stopping a couple of inches short of the armpit.

Anyway this pain has persisted now on and off since then and I went for some EMG tests on both arms.

The Dr said that there was some slowing down in the nerve signal in the area that I described above, just above the threshold that would be considered an abnormal result (It was 47 and 40 was the bottom line)My left arm was in the 60's - sorry I dont know what the unit of measurement is called.

Anyway I later went to see an orthopedic consultant and he asked me what I wanted to do about it. I said as I had no loss of strength,dexterity,numbness or tingling just pain every now and then I would just keep an eye on it. He thought that would be the wisest solution.

Over the past few days it has been giving me some grief in terms of pain but also some 'sensations' in the hand and I'm beginning to wonder if this was the right choice.

As it appears that my ulnar nerve is compressed or damaged in a small section somewhere in between my lower bicep and tricep,and not in the elbow, what do you think my surgery options would have been?

Cut me open and remove whatever might be pressing on it? If this the case would scar tissue not build up and I'd be back to square one?

The odd thing is that my ulnar nerve is also compressed in my left trapezium muscle and I can sometimes feel this on my left upper arm. However when I do dome neck stretches this tends to stop it and it goes away until such times as tension builds up again. Stretching you inner arm is a lot harder to do so what I'm saying is the level of damage in my arm must be more significant then it is my my neck/back region and therefore would stretching/massage even help my right arm in this case?

Hi Allan,

Most doctors recommend conservative treatment before surgery for light to moderate CuTS, which it sounds like you have. So you are probably doing the right thing by not rushing into surgery. But conservative treatment will not work if you are continuing the same activities that caused your CuTS in the first place. From your story, it sounds like you developed CuTS from sleeping on bent elbows, which is a very common cause. So have you taken steps to ensure that your arm remains relatively straight while sleeping? Typically a night splint is best until you develop a permanent habit.

It's odd for the ulnar nerve to be compressed in the muscle as opposed to the elbow, wrist or shoulder. There really are no obvious places the nerve can become compressed in the muscle region, unless there is something else at work such as cysts or scar tissue or some other injury. Sometimes doctors can pinpoint where compression is occurring through NCV tests along the arm. How did you conclude that your compression is in your muscle?

Allan, I've been trying to find out for you because I read it somewhere about the ulnar getting trapped in the upper arm and I think it is in an article about all this called "Operative Treatment of Elbow Injuries" by Kevin D Plancher..........You can find it on the internet. And I recommend this read to anyone interested in answers to many questions. It's kind of an overview with pros and cons of the types of surgeries that are done on the arm in general, but especially the elbow. Good Luck....Jennifaux

Hi Jen

Thanks for your response and help. I have tried looking for that book, but all I can find are links to actually purchase it and its very expensive. Are you aware of any links where it can be downloaded for free?

Thanks for your help once again.

Allan, sorry it took time to get back to you as I had another book I thought you might be interested in and couldn't find the name. Anyway what you need to do is go to google book search. Look up the titles and hit "preview this book" back and forth. Books are "Operative Treatment of Elbow Injuries" by Kevin Plancher, and Rehabilitation of the Hand & Upper Limb" by Rosemary Prosser and W. Bruce Conolly. Hope you find out something that helps. Jennifaux