I just learned what Cubital Tunnel is today. For the past month or so I've had a burning pain in my ring and pinky on both hands. After reading this site I think it is because I lean on my arm rests while using the computer. I don't think my symptoms are too severe yet so what should I do to alleviate the pain? Should I keep my arms almost entirely straight all the time? If I get a new office chair would it be better to get one without arm rests? What is the best sitting position?

Thanks!

Sorry to hear about your pain. The ulnar nerve is compressed when the arm is bent so keeping it straight all the time will help to alleviate the symptoms. However, it is very difficult to live with your arms straight. They recommend sleeping with your arm in a towel to keep it straight. That way at least at night it will not be bent. Leaning on your forearm is better than the elbow but it is actually the bending of the elbow that seems to do the most damage. Although,sometimes trauma is the cause.
Good luck.

First step is to stop leaning on your elbows. Get a chair with no armrests.

Your arms don't need to be perfectly straight, and definitely do not lock them, as this actually puts pressure on your joints and causes other problems. About 30-45 degree bend up the elbow is best.

How bad is the pain? If you are not seeing improvement after you make these changes, you should probably see a doctor. Good luck!

simodo wrote:
First step is to stop leaning on your elbows. Get a chair with no armrests.


I'm sorry, but this is bad advice. You should absolutely have a chair with armrests (I recommend the Arm-azing memory foam arm pads). If you don't, your trapezius muscles are frequently used to hold your shoulders and/or arms at the proper height, which can cause nerve impingement farther up around the neck.

I suffer from TOS (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome - www.atosa.org), carpal tunnel, and cubital tunnel syndromes on both sides (had CTS surgery on the left elbow, still dealing with a lot of pain in the right elbow, and heading for TOS surgery in 3 weeks due to severe pain and tingling in my neck, shoulders, arms, and hands), and know that it is very important that I rest my forearms (not elbows) on the armrests, which have been set at the exact height of the desk surface (the chair height has been set appropriately also) to allow my body and shoulders to relax while typing.

The Arm-azing pads provide a soft surface to distribute the pressure evenly on my forearms, significantly reducing stress on the ulnar nerve. You should also take great care to do the same for your wrists (I use IMAK SmartGloves on each wrist, and highly recommend them), and watch your posture at the desk carefully. Your arms should not have to "reach" for the keyboard, your mouse should not be too far to the right (or left) of the keyboard, and you should keep your arms pronated as little as possible; I do this by use a vertical mouse by Evoluent and a keyboard by Kinesis on which I can adjust the vertical height and degree of splay.

I hate to sound like a jerk or a walking advertisement for those products, but as someone who suffers daily from severe RSI-related neuropathies, I want to make sure that the information presented to other sufferers about these topics is accurate enough to base sound judgements upon, and believe very strongly in any product that passes my skeptical eyes and evaluations by easing the pain, even if only slightly.


Your arms don't need to be perfectly straight, and definitely do not lock them, as this actually puts pressure on your joints and causes other problems. About 30-45 degree bend up the elbow is best.


Definitely agree - locking your arms is not advisable, and I'd keep the angle of your arm to anything less than 90 degrees. It can be hard to envision 30 degrees or hit that number using a standard desk without a keyboard tray, so a good rule of thumb is to keep them less angled than an 'L'.


How bad is the pain? If you are not seeing improvement after you make these changes, you should probably see a doctor. Good luck!

I second this - numbness, tingling, and pain are your body's way of telling you that something's wrong. If avoiding or altering the activities that aggravate your symptoms does nothing for you, it's time to seek out an orthopaedist, physical therapist, or neurologist.

I'm fairly sure my CuTS was at least aggrivated if not caused by leaning on my forearms at work and in the car. I've made a strong effort to stop doing this or at least have something padded to lean on when needed. Those tube shaped pillows filled with the beads or the c shaped neck pillows have actually worked great for this since I work at a computer all day.

KBT0416 wrote:
I'm fairly sure my CuTS was at least aggrivated if not caused by leaning on my forearms at work and in the car. I've made a strong effort to stop doing this or at least have something padded to lean on when needed. Those tube shaped pillows filled with the beads or the c shaped neck pillows have actually worked great for this since I work at a computer all day.

Sure. Your forearms should rest only with their own weight on the arms of your chair. You should never lean on them, and you should never rest your elbows on the arm of the chair or side of your car door; doing one or both can definitely cause cubital tunnel syndrome by compressing the nerve against the epicondyle or the surrounding bone structures. However, the weight of the arms themselves should not cause cubital tunnel if you're resting on the forearms with only the weight of the arms themselves. The average human arm weighs about 6.5% of your total weight (or about ~13 lbs. of pressure for a 200 lb. individual), which in and of itself, if distributed by the soft tissues of the forearm and/or other cushioned surfaces (like the Arm-azing armrests), should cause little or no problem with respect to carpal tunnel or cubital tunnel syndromes.

The medical literature suggest that keeping your shoulder shrugged for extended periods of time, even if only slightly and subconsciously (as tends to happen when typing if your arms hang freely with no support), makes you far more susceptible to compression of the nerves around the trapezius muscles and RSI-related injuries stemming from neck and shoulder fatigue. I wish I didn't have to know stuff like that, but I've been forced to read all that medical text and be my own advocate for a long time due to the difficult nature of making a TOS diagnosis, which has been further compounded by having to separate TOS symptoms from cubital and carpal tunnel symptoms.

The IMAK SmartGloves I plugged have microbeads in them which, as you mentioned, are great for distributing pressure. Likewise, you mentioned having something padded for resting your forearms on, and I've found that the Arm-azing memory foam armrests distribute the force exerted from the chair to my arms quite well, and I heartily recommend them to anybody worried about having something a bit softer (but less cumbersome than, say, a pillow) to rest your forearms on when at the computer.

I hope your doing better these days - take care!